CONTENTS OF THIS BLOG:
ARESST ACTION:
- VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF CALWMC PLANT DESIGN DISCUSSION
- DAVID ANDERSON RECORDED AT SCAN MEETING (audio link)
- PRESENTATION AT CALWMC MEETING 13 FEB (Newcomb)
- ARESST STOPABADPLAN ACTIONS - YOU'RE INVITED!
CRD-RELATED SEWAGE & RELATED NEWS:
- TO PAY FOR SEWAGE PLANT, TAX HIKES COULD BEGIN THIS YEAR
- $282,000 A YEAR FOR EXPERT SEWAGE TEAM
- LOOK OF SEWAGE PLANT WORRIES POLITICIANS
- FIRST VISION OF PROPOSED SEWAGE PLANT RAISES A STINK
- CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTRICT BOARD APPROVES EARLY START TO SEWAGE TAX
- TC EDITORIAL: SEWAGE PLANT AS A WORK OF ART
LETTERS:
- OAK BAY RESIDENTS GETTING OFF EASY (Anderson, J)
- BACK TO DRAWING BOARD WITH SEWER-PLANT DESIGN (West)
- SEWAGE PLANT TO GRACE SCENIC HARBOUR ENTRANCE (Farrell)
- ART ON SEWAGE PLANT INSULT TO NATIVE CULTURES (Atwell)
- SEWAGE PLANT VIOLATES HARBOUR-AREA VISION (Ellis)
- MAKE SEWAGE PLANT BEAUTIFUL AND FUNCTIONAL (Scott)
- SEWAGE PLANT SHOULD FOLLOW DESIGN PRINCIPLES (Ferri)
- IT'S A SEWAGE PLANT; GET OVER IT (Harvey)
- TREES COULD SOFTEN SEWAGE-PLANT PROFILE (Guilbault)
- SEWAGE-PLANT SITE NOT THE RIGHT PLACE (Lamb)
RELATED ENVIRONMENT NEWS
- WHERE HAVE ALL THE HERRING GONE? (GORGE INLET)
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ARESST ACTION:
CALWMC spent over an hour discussing how to approach the design guidelines for the visual aspect of the sewage plant planned for McLouglin in the aftermath of the Times Colonist front page article.
Here's the link to the audio segment from Item 9 of the agenda (1h16m51s):
http://stopabadplan.ca/media/
Interim Program Manager (contract) and former CRD Integrated Water Services GM, Jack Hull continues to provide information "at the last minute" ahead of these important committee meetings, frustrating Directors for the umpteenth time.
Clearly a flawed process that continues but what's new when it comes to this sewage project?
00m08s Jack Hull
06m36s Pam Madoff (Victoria)
10m00s Deane Strongitharm (City Spaces consultant)
12m18s Barb Desjardins (Esquimalt)
14m20s Denise Blackwell (Langford)
15m13s Dean Fortin (Vic)
19m50s Denise Blackwell
20m25s Vic Derman (Saanich)
24m46s Barb Desjardins
28m35s Judy Brownoff (Saanich)
30m20s Deane Strongitharm
32m12s Judy Brownoff
34m40s Jack Hull
36m40s Ben Isitt (Vic)
40m55s Denise Blackwell
41m07s Jack Hull
41m23s Ben Isitt
41m35s Barb Desjardins
42m00s Vicki Sanders (Saanich)
44m51s Lanny Seaton (Langford)
47m13s Leif Wergeland (Saanich)
48m20s Carol Hamilton (Colwood)
49m45s Susan Brice (Saanich)
51m40s Deane Strongitharm
54m10s Susan Brice
54m47s Denise Blackwell
55m04s Deane Strongitharm
55m50s Jack Hull
56m50s Pam Madoff (explains design guidelines catch-22)
01h00m28s Denise Blackwell & Pam Madoff
01h01m43s Barb Desjardins
01h03m18s Vic Derman
01h04m36s Jack Hull
01h05m34s Geoff Young (Victoria)
01h06m58s Jack Hull
01h07m39s Deane Strongitharm
01h09m13s Graham Hill (View Royal)
01h10m28s Jack Hull
01h11m30s Ben Isitt
01m14mm28s Voting Begins on Amendment to delay Open House
01h16m00s Motion Passed - Open House Posponed
01h16m51s Motion to go In Camera...
- big thanks to Richard for recording this!
CRD CALWMC Lip Reading Jack Hull:
DAVID ANDERSON RECORDED AT SCAN MEETING (audio link)
Richard made this 30-minute audio recording at the Sannich Community Association Network meeting on February 5, 2013:
http://stopabadplan.ca/media/
http://stopabadplan.ca/media/
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PRESENTATION AT CALWMC MEETING 13 FEB (Newcomb):
ARESST folks: Feel free to address any CRD committee or the Board - its easy to sign-up online and then take your 3 or 5 minutes of time at the start of the CRD meeting to tell them what you think! Thanks to Richard for his audio recording of the presentation (click here).
PORT ANGELES' MAYOR CHERIE KIDD APPLAUDS VICTORIA’S LAND-BASED SEWAGE TREATMENT PLAN BUT VICTORIANS SHOULD KNOW THAT WHILE OUR CURRENT MARINE-BASED SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM PRODUCES LITTLE SEWAGE SLUDGE, PORT ANGELES' SEWAGE PLANT PRODUCES THOUSANDS OF TONS OF SLUDGE SOLD AS "GARDEN GLORY" FERTILIZER - A SLUDGE USE DISCOURAGED BY THE CRD.
MAYOR KIDD ALSO SAYS PORT ANGELES PAYS FOR ITS STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE WITHOUT FEDERAL FUNDING BUT THE US 1972 CLEAN WATER ACT DID FUND SEWAGE PLANT CONSTRUCTION AND OUR CRD MUNICIPALITIES ALSO CAN’T EXPECT SENIOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR TACKLING STORM WATER – AN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE MORE PRESSING THAN ANOTHER SEWAGE PLANT.
HOWEVER, WHAT PORT ANGELES' MAYOR KIDD MAY NOT KNOW IS THAT THE CRD IS BULLDOZING ONWARDS WITH ITS ENVIRONMENTALLY RISK-LADEN SEWAGE PLAN WHILE REJECTING OAK BAY COUNCIL'S CALL FOR AN INDEPENDENT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AS WELL AS IGNORING REPEATED CALLS BY VICTORIA'S CHIEF MEDICAL HEALTH OFFICER DR RICHARD STANWICK FOR A HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE SEWAGE PLAN.
DIRECTORS DERMAN AND ISITT WERE AT THE NOVEMBER 21 SEWAGE FORUM WHEN DR. STANWICK MADE HIS MOST RECENT CALL FOR AN HIA, REITERATING EARLIER PUBLISHED DEMANDS BY HIMSELF, BY DR. SHAUN PECK AND SEVERAL OTHER MEDICAL HEALTH OFFICERS.
FOR DR STANWICK, THE PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES INCLUDE THE OBVIOUS FACT THAT THIS SEWAGE PLANT WILL DO NOTHING FOR STORM WATER DISCHARGE HEALTH RISKS AND MOST CRITICALLY, THE FEES FOR THIS UNNECESSARY SEWAGE PLANT WILL FALL DISPROPORTIONATELY ON LOW-INCOME VICTORIANS.
WHILE PAYING ANOTHER $400 A YEAR FOR THIS GREY INNER HARBOUR MONUMENT IS MERELY CHUMP-CHANGE TO OUR REGIONAL RICH, IT WILL HIT LOW-INCOME FAMILIES MUCH HARDER - LIKE MEDICAL SERVICES PLAN FEES HITTING LOWER-INCOME FOLKS.
DR. STANWICK SEES THE LOOMING SEWAGE PLANT FEES AS A POTENTIAL HEALTH RISK BECAUSE ITS NOT JUST HOMEOWNERS WHO WILL END UP PAYING THIS TAX, BUT ALSO ANYBODY WHO RENTS A TOILET WHEN THEY RENT AN APARTMENT OR ROOM. AND FOR SUBSIDIZED HOUSING CLIENTS, WHO WILL PAY THEIR RENT INCREASE?
THE IRONY OF THE EARLY-TAX HIKES ISSUE IN THE NEWS IS THAT PAYING THIS SEWAGE TAX BEFORE THE PLANT STARTS OPERATING IS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE SCIENTISTS STATE THAT AN OPERATING SEWAGE PLANT HERE WILL NOT PROVIDE ANY MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT FOR THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT.
BY THE WAY, APPROVING $60, 000 FOR ITEM 10 INNOVATIVE RESEARCH SEEMS TO REFLECT THE LAST 6 YEARS AND SEVERAL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF SIMILAR SEWAGE-ISNT-WASTE RESEARCH PROJECTS– BUT IT WON’T INDEPENDENTLY ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF YOUR SEWAGE PLAN.
HOWEVER DR. STANWICK HAS SHOWN HE UNDERSTANDS THAT OUR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS MAY BE FORCED TO SHOULDER AN UNFAIR AMOUNT OF THE FINANCIAL BURDEN FOR THIS PLANT AND THAT THIS MAY INDEED NEGATIVELY IMPACT ON THEIR HEALTH.
TWO RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE:
- REVIEW YOUR DECISION TO REJECT THE OAK BAY COUNCIL CALL FOR AN INDEPENDENT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND
- INITIATE A HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT COMPLETED UNDER THE GENERAL SUPERVISION OF DR RICHARD STANWICK.
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Wear your yellow tshirts!
From CRD website (so their point of view only):
Public Open House to Discuss Haro Woods Rezoning
Find out more about the District of Saanich and the Capital Regional District's application to rezone two parcels of land at 2391 and 2435 Arbutus Road (Haro Woods) from Residential to Natural Park Zone, and a site-specific zone to allow installation of an underground tank for temporary storage of wastewater during storm events.
Click here to Read more
A Public Open House to discuss the Haro Woods Rezoning Project will be held:
Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 4:30 - 8:30pm AND Saturday, February 23, 2013, 10am - 2pm
A Public Open House to discuss the Haro Woods Rezoning Project will be held:
Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 4:30 - 8:30pm AND Saturday, February 23, 2013, 10am - 2pm
Goward House, 2495 Arbutus Road
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Public Open House to Discuss McLoughlin Point Rezoning - Postponed
The McLoughlin Point Rezoning Open House, originally scheduled for Thursday, February 21, has been postponed, following direction from the Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee. The postponement is to allow Design Review Panels in Esquimalt and Victoria time to develop design guidelines prior to the Open House. A new date for this event will be scheduled as soon as possible.
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Public Open House to Discuss Craigflower Pump Station Project
Prior to construction of the pump station, the CRD is providing an opportunity for the public to get information about the project, and ask questions and express their opinions and concerns.
A Public Open House to discuss the Craigflower Pump Station Project will be held:
Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 5 - 8pm
Shoreline School, 2750 Shoreline Drive
Craigflower Pump Station Project Information Sheet (PDF )
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Craigflower Pump Station Project Information Sheet (PDF )
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CAWTP Six Month Budget Approved
On September 12, the CRD Board approved the six-month budget for the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Program. Costs allocated to this budget include Program Management, Technical Services and Project Management.
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CRD-RELATED SEWAGE & RELATED NEWS:
TO PAY FOR SEWAGE PLANT, TAX HIKES COULD BEGIN THIS YEAR
ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 12, 2013
Greater Victoria taxpayers may soon be getting their first bill for sewage treatment, even though shovels have yet to hit the ground on the megaproject.
Local homeowners will face tax hikes of between $39 and $65 this year for sewage, if local politicians approve a new multi-year cost formula at a Wednesday sewage committee meeting.
“An orderly annual predictable increase will reduce the shock of this increased expenditure,” says a Capital Regional District staff report that recommends the changes.
The treatment system, budgeted at $783 million, has yet to be built, but is set to go online in 2018. Instead of hitting taxpayers with a $35-million bill to operate the plant and pay interest on its loans in that first year, the CRD could spread out the cost starting now, the report said.
“It’s to smooth out the costs so you’re not faced with [the total] all at once,” said Denise Blackwell, chairwoman of the CRD sewage committee.
Staggering the costs will also save $3 million in debt servicing, according to the CRD report.
The decision doesn’t change the amount taxpayers will have to pay in 2018 and beyond, once the treatment system is fully active.
Those amounts, previously reported last October, will cost a typical Oak Bay household $391 a year — the highest in the region — and a Saanich household $232 a year, the lowest.
But prior to 2018, the annual sewage bill per household will steadily increase. For example, the extra cost to Oak Bay taxpayers could go from $65 in 2013 to $391 in 2017 while in Saanich the hike could go from $39 in 2013 to $232 in 2018.
“I think it’s prudent to start paying now,” said Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin, a sewage committee member.
“Clearly there’s savings in long-term interest costs. Knowing we have to do it, it makes sense to start paying it down now.”
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said she hopes the tax increase will spur people to pay attention to the sewage project. Municipalities are facing tax increases of varying levels this year, and it is going to stress family finances, she said.
“I think these costs are going to be significant and going to create significant problems to many people,” Desjardins said.
“We need to mitigate them as much as possible, absolutely. But I still have a concern that a hit this year and in the next five years is going to be significant for everybody.”
Part of the problem for the CRD is that, while the federal and provincial governments have agreed to pay two-thirds of the project’s cost, the province will only pay its $248-million share after construction is complete, leaving the CRD on the hook for borrowing and interest costs.
“Once you start to build it, people aren’t going to wait for five years to get paid,” said Saanich Coun. Vic Derman, who also sits on the sewage committee. “The province isn’t paying its share till the end, which is a bit unusual. It obviously ups the local contribution.”
The estimated household costs could vary depending on how each municipality chooses to bill or tax its citizens for the cost.
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$282,000 A YEAR FOR EXPERT SEWAGE TEAM
BILL CLEVERLEY
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 13, 2013
Members of the unelected commission of experts overseeing Victoria’s sewage treatment program will collect an estimated $282,000 a year in salaries and benefits until the project is completed in 2018.
Under a formula approved by the Capital Regional District board on Wednesday, the chairperson of the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Commission will be paid a $30,000- a-year retainer, while commission members will get $12,000. Members who chair committees will receive an additional $4,000 a year. All of the commission members will get a per diem of $750.
Victoria director Coun. Ben Isitt suggested the compensation be tied to the salary paid to CRD directors and the board chairperson. (The board chairperson receives remuneration and an expense allowance totalling $20,424; most directors receive $8,169.)
“My view is that this is overheated and unnecessary,” said Isitt, adding there is a huge amount of untapped expertise in the community in the form or retirees or semi-retirees who would be happy to undertake the work.
“My personal view is serving on the commission will be a less onerous task than [the work] a number of us do. We see there’s considerable interest in the number of people who want to serve as elected officials in the region. There’s no shortage of applicants at election time,” Isitt said.
But Isitt failed to get any support from fellow members of the sewage committee.
Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said there is a difference between a community-based board and an expert panel.
“This is a skills-based board that we [have expectations for and will] hold accountable for bringing those skills to the table,” Fortin said, noting the group must have expertise on building large, complex infrastructure, resource recovery and contract law.
Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff agreed. “This isn’t a community-based committee. I want people with professional skills to lead this committee. There’s nothing wrong with retired people but, for me, I want to see expertise that will add to what the committee has been asking for.”
Creating the commission of experts is a condition of the B.C. government's agreement to pay one-third of the $783-million budget for sewage treatment.
The commission will be responsible for making decisions about the project, though the CRD sewage committee will retain oversight of the project’s budget and scope.
The compensation schedule was recommended by the search firm Caldwell Partners, which said in a report that commission members’ compensation should reflect “a balance of a reasonable and accountable use of public dollars,” while at the same time providing “incentive to well-qualified individuals.”
The consultants looked at a number of boards in determining the appropriate level of compensation, says a report to the board, including the Greater Victoria Airport Authority, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, the Edmonton light rail project and the Translink board as well as the B.C. Treasury Board directive regarding remuneration guidelines for board members of Crown corporations.
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CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTRICT BOARD APPROVES EARLY START TO SEWAGE TAX
Daniel Palmer
Victoria News
14 February 2013
Greater Victoria homeowners will begin paying for sewage treatment this year, now that Capital Regional District directors have approved the 2013 budget for the $783-million project.
The average household will see an increase of $39 in Saanich, $59 in Victoria and $65 in Oak Bay at the end of the year, according to a CRD report.
"What this does is smooth out some of the (financial) ramp-up on taxpayers and provides kind of a fiscal planning for them, and I think that's a positive," said Saanich Coun. Vic Derman.
The decision to levy fees now will also save the CRD $3 million in debt servicing costs. The project is expected to cost homeowners between $232 and $353 annually by 2018.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, who along with Derman and Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton opposed approval of the overall sewage budget, said the CRD should wait another month until a panel of experts has been put in place to oversee the project.
"I think having our expert commission view these numbers would be much more helpful in sussing this out further," Desjardins told the board. "This was supposed to be part of a process whereby we had a commission in place."
The appointed commission will run the project and will exclude elected officials, a condition of provincial funding. But CRD directors will still have the final say over budgets and major project amendments.
More than $47 million will be spent in 2013 to tender design contracts for facilities at the McLoughlin Point wastewater treatment plant, for construction work on the Craigflower pump station and for further requests for proposals.
In addition to the wastewater treatment plant planned for Esquimalt, a network of new sewage pipes and a biosolids energy centre will be built to meet the federal government's compliance deadline of 2020.
The provincial and federal governments are contributing up to $501 million for the project, while any cost overruns will fall on CRD taxpayers.
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LOOK OF SEWAGE PLANT WORRIES POLITICIANS
ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 11, 2013
An early look at the design of a sewage-treatment plant in Esquimalt has some local politicians calling for more input to turn the potential eyesore into an architectural asset for Victoria Harbour.
The first artist renderings of the secondary-sewage-treatment facility at McLoughlin Point were unveiled in a recent Capital Regional District zoning-request document to Esquimalt council.
The pictures show a series of drab grey rectangular concrete buildings, surrounded by a high concrete retaining wall, on one of the most visible properties in the gateway to Victoria’s Inner Harbour.
“It’s just an example of what they could look like, so you see the impact on the community as you’re driving by it, or sailing by it,” said CRD sewage committee chairwoman Denise Blackwell.
“You could put native art on the side of the buildings or articulate them differently, and I think if they were done in the colours of the environment, you might not see it at all.”
The CRD has said it will encourage innovation in designing the plant as part of its request for proposals to contractors later this year. “I worry this is pretty close to the end design,” said Saanich Coun. Vic Derman, a sewage committee member.
“One of the things I’ve said for a long time is, if you do build it there, you’ve got to make it look good.”
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said she’s trying to keep an open mind prior to a Feb. 21 public open house on the sewage-plant rezoning, set for 4 p.m. at the Esquimalt Legion, 622 Admirals Rd.
“When I had a look at it and noted the amount of detail, and where they are going to put each plant, etc., I was a little bit shocked because where does that leave the real process that is the input from Esquimalt and Victoria?” asked Desjardins.
Desjardins said she realizes that an early artist rendering is common on projects of that size. But she said Esquimalt and Victoria want their design suggestions taken into account.
Input could address things such as building colour, landscaping and public space, the CRD has said.
Victoria mayor Dean Fortin said he hopes the design can be improved. “I think there’s an opportunity for something that’s exciting and architecturally interesting.”
The CRD’s rezoning pitch to Esquimalt also reveals that between 134 and 266 vehicles per day are expected in the neighbourhood during construction, sparking concerns about safety at nearby Macaulay Elementary School.
There should be crossing guards and alternate paths for children to walk to school, among other solutions, the document said.
There’s also a high risk of odour problems if the CRD only uses “standard practice” in building the plant and not “enhanced mitigation,” according to the report.
Desjardins said she’s concerned about the potential for odour — which could waft into James Bay and downtown Victoria — and whether the CRD has budgeted for enhanced measures. The CRD plans to build to the “highest standard to make sure there’s no odour,” said Blackwell.
In the end, the CRD’s Esquimalt rezoning request is only a formality. If the municipality rejects the project, the CRD can ask the B.C. government to intervene and force the rezoning.
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FIRST VISION OF PROPOSED SEWAGE PLANT RAISES A STINK
BILL CLEVERLEY
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 13, 2013
Not wanting a first impression to be a lasting one, Capital Regional District directors have postponed a public information session on its new sewage treatment plant until they have a better idea of what it might look like.
Since it will be located on the waterfront at McLoughlin Point, at the gateway to the Inner Harbour, the design of the plant needs to involve more than its function, directors said.
Many members of the CRD’s sewage committee said they were caught off guard this week when an artist’s rendering of a proposed sewage treatment plant was published on the front page of the Times Colonist.
The drawing, one of several pieces of information requested by Esquimalt as part of the McLoughlin Point site rezoning application, was intended to be representative of how a plant could look but not necessarily what it will look like, CRD staff said.
But many directors didn’t like what they saw — a series of nondescript, rectangular concrete buildings, fronted by a high concrete retaining wall, which they say does not do justice to the harbour entrance.
“What was released or portrayed may or may not be identified as a sewage treatment plant, but I certainly see it as an industrial site and not a particularly attractive one at that,” said Saanich Coun. Vic Derman.
“They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Well this is a picture that has now been imprinted on the public’s mind,” said alternate director Victoria Coun. Pam Madoff, who along with Derman worried the drawing might become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Derman noted McLoughlin Point is “a tight site” and there is not much room to mitigate the building’s look with landscaping.
“As alternate director Madoff has said, the indicative design — given the tightness of the timeline — becomes more and more the likely design,” Derman said.
Sewage committee chairwoman Denise Blackwell earlier suggested proper use of paint, building placement or perhaps native art on the side of the buildings might be an improvement.
Derman said that would be “like putting lipstick on a pig.”
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said the proposed site is a highly visible piece of Esquimalt’s waterfront and the drawing “limits the mind to industrial.”
“This is at the entrance to the harbour. This is a vantage point where seaplanes, where cruise ships come in, where ferry traffic that comes [directly] into Victoria comes past,” Desjardins said. “This is a piece of property that we have to stop thinking of what was, and we have to think of what can be.”
The depiction of the sewage plant looks more like a fish processing plant than something appropriate for greeting people arriving in the city through the waterfront, said Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff.
An open house planned for Feb. 21 will be postponed until design guidelines are in place.
Those guidelines are being developed and vetted by groups in Esquimalt and Victoria.
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TC EDITORIAL: SEWAGE PLANT AS A WORK OF ART
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
People can’t be blamed for being less than excited about a proposed design for the new sewage-treatment plant to be built on McLoughlin Point: a grey concrete mass perched on the shoreline does little to stir the senses.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way.
Given that the plant is a near-certainty and that it will be built on the specified location, why not make it something noteworthy, not just in function, but in appearance as well?
In making a zoning request to Esquimalt council, the Capital Regional District presented an artist’s rendering of the plant that shows a series of concrete buildings surrounded by a high concrete retaining wall. It’s more of a conceptual plan than a finished design, but it already has people worried about an eyesore greeting visitors who come by sea to Victoria’s harbour.
Just because the facility has a humble function — processing human waste — doesn’t mean the architecture needs to be bleak or apologetic. The design as presented resembles samples of the brutalist school of architecture that enjoyed a certain vogue from the 1950s into the 1970s. A library built in that style was described by Prince Charles as looking like “a place where books are incinerated, not kept.”
Speaking of incinerators, they don’t have to be ugly. A case in point is the huge Maishima garbage incineration plant in Osaka, Japan, a facility that burns about 900 tonnes of garbage a day while filtering out toxic pollutants, and crushes and recycles up to 170 tonnes of metal a day. With the heat produced, the plant also generates 32,000 kilowatts of electricity daily.
And it’s a colourful tourist attraction. It’s a Disneyesque complex rising out of a dreary industrial area. The 120-metre gold-capped stack is sky-blue with red accents. The facility abounds with bright colours and whimsical shapes. It’s a popular destination for visitors — tours must be booked 10 days in advance.
The flashy Maishima design would be out of place along a Vancouver Island shoreline, but it is an example of what can happen when creative thinking is brought into the process. We would not want the sewage plant to be a gaudy assault on the senses, but nor should it be depressingly bleak.
Some might not want to bring attention to a facility that processes sewage, but it’s not a two-hole privy — we can’t hide it in the backyard out of sight of polite folk. It will of necessity be noticeable, so let’s not make it an object of shame. Let’s be adventurous and make it a bold statement within the broad boundaries of good taste.
More from Prince Charles who, in discussing the trends in modern London architecture, said: “You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe, when it knocked down our buildings, it didn’t replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. Surely here, if anywhere, is the time and place to sacrifice some profit, if need be, for generosity of vision, for elegance, for dignity.”
Charles’s architectural tastes are narrow, but he makes a good point. If we’re building something, why not make it attractive? We shouldn’t settle for a grey, concrete mass, a visionless lump on the landscape that will offend the eye for the next 100 years.
The Greater Victoria region is a place of beauty and optimism. Its architecture — even a sewage plant — should reflect that.
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LETTERS:
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO TIMES COLONIST
Re: “Sewage tax hike eyed for this year,” Feb. 12.
A typical Oak Bay household paying $391 a year is getting a bargain. Come to the southeast quadrant of North Saanich and pay $495 a year.
John Anderson
North Saanich
http://www.timescolonist.com/
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BACK TO DRAWING BOARD WITH SEWER-PLANT DESIGN (West)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO TIMES COLONIST
Re: “Plant design worries politicians,” Feb. 12.
What a way to welcome tourists to the capital region. The tank farm was much more attractive and smaller, hidden around the corner, at the point where people had their eyes attracted to the Empress and the domes of the legislature.
Let’s go back to the drawing board.
John West
Victoria
http://www.timescolonist.com/
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SEWAGE PLANT TO GRACE SCENIC HARBOUR ENTRANCE (Farrell)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO TIMES COLONIST
Re: “Plant design worries politicians,” Feb. 12.
The decision to locate the sewage treatment plant on McLoughlin Point is the largest load of sewage ever to pass down the Capital Regional District’s pipes.
Where else but in Greater Victoria would one assemble a panel that would choose to erect a sewage-treatment plant on a gently sloping, south-exposed, sun-drenched oceanfront peninsula at the entrance to one of the most beautiful small harbours in the country?
As a real-estate agent with more than 34 years in Victoria, I do not wish to see any more waterfront condos in Greater Victoria, but as a taxpayer, I ask you just for a second to set aside the virtue of sewage treatment and imagine the tax income a residential development on McLoughlin Point with a footprint equal to the sewage-treatment plant would generate. That would be more than 900 units with parks and walkways. That income would more than pay for a location on one of the inland sites.
Remember us — taxpayers? Our money in large sums is spent to encourage tourism in Beautiful B.C. Canada starts here, right — so at the entrance to the B.C. capital’s harbour, we will offer a view of a sewage-treatment plant to the cruise ships, boaters and U.S. ferry travellers as they arrive? Will the CRD post a big sign extolling the virtues of our sewer system to explain the placement to these tourists, rather than invite them to enjoy the natural beauty of B.C.?
Bob Farrell
Victoria
http://www.timescolonist.com/
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ART ON SEWAGE PLANT INSULT TO NATIVE CULTURES (Atwell)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO TIMES COLONIST
Sewage committee chairwoman Denise Blackwell’s idea to put native art on the walls of the $1-billion McLoughlin Point sewage-treatment plant is not only akin to putting lipstick on a pig, but an incredible insult to native cultures.
Is this how we will honour and celebrate the heritage of First Nations? By using their artwork as a facade to cover up our ugliest infrastructure built on their ancestral lands? I am aghast at the very suggestion.
Tourism Victoria and the Chamber of Commerce should now be having second thoughts about the building of this monstrosity at the harbour entrance right across from the cruise-ship terminal. There can be no doubt that this plant is going to become a major landmark for tourists who, by the way, will be paying a lot more for goods and services in order to fund the sewage plant’s construction and operating costs.
Richard Atwell
Saanich
http://www.timescolonist.com/
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SEWAGE PLANT VIOLATES HARBOUR-AREA VISION (Ellis)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
Re: “Plant design worries politicians,” Feb. 12.
From a financial perspective, I may be partially sheltered as I live in North Saanich, but I am nonetheless appalled at the entire sewage-plant scenario.
The last straw was the artist’s rendering in the paper. The headline should have been “Bapco Paints is recreated on the far shore.” What happened to a vision for the harbour area? Imagine the commentary on the tourist boats.
How such a potentially valuable property could be considered for such a use is beyond my comprehension. Was the abandonment of best use in the business case given any consideration? It would make the cost side even more untenable.
John Ellis
North Saanich
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MAKE SEWAGE PLANT BEAUTIFUL AND FUNCTIONAL (Scott)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
Re: “Plant design worries politicians,” Feb. 12.
I agree with the need for sewage treatment, because despite the fact that organic waste probably can be handled by the ocean and tides, people are simply disrespectful of the environment and show this daily by flushing bleach, paint, cleaning products and even prescription drugs down the drain. Fish and algae cannot tolerate our worst pollutants so we need to start to act now as if we plan to stay here on planet Earth.
That being said, this does not give engineers and designers carte blanche with the appearance of this necessary new treatment facility. For a minor upgrade or probably even at the same cost, quality architecture, landscaping and green roofs could be employed to keep our harbour beautiful as well as environmentally responsible.
Our combined social responsibility, in my opinion, also includes the look of our beautiful city and especially our waterfront gateways. A waterfront metal factory is not welcoming, so let’s see a much better eco look for this necessary water-treatment facility.
J.C. Scott
Victoria
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SEWAGE PLANT SHOULD FOLLOW DESIGN PRINCIPLES (Ferri)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 15, 2013
Re: “Plant design worries politicians,” Feb. 12.
The Capital Regional District architectural offering for the proposed sewage-treatment plant leaves much to be desired. The design of buildings, particularly those occupying such prominent locations and that will endure for many lifetimes, should follow the basic principles of architecture in offering pleasant spaces. Perhaps the tactic here was to present something so totally abysmal that any change would be an improvement and allow acceptance of a poor design. Sewage committee chairwoman Denise Blackwell’s only offering was a new coat of paint that would attempt to hide the monstrosity.
What has happened here? This project was once heralded by the CRD as a structure designed in such an appealing way that it would attract visitors, similar to the treatment plant in Portland, Oregon. Citizens were led to believe that much of the construction material and equipment would be barged to the location, but now there will be more than 266 vehicles per day passing through neighbourhoods. Communities were told there would be amenities or funds to offset the inconvenience and impacts of hosting the plant and that the highest standards for noise and odour mitigation would be utilized. All of these commitments have either been abandoned or are now seriously in question.
This project has gone off the rails. Every taxpayer will be paying the price for a poor design in a poor location with impacts to communities and little to show in terms of esthetics or benefits.
Filippo Ferri
Esquimalt
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IT'S A SEWAGE PLANT; GET OVER IT (Harvey)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 16, 2013
Re: “First vision of sewage plant raises a stink,” Feb. 14.
So what do people want the new sewage plant to look like: Disguise it as housing like the Oak Bay pumphouse cottage? Paint it bright colours? Make it a giant graffiti site?
The architectural impression looks too industrial is the complaint. Look, it is replacing a tank farm, which was next to a sawmill, which was opposite a paint factory. It is industrial — get over it.
My suggestion: Flaunt it. Copy the Hollywood sign. Put the word SEWAGE in six-metre-high letters on the side.
Joe Harvey
Oak Bay
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TREES COULD SOFTEN SEWAGE-PLANT PROFILE (Guilbault)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 17, 2013
Re: “Sewage plant as work of art,” editorial, Feb. 15.
I’d never heard of the Maishima incineration plant in Osaka mentioned in the editorial on the proposed appearance of Victoria’s sewage plant. While the Japanese facility is very interesting and colourful, something like it would indeed look gaudy on this piece of waterfront.
One way to soften the Victoria building’s impact: Do the same thing the developers at Uptown did to make the big wall you see going north on Douglas Street less imposing — plant trees.
Louis Guilbault
Victoria
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/trees-could-soften-sewage-plant-profile-1.75157
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SEWAGE-PLANT SITE NOT THE RIGHT PLACE (Lamb)
TIMES COLONIST
FEBRUARY 17, 2013
Re: “Plant design worries politicians,” Feb. 12.
I get so frustrated at the helplessness of so many of us who oppose the building of this smelly monstrosity at this particular site against the few who, with tunnel vision, insist that this is the right and only place for it.
What’s really behind all this? Will we ever know?
Heidi Lamb
Victoria
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/sewage-plant-site-not-the-right-place-1.75158
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RELATED ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Arnold Lim
Saanich News
February 12, 2013
Bob Briggs remembers pulling 60 fish out of the Gorge Waterway on a good day.
Meandering over to the Craigflower bridge, sometimes with friends, he recalls taking more than 500 fish out of the Gorge over the two month spawning period. He still fishes there today, but his catch is down to about 50 – and he wonders where all the herring have gone.
“It was nothing to go down and get a bucketful of fishing herring six years ago,” he said. “There is no way you could fill a bucket in an hour or two now. (But) why?”
Briggs says the days of pulling up with a single bamboo pole and jigs and yanking herring out of the water one after the other are over, as are the days of dozens of longtime anglers lining the Craigflower bridge with lines in the water and overflowing buckets at their feet.
The decline is clear, but the reason is not. If anything, water in the Gorge is the cleanest it’s been since the 1920s. Health Canada has given the water a clean bill of health, and it’s even become a swimming hole again.
With construction of a new Craigflower bridge set to begin in April, World Fisheries Trust executive director Joachim (Yogi) Carolsfeld hopes to bring new awareness to the issue.
“It is a unique thing in the Gorge. There are not many places where you can get this in the middle of the city,” Carolsfeld said. “It is on its way out and we have to do something.”
He’s heard plenty of anecdotal evidence regarding the food and bait fish, but he says he needs concrete facts and hopes to fund a creel survey, a monitoring method relying on surveying and interviewing fishermen on a daily basis.
In order to do that, funds are needed for a co-ordinator to design and set up the survey – with volunteers required to observe spawning that isn’t currently happening.
“In the Gorge itself, I never heard of any herring actually coming back last year,” said Andrew Paine, founder of the Salish Sea Herring Enhancement Society.
“We did lots of visits around the Gorge during spawning season. It is pretty disheartening we didn’t see any spawning activity in the Gorge.”
Paine said multiple factors could be contributing to the decline including commercial overfishing, especially when pregnant females are targeted for their prized roe, a practice he sees as effectively eliminating future generations before they are even born.
Another issue Paine points to is an abundance of creosote-treated wood pilings which he says kill herring eggs.
“We witnessed billions of eggs dying on the creosote pilings last year,” he said. “We went when the spawning was happening which is a really incredible experience. In the kelp and eel grass they hatched and that was it. On the creosote pilings they died.”
Creosote, a preservative added to wood in some commercial marine applications including docks and marine structures, leeches chemicals into the water which harms fish roe, he said.
“It’s the toxic shock, the chemicals that leech out. They have done studies on it so there is evidence there,” Paine said.
It doesn’t kill all marine life though – a federal environmental assessment of Craigflower bridge last year found higher densities of oysters at the piling than other areas of the Gorge.
Paine and a group of volunteers are targeting a technique focused on enhancing the fish habitat by covering the wood with a landscaping cloth, shielding roe from direct contact.
They will test the technique on herring stock in the Saanich Inlet first. Paine says a similar technique, coupled with information gathered from proper monitoring, may help the Gorge bounce back.
“The herring are the building blocks pretty much of our whole ecosystem. The herring feed the salmon, they feed the ling cod they feed the seals, that feeds the orcas and everything,” Paine said.
“(They) really are a keystone species in our ecosystem. It is really sad we are losing populations like the Gorge herring. Once they are gone, are they ever going to come back?”
For more information visit worldfish.org.
alim@vicnews.com
http://www.vicnews.com/news/
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