May 19, 2013


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- CRD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETS WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY
DEADLINE 24 MAY TO SUBMIT MCLOUGHLIN COMMENTS FOR ESQUIMALT REZONING

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CRD SEWAGE NEWS

EDITORIAL: A NEW FACE ON SEWAGE PLAN
PANEL APPROVES $50,000 FOR SEWAGE PR
VICTORIA POLICE AND MARINA PR FIRM TAPPED TO TAKE ON SEWAGE- BURNSIDE LANDS GIVEN OFFICIAL THUMBS DOWN FOR VICTORIA SEWAGE FACILITIES
SALISH SEA 2014 ECOSYSTEM CONFERENCE

LETTERS

A BETTER SEWAGE TREATMENT PLAN IS NEEDED TO JUSTIFY COSTS (Atwell)
FEAR CREATED BY SLUDGE PLANT IS UNHEALTHY FOR BUSINESS (Burton-Krahn)
SEWAGE PLANS IGNORE SITE ON BURNSIDE ROAD (Ferri)
MANY REASONS TO AVOID SEWAGE TREATMENT (Karpes)
TIME COSTS MONEY FOR SEWAGE TREATMENT (Marks)

 - SEND IN YOUR LETTERS!

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ACTION:

UPCOMING ACTIONS: 

To sign up to say something at the CRD meeting, 

CRD PLANNING COMMISSION MEETS WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY

Planning, Transportation and Protective Services Committee
Meets Wednesday, May 22, 2013, 1:30 p.m.

Agenda Item 7. Regional Sustainability Strategy – Update:  Regional Growth Strategy Review Report:

Feedback excerpt:

• Extensive discussion occurred regarding the potential impact of the sewage treatment plant on Esquimalt.  In particular, there is a need/desire on the part of Esquimalt to concentrate residential growth close to jobs but there is concern that no one will want to develop near a sewage treatment plant.

• Concern was expressed that the CRD is telling the municipalities what to do.  Concern was also expressed that Esquimalt is often forgotten by the region and that the municipality bears an unfair share of negative impacts due to stigma of sewage treatment plant (e.g., negative impact on finances, etc.) without adequate offsetting benefits. (page 21)

FROM: Agenda#7-RSS-RGS Review Report: Municipal Councils Feedback:
http://www.crd.bc.ca/reports/planningtransportati_/2013_/05may22_/index.htm

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DEADLINE 24 MAY TO SUBMIT MCLOUGHLIN COMMENTS FOR ESQUIMALT REZONING

SUBMIT YOUR CONCERNS WITH ESQUIMALT ONLINE FORM: 


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BANNER WAVE CALENDAR &  EVENTS CALENDAR

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DOWNLOAD STOPABADPLAN  ESQUIMALT SLUDGE PLANT FACTSHEET


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PAST ACTIONS

VIDEO MADE & DISTRIBUTED OF MCLOUGHLIN NEIGHBOURHOOD AREA, 8 MAY

Go to our STOP A BAD PLAN FACEBOOK PAGE TO SEE NEW VIDEOS AND NEWS - DAILY!

The CRD wants to shoehorn half of a sewage facility onto McLoughlin Pt but where it is in Esquimalt?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqQ_IqFJrDs&hd=1

Driving directions used in the filming:

http://goo.gl/maps/lYoGf


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CRD SEWAGE NEWS

EDITORIAL: A NEW FACE ON SEWAGE PLAN

TIMES COLONIST
MAY 18, 2013

It will take more than a public-relations firm to make legions of opponents learn to love Greater Victoria’s sewage-treatment project.

Staff of the Capital Regional District have recommended that Acumen Communications Group be paid as much as $50,000 to come up with a communications plan and do other work on the $783-million project.

Acumen president Kim Van Bruggen has had some notable successes, including rebranding the Victoria Police as VicPD as part of a campaign that revamped its recruiting strategy and secured funding for 19 new officers. This job promises to be much harder.

Van Bruggen argues that opponents don’t have enough facts about the sewage project, but for most of the critics the only fact that matters is that the system is being built. They think the whole thing is unnecessary. Period.

The two sides in that debate have marshalled volumes of facts. Nothing short of divine revelation is going to change their minds.

Added to the anger of those opponents is Esquimalt’s outrage over the proposal to build a biosolids-processing plant on Viewfield Road in a residential and light-industrial area. Esquimalt is being saddled with both the main sewage plant and the biosolids facility — against its will.

After the communication disasters that have marked the project so far, hiring a firm now is just going to make the aggrieved residents think they are being played.

Van Bruggen correctly says that public consultation is important. It’s unlikely that Esquimalt would ever be happy with the biosolids plant, but discussion beforehand might have blunted some of the anger.

If the CRD thinks that new logos and slogans will fix this mess, Van Bruggen must convince sewage commissioners that they need changes that go much deeper.

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorial-a-new-face-on-sewage-plan-1.191216

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PANEL APPROVES $50,000 FOR SEWAGE PR

Times Colonist
18 May 2013, page A4

Greater Victoria’s sewage commission approved up to $50,000 Friday to hire a communications company for the sewage treatment megaproject.

Chairwoman Brenda Eaton said the Capital Regional District sewage commission voted to approve a contract with Victoriabased Acumen Communications Group.

“They will look at all of the coverage to do and work with us to figure out what kind of information we need to get out to fill in the gaps of people’s knowledge,” said Eaton, who sits on a number of prominent boards and was once former premier Gordon Campbell’s deputy minister.

The communications work won’t be an attempt to influence public support for the idea of sewage treatment, she said.

“That’s not our intention at all. We are a panel of experts and we deal in facts, and our intention will be to put out basic information.”

Acumen helped rebrand Victoria police as “VicPD” as well as counter criticism of the Victoria International Marina project and helped provide publicity for the Island Corridor Foundation’s E&N rail line.

The commission of civilian experts was established by the provincial and federal governments in exchange for sharing a total of two-thirds of the $783-million project budget.

Its civilian members, who are experts in sewage treatment, construction and project financing, handle day-to-day decision-making on project procurement instead of politicians on the CRD sewage committee.

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VICTORIA POLICE AND MARINA PR FIRM TAPPED TO TAKE ON SEWAGE

ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST
MAY 16, 2013

The Victoria communications firm that helped rebrand VicPD and save the Victoria International Marina project is being tapped to make over the region’s controversial sewage-treatment project.

Acumen Communications Group is being recommended for up to $50,000 in communications work for the Capital Regional District’s sewage-treatment project.

A commission of civilian experts that handles day-to-day decision making on the sewage project will vote on the contract today.

CRD staff are recommending that commissioners authorize paying $17,475 to Acumen for a communications plan and additional services that might be required, until November, for a total of up to $50,000.

The $783-million regional sewage-treatment project is unpopular among some in the region, who argue land-based treatment is unnecessary, the CRD is pursuing the wrong plan and the location of proposed facilities — most recently a plan for a biosolids plant on Viewfield Road in Esquimalt — will harm local communities.

Acumen president Kim Van Bruggen said she has heard opposition from some, but argued people aren’t getting all the facts about the project.

“I'm very much an advocate, as well, for public consultation and engagement and people being able to see and understand and get the facts,” she said. “When there’s a lot of rhetoric and emotion around, sometimes the whole picture doesn’t always [come] through.”

Acumen hasn’t started its communications strategy for sewage treatment yet — Van Bruggen said she’ll need to meet with the CRD first.

The Victoria Police Department turned to Acumen in 2008, while struggling to repair its public image in the wake of the resignation of former chief Paul Battershill.

“We were there for some pretty difficult times,” said Van Bruggen. “It was the first time a civilian communications person had been involved with them, basically.”

Acumen helped police get city funding for 19 new officers — the largest one-time boost in the department’s history. Later, it rebranded the department as “VicPD,” and refreshed its recruitment materials to help it compete with Vancouver police and the RCMP for new officers, said Van Bruggen.

The firm was also involved in the “get the facts” campaign for the Victoria International Marina project on the north shore of Victoria Harbour, which overcame public criticism to eventually get municipal and federal approval.

Her firm also worked on a publicity campaign for the Island Corridor Foundation, which successfully sought federal money for E&N rail repairs.

Acumen’s clients include the B.C. government, which mandated sewage treatment for Greater Victoria. The firm was paid $47,806 for government services in fiscal 2011-12, according to public records.

http://www.timescolonist.com/victoria-police-and-marina-pr-firm-tapped-to-take-on-sewage-1.180273



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Seems odd that sewage + sludge treatment at Burnside location (6 kms from Macaulay PS and at 20 metres elevation) would increase capital cost 23% & operating cost 5% more than pumping sludge slurry all the way to Hartland (18 kms, 180 metres)?


BURNSIDE LANDS GIVEN OFFICIAL THUMBS DOWN FOR VICTORIA SEWAGE FACILITIES

Victoria News
May 12, 2013 7:45 PM

The idea of building both the Capital Region sewage treatment plant and the biosolids energy centre on a rural site near Victoria General Hospital was rejected by the CRD board last week.

Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins brought a motion to consider the proposal to last Wednesday's full board meeting, after she was approached by a landowner willing to sell property at 1947 Burnside Rd. W., near the junction with Prospect Lake Road.

The discussions happened behind closed doors, given their relationship to the sale of land, but the board determined it would release the results of the vote due to high public interest in the matter.

Preliminary estimates by CRD staff determined that moving the project to the Burnside site – two additional large pumping stations and many kilometres more pipes would be required – would increase the overall cost by 23 per cent to $962.7 million. Operating costs would be an estimated $734,000 higher per year.

Besides the cost factor, the board rejected the idea on the grounds that it would require removal of the lands from the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Existing plans call for the treatment facility to be built at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt, while the location of the biosolids plant has yet to be determined. Sites on Viewfield Road in Esquimalt and at the Hartland Landfill are being considered for that facility.

For information on the CRD’s Core Area Wastewater Treatment Program, please visit crd.bc.ca/wastewater/madeclear.htm.


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SALISH SEA 2014 ECOSYSTEM CONFERENCE

April 30 - May 2, 2014
Washington State Convention & Trade Center 
Seattle, Washington

Save the date for this important conference next spring. As we get closer to the date we will be using this site to post information about Registration, our Leadership and Sponsors, and past conferences.

The Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference is the largest most comprehensive event of its kind in the region. The purpose of the conference is to assemble scientists, First Nations and tribal government representatives, resource managers, community/business leaders, policy makers, educators and students to present the latest scientific research on the state of the ecosystem, and to guide future actions for protecting and restoring the Salish Sea Ecosystem. 

To accomplish its purpose, the conference will feature plenary sessions with keynote speakers, concurrent sessions featuring oral presentations, poster presentations, workshops, frequent opportunities for informal networking, and related off-program events.


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LETTERS

A BETTER SEWAGE TREATMENT PLAN IS NEEDED TO JUSTIFY COSTS (Atwell)

Victoria News
May 17, 2013 4:50 PM

The recent letter, (Time costs money for sewage treatment, letters, May 15) is steeped in the notion that our present sewage system is a health risk and more expensive to build if we wait. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A letter to the editor printed Feb. 24, 2008 was penned by six current and former public health officers holding top positions within the province, VIHA and CRD.

They stated: “The undersigned public health officials (current and former) wish to make it clear that there is no measurable public health risk from Victoria’s current method of offshore liquid waste disposal. There have been claims to the contrary, but the facts do not support these claims.”

A second misnomer from that letter and something that we hear repeated by opponents of any delay to obtain a workable plan, including politicians alike, is that by waiting, the cost of the system will be higher but only the capital costs are ever compared.

In the 1992 CRD referendum on sewage treatment, the cost of secondary treatment was estimated at $518 million to be split 50/50 with the provincial government.

Half of that sum, $259 million becomes $408 million in 2012 dollars and when you add the estimated $54 million/year operating costs cited in that referendum over the last 20 years, which would have cost $1 billion and then conservatively add $300-400 million in interest payments from that six to eight per cent interest era, I estimate a cost savings of $1.6 billion by not building the system 20 years ago.

Imagine sucking that amount of money out of our economy over the last 20 years. Now imagine sucking more than $2 billion over the next 25 year as the CRD plan will do for very little benefit.

A better plan is needed to justify the cost.

Richard Atwell
Saanich

http://www.vicnews.com/opinion/letters/207951051.html

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FEAR CREATED BY SLUDGE PLANT IS UNHEALTHY FOR BUSINESS (Burton-Krahn)

Victoria News
May 14, 2013

Re: Commercial tenants worry about effects of sludge plant (News, May 10)

Although no final decision has been made on whether or not Viewfield Road will be the location for the proposed sewage sludge plant, serious damage has already been done by this hastily made, poorly thought-out decision.

Introducing fear into any economy can have negative side effects; introducing it into the economy of a small municipality can have very dangerous fallout. Fear breeds more fear and as one business talks about moving out, so does another and another.

On top of that, from the other side, you have developers fearful of doing business in Esquimalt due to the ‘possibility’ of a sludge plant at Viewfield.

I know of two occasions where developers have backed away based on the fear and uncertainty created by this decision on the part of the Capital Regional District.

With the exception of a couple of directors at the CRD, most of them sadly lack the depth and breadth of critical analysis necessary for a project of this magnitude. Time and time again they show that.

Purchasing Viewfield and fomenting fear is a classic example.

We can do better.  We need to do better.

Beth Burton-Krahn
Esquimalt

http://www.vicnews.com/opinion/letters/207468001.html


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SEWAGE PLANS IGNORE SITE ON BURNSIDE ROAD (Ferri)

TIMES COLONIST 
MAY 14, 2013
     
Re: “CRD: Sewage plan in line with growth strategy,” May 11.

The Capital Regional District recently declared that the current sewage plan adheres to the principles of the regional growth strategy. However, the four pillars of the strategy have clearly not been met: sustainability (being wise with resources), appropriateness (making sure development fits with local communities), continuity (listening to ideas of individuals and community associations), and co-operation, collaboration and co-ordination (all governments working together).

The proposed choice of Viewfield Road as the location for industrial sludge processing is completely inappropriate with respect to adjacent land uses. This site was chosen without any consultation with immediate residents, businesses or community associations, all of which have loudly rejected the proposal.

Viewfield is being considered because the area at McLoughlin Point is too small for both liquid and sludge treatment plants. McLoughlin is also poorly located to optimize heat recovery and will be at capacity by 2030. It’s obvious that the current fragmented configuration of this “centralized” model is not a poster child for sustainability.

A better location has been found on Burnside Road that is large enough to accommodate the entire treatment system, while allowing future expansion and surrounding development to be properly buffered from the plant. There are also significant opportunities for resource recovery. However, the CRD has refused to thoroughly assess this possibility, even though it could have far better outcomes for regional sustainability.

The current sewage plan clearly does not meet the strategy’s principles. The region deserves better.

Filippo Ferri
Esquimalt


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MANY REASONS TO AVOID SEWAGE TREATMENT (Karpes)

Victoria News
May 14, 2013 

Re: Enough reasons exist not to build sewage plant (Letters, April 26)

In his letter Ted Dew-Jones listed seven reasons that discredit the idea that Victoria needs a land-based sewage treatment plant.

I not only agree with him whole-heartedly but I think he could have added a few more things that should negate the whole bizarre idea of this project. Some additional things that everyone doesn’t even think about are:

•Are we going to build a billion dollar sewage treatment system to treat all the things that are currently going down our sewer pipe? Not water or water soluble items.

•The proposed sewage treatment plant will only eliminate solid waste. All liquid waste and water soluble products will continue to be pumped directly into the ocean.

Many of the items that we think should be excluded from going into the ocean will in fact still go there. All of the water and water soluble products will continue to be sent directly to the ocean as it is now.

•A vast portion of the solid waste that they are planning to remove from our sewers is in fact edible green garbage which we put into our garburator systems and is perfectly edible for the sea life.

How much of the “solid waste” would not have to be treated if all municipalities instigated a green waste collection program? Do we have to spend over a billion dollars to do this?

• New programs should be set up to help us to return the “sewage system” back to what it was originally intended to be used for.

• Programs should be set up to explain to us how to eliminate some of these things that many of us put into our sewers.

• Unused pills and medical items should be easier to return to any pharmacy, not just the one where you bought them.

• Just because latex paint is water soluble doesn’t mean you should wash your paint tools into the sewage system.

• If the label has come off the paint container it’s not accept it at the recycle depots. Should we have to put everything in one can with a label or throw it into our garbage?

• Who needs pink toilet paper? Don’t use bleached or coloured paper. Use unbleached paper, it does the same job and is cheaper to manufacture. It keeps it out of our sewers.

Johannes Karpes
Victoria


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TIME COSTS MONEY FOR SEWAGE TREATMENT (Marks)

Victoria News
May 14, 2013 4:26 PM

A few weeks ago a volunteer arrived at my door seeking donations to support UNICEF water purification projects.

This dedicated youth explained that untreated sewage and poor sanitation is the leading cause of illness and death in many developing nations.

Imagine her surprise when I informed her that here in the Garden City, this beautiful capital city, we don’t treat our sewage – we discharge our sewage (containing millions of disease-causing bacteria and other pollutants into the ocean).

This is a true story, of which I am painfully familiar. There is a smaller coastal community, about 15,000 residents, facing the same issue. For more than 30 years, residents and opposition groups took actions that delayed building a sewer system and treatment facility.

Study after study was completed; and project after project was proposed, designed, financed, then abandoned when a new slate of decision-makers was elected.

The technical details of each project varied little. Let’s face it, there are only a handful of ways to collect and treat sewage.

One consistency remained – each project was significantly more expensive than the last due to the passage of time and increased costs of construction. After defaulting on government loans, the governing agency filed bankruptcy.  Eventually, the $48M project became a $220M project and the local homeowners were saddled with monthly rates exceeding $200.

A modern and well-maintained sewage treatment facility is the most significant piece of infrastructure in a community, protecting both public health and the environment.

After all, it takes a foul waste, extracts resources and renders the remainder harmless. I could be proud of that.

I hope our elected decision makers will move forward to complete the sewage treatment facility and turn this issue into one of community pride.

Sorrel Marks
Oak Bay



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