CRD SEWAGE NEWS 17 August
Audio-Visual News:
Audio-Visual News:
- Desjardins on CFAX 11 August
- Desjardins, Hamilton & Young on CFAX
- Alto on CFAX
- GEOFF YOUNG ON CFAX
- Desjardins on CFAX 14 Aug
- Atwell on CFAX 15 Aug
- The RITE Plan's Youtube Channel
News stories:
- Desjardins, Hamilton & Young on CFAX
- Alto on CFAX
- GEOFF YOUNG ON CFAX
- Desjardins on CFAX 14 Aug
- Atwell on CFAX 15 Aug
- The RITE Plan's Youtube Channel
News stories:
- Sewage mail-out plan down the tube?
- SEATERRA DEALT ANOTHER BLOW
- Statement from Mayor Desjardins Regarding Siting of Sewage Treatment Plant
- Is McLoughlin sewage plant dead? Politicians all over the map
LETTERS:
- Put sewage plant on Royal Roads property (Dalton)
- Sewage controversy reason for amalgamation (Ellegood)
SEND IN YOUR LETTERS!
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- Sewage controversy reason for amalgamation (Ellegood)
SEND IN YOUR LETTERS!
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CRD SEWAGE NEWS
Audio-Visual News:
Desjardins on CFAX 11 August
Mayor of Esquimalt, Barb Desjardins was on CFAX 1070 this morning with Alan Perry (filling in for Frank Stanford):
http://theriteplan.ca/media/
Topics: the next CRD meeting, sewage flyer and amalgamation.
http://theriteplan.ca/media/
Topics: the next CRD meeting, sewage flyer and amalgamation.
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Here's today's incredible CFAX interview of 12 August with Mayor of Langford Stew Young, Mayor of Esquimalt Barb Desjardins and Mayor of Colwood Carol Hamilton:
Millions wasted by CRD.
For the $65m spent to date, you could have built the Saanich Peninsula Wastewater Treatment Plant and pipes and pump stations that lead to it...
TWICE!
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Alto on CFAX
Victoria Councillor and CRD Director Marianne Alto was on CFAX 1070 yesterday (Mon) with Terry Moore talking up amalgamation and sewage:
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GEOFF YOUNG ON CFAX
Victoria Councillor and CRD Sewage Committee Chair Geoff Young was on CFAX with Terry Moore at 5:30pm.
http://theriteplan.ca/media/
Geoff Young refuses the believe there could be a cheaper way to build a sewage treatment system in this region (even though all CRD's data is 5 years old and when the construction cost estimates were at 2008 highs).
He maybe right, he maybe wrong. We're not 100% sure at this point but we have a pretty good idea studying what others have done.
Either way, we have to find out the cost because the CRD has never done it but my advice to Young would be to tone down the rhetoric and give yourself some room to be surprised.
Young also said, "I believe that requiring the CRD to do things by consensus with the concurrence of every municipality, means that we can't be a real government".
Well, that's a very interesting statement for a couple of reasons...
1) http://www.bcassessment.ca/
"The CRD is a federation of 13 incorporated municipalities and three electoral areas"
2) http://www.merriam-webster.
"Federation - an organization that is made by loosely joining together smaller organizations"
So what is the basic problem here? The idea that the CRD should be able to overrule a municipality is merely an attitude and perspective.
The CRD is a federation of that must work cooperatively. It does not have the authority to rezone property belonging to member municipalities but that's the approach it took when it decided early on to rely on the Province to rezone it for them.
The CRD made these plans using staff advice (perhaps even legal advice) that relied upon powers that it didn't have that resided in the Ministry of Environment that they expected the Ministry to invoke.
They bet the farm on this and it all came crashing down when the LWMP guidelines stated, "The two primary objectives for LWMPs are to protect public health and the environment and to properly consult the public." which the CRD ignored at its own peril.
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/
Will the staff get a pass on their advice that wasted $49m? That's a pretty big mistake that has cost taxpayers dearly.
Finally, the topic of the CRD's credibility came up towards the end of the show...
Terry Moore:
"So, here's the other thing. Is the CRD losing its overall credibility because of this bickering that's going back and forth and the way we're playing the game here?"
Geoff Young:
"I think it was gutted on May 27th by the letter from the Province. I think that meaningful regional government ceased on that day and we became little more than a debating society doing things by cooperation and consensus".
I disagree.
The CRD is a real government that can make real decisions but lost its way and perhaps fell victim to delusions of grandeure thinking that it had more authority than it really had.
It's staff and some of its politicians got so "drunk" on this sewage project that it forgot that with authority, often comes a higher authority to keep it in check and that's what happened when the Province stepped in by not stepping in.
Well, that's a very interesting statement for a couple of reasons...
1) http://www.bcassessment.ca/
"The CRD is a federation of 13 incorporated municipalities and three electoral areas"
2) http://www.merriam-webster.
"Federation - an organization that is made by loosely joining together smaller organizations"
So what is the basic problem here? The idea that the CRD should be able to overrule a municipality is merely an attitude and perspective.
The CRD is a federation of that must work cooperatively. It does not have the authority to rezone property belonging to member municipalities but that's the approach it took when it decided early on to rely on the Province to rezone it for them.
The CRD made these plans using staff advice (perhaps even legal advice) that relied upon powers that it didn't have that resided in the Ministry of Environment that they expected the Ministry to invoke.
They bet the farm on this and it all came crashing down when the LWMP guidelines stated, "The two primary objectives for LWMPs are to protect public health and the environment and to properly consult the public." which the CRD ignored at its own peril.
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/
Will the staff get a pass on their advice that wasted $49m? That's a pretty big mistake that has cost taxpayers dearly.
Finally, the topic of the CRD's credibility came up towards the end of the show...
Terry Moore:
"So, here's the other thing. Is the CRD losing its overall credibility because of this bickering that's going back and forth and the way we're playing the game here?"
Geoff Young:
"I think it was gutted on May 27th by the letter from the Province. I think that meaningful regional government ceased on that day and we became little more than a debating society doing things by cooperation and consensus".
I disagree.
The CRD is a real government that can make real decisions but lost its way and perhaps fell victim to delusions of grandeure thinking that it had more authority than it really had.
It's staff and some of its politicians got so "drunk" on this sewage project that it forgot that with authority, often comes a higher authority to keep it in check and that's what happened when the Province stepped in by not stepping in.
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Desjardins on CFAX 14 Aug
Mayor of Esquimalt Barb Desjardins was on CFAX 1070 this morning with Al Ferraby to talk about the cancellation of the CRD bribe flyer: http://theriteplan.ca/media/
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Atwell on CFAX 15 Aug
Here's my interview on CFAX 1070 that wrapped up the Esquimalt flyer episode:
I played a great clip from Mayor of View Royal Graham Hill from Wed's meeting as well as Mayor of Colwood Carol Hamilton and Langford Councillor Lanny Seaton reading motions that their councils will not be supporting the $18.9m bribe.
At the end of the show, I highlight how the biggest news of that day, the letter from Minister Lebel's commitment to funding sewage projects and his invitation to select a new site, was downplayed by the committee.
I could get upset with this buffet approach to presenting information to inform decision making but it's been an issue from the early days of this project.
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RITE Plan's Youtube Channel
Frequently updated with the most vital and interesting snippets that show the best and the worst of the CRD's sewage planning process
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News stories:
Sewage mail-out plan down the tube?
Opposition within CRD may doom plan to make a pitch directly to Esquimalt residents
LINDSAY KINES
Times Colonist
12 Aug 2014 page A3
The Capital Regional District has hit the pause button on plans to mail out a flyer that asks Esquimalt residents to reconsider their rejection of a sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point.
Esquimalt council refused to approve a CRD proposal for a sewage plant at the site, and the B.C. government declined to overrule the township. So CRD directors voted last month to go directly to Esquimalt voters and offer to cover their share of building costs.
In exchange for hosting a plant at McLoughlin Point, Esquimalt residents would save $19 million or about $200 a year over 25 years for every household, the CRD says. But support for the offer and the mail-out appears to be crumbling. The offer requires the support of five of seven municipalities on the Core Area Liquid Management Committee that includes Esquimalt, Langford, Oak Bay, Saanich, Victoria, View Royal and Colwood.
Langford has already said it opposes the strategy, while Esquimalt has sent the CRD a scathing letter calling the offer “misleading and without legal authority.”
Esquimalt council passed a resolution last month opposing any use of taxpayers’ money to send mail-outs to residents in an apparent effort to undermine the decisions of duly elected officials.
“The township views such actions by the Capital Regional District to be highly inappropriate,” the motion said.
In light of the opposition, CRD board chairman Alastair Bryson put a hold on the flyers until the board and sewage committee have confirmed their support for the strategy.
The matter is slated to come up for debate Wednesday.
CRD staff is recommending the board push ahead, but Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said the CRD has no business making an offer to Esquimalt residents until it has the authority to do so.
“Are they going to get the authority to actually go forward and make that offer?” she said. “Don’t do something that provides information to the residents until you actually have an offer to provide to residents.”
Colwood, meanwhile, is the latest to signal that it’s unlikely to support the $19-million offer. Mayor Carol Hamilton said her council considers it a poor strategy.
“Primarily, those monies offered up to Esquimalt would come at the [expense] of taxpayers of Colwood and Langford and View Royal and those municipalities,” she said.
Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, who chairs the CRD liquid waste committee, acknowledged that other municipalities will cover Esquimalt’s share. But he noted that some of the amenities previously promised to Esquimalt are “off the table.”
For instance, the CRD would no longer have to spend large sums of money to barge materials to McLoughlin Point for little benefit. “So there’s really a substantial savings in real costs that can be devoted to providing a direct benefit to Esquimalt citizens,” he said.
Young also argued that Langford, Colwood and other municipalities could end up paying far more for a replacement site if McLoughlin Point falls through.
“I would say to the Langford council: ‘It’s too soon for you to say this is not a good offer. You may find, and I suspect you will find, that the cost to you of making this offer is very, very small relative to the costs you will be bearing under those other scenarios.”
Opposition within CRD may doom plan to make a pitch directly to Esquimalt residents
LINDSAY KINES
Times Colonist
12 Aug 2014 page A3
The Capital Regional District has hit the pause button on plans to mail out a flyer that asks Esquimalt residents to reconsider their rejection of a sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point.
Esquimalt council refused to approve a CRD proposal for a sewage plant at the site, and the B.C. government declined to overrule the township. So CRD directors voted last month to go directly to Esquimalt voters and offer to cover their share of building costs.
In exchange for hosting a plant at McLoughlin Point, Esquimalt residents would save $19 million or about $200 a year over 25 years for every household, the CRD says. But support for the offer and the mail-out appears to be crumbling. The offer requires the support of five of seven municipalities on the Core Area Liquid Management Committee that includes Esquimalt, Langford, Oak Bay, Saanich, Victoria, View Royal and Colwood.
Langford has already said it opposes the strategy, while Esquimalt has sent the CRD a scathing letter calling the offer “misleading and without legal authority.”
Esquimalt council passed a resolution last month opposing any use of taxpayers’ money to send mail-outs to residents in an apparent effort to undermine the decisions of duly elected officials.
“The township views such actions by the Capital Regional District to be highly inappropriate,” the motion said.
In light of the opposition, CRD board chairman Alastair Bryson put a hold on the flyers until the board and sewage committee have confirmed their support for the strategy.
The matter is slated to come up for debate Wednesday.
CRD staff is recommending the board push ahead, but Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said the CRD has no business making an offer to Esquimalt residents until it has the authority to do so.
“Are they going to get the authority to actually go forward and make that offer?” she said. “Don’t do something that provides information to the residents until you actually have an offer to provide to residents.”
Colwood, meanwhile, is the latest to signal that it’s unlikely to support the $19-million offer. Mayor Carol Hamilton said her council considers it a poor strategy.
“Primarily, those monies offered up to Esquimalt would come at the [expense] of taxpayers of Colwood and Langford and View Royal and those municipalities,” she said.
Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, who chairs the CRD liquid waste committee, acknowledged that other municipalities will cover Esquimalt’s share. But he noted that some of the amenities previously promised to Esquimalt are “off the table.”
For instance, the CRD would no longer have to spend large sums of money to barge materials to McLoughlin Point for little benefit. “So there’s really a substantial savings in real costs that can be devoted to providing a direct benefit to Esquimalt citizens,” he said.
Young also argued that Langford, Colwood and other municipalities could end up paying far more for a replacement site if McLoughlin Point falls through.
“I would say to the Langford council: ‘It’s too soon for you to say this is not a good offer. You may find, and I suspect you will find, that the cost to you of making this offer is very, very small relative to the costs you will be bearing under those other scenarios.”
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SEATERRA DEALT ANOTHER BLOW
Jordan Bateman
Jordan Bateman
Canadian Taxpayers Federation Blog
12 August 2014
It looks like some Capital Regional District communities are wising up to just how invasive – and stupid – it would be to try and overrule a duly-elected government by sending letters to Esquimalt residents pitching them on the Seaterra sewage project.
The Times Colonist today reports that no CRD letters have gone out yet, and it appears they likely won’t. Esquimalt, Langford and Colwood have already formally rejected the CRD’s planned mail assault – meaning it can’t hit the needed target of five cities.
The T-C, unfortunately, is still reporting the CRD’s flawed numbers:
In exchange for hosting a plant at McLoughlin Point, Esquimalt residents would save $19 million or about $200 a year over 25 years for every household, the CRD says.
But the CTF released numbers last month showing any “saving” would be far less for Esquimalt taxpayers:
As for Esquimalt, the savings are nowhere near as much as the CRD claims. Over the first six years of the project, Esquimalt’s sewage tax hike would drop from a total of $1,640 to $1,480. That’s a drop of roughly a twoonie a month for those first six years.
And the ongoing annual tax bill increase for the fully built plan would drop by $80 a year to $430 annually. Some deal: instead of Esquimalt taxes going up $510 a year, it will be “only” $430. And the CRD expects Esquimalt residents to be oh-so-grateful for this “generosity”?
Meanwhile, Colwood has figured it out: if Esquimalt pays less for this $800 million project, they’ll pay more. From the T-C:
Colwood, meanwhile, is the latest to signal that it’s unlikely to support the $19-million offer. Mayor Carol Hamilton said her council considers it a poor strategy.
“Primarily, those monies offered up to Esquimalt would come at the [expense] of taxpayers of Colwood and Langford and View Royal and those municipalities,” she said.
The Mayor is right. From our piece last month:
Over the first six years of the project, Victoria taxpayers can now expect to pay $1,920 in new sewage taxes – $680 more than the CRD’s lowballed prediction. That means as bad as the CRD’s predicted tax hike is, it’s going to be $110 a year worse for those first six years.
In year seven and beyond, once the Seaterra tax increases are fully phased-in, the annual sewage tax bill for a single family homeowner in Victoria will be $600 higher than it is today. That’s $50 more in sewage taxes per month, forever.
In Saanich, once the increases are phased in, property taxpayers will shell out $290 more a year. Oak Bay residents will pay at least $400 more per year. View Royal taxpayers are looking at a $320 annual increase, and Langford single family homeowners can expect roughly a $330 hike.
http://www.taxpayer.com/blog/
It looks like some Capital Regional District communities are wising up to just how invasive – and stupid – it would be to try and overrule a duly-elected government by sending letters to Esquimalt residents pitching them on the Seaterra sewage project.
The Times Colonist today reports that no CRD letters have gone out yet, and it appears they likely won’t. Esquimalt, Langford and Colwood have already formally rejected the CRD’s planned mail assault – meaning it can’t hit the needed target of five cities.
The T-C, unfortunately, is still reporting the CRD’s flawed numbers:
In exchange for hosting a plant at McLoughlin Point, Esquimalt residents would save $19 million or about $200 a year over 25 years for every household, the CRD says.
But the CTF released numbers last month showing any “saving” would be far less for Esquimalt taxpayers:
As for Esquimalt, the savings are nowhere near as much as the CRD claims. Over the first six years of the project, Esquimalt’s sewage tax hike would drop from a total of $1,640 to $1,480. That’s a drop of roughly a twoonie a month for those first six years.
And the ongoing annual tax bill increase for the fully built plan would drop by $80 a year to $430 annually. Some deal: instead of Esquimalt taxes going up $510 a year, it will be “only” $430. And the CRD expects Esquimalt residents to be oh-so-grateful for this “generosity”?
Meanwhile, Colwood has figured it out: if Esquimalt pays less for this $800 million project, they’ll pay more. From the T-C:
Colwood, meanwhile, is the latest to signal that it’s unlikely to support the $19-million offer. Mayor Carol Hamilton said her council considers it a poor strategy.
“Primarily, those monies offered up to Esquimalt would come at the [expense] of taxpayers of Colwood and Langford and View Royal and those municipalities,” she said.
The Mayor is right. From our piece last month:
Over the first six years of the project, Victoria taxpayers can now expect to pay $1,920 in new sewage taxes – $680 more than the CRD’s lowballed prediction. That means as bad as the CRD’s predicted tax hike is, it’s going to be $110 a year worse for those first six years.
In year seven and beyond, once the Seaterra tax increases are fully phased-in, the annual sewage tax bill for a single family homeowner in Victoria will be $600 higher than it is today. That’s $50 more in sewage taxes per month, forever.
In Saanich, once the increases are phased in, property taxpayers will shell out $290 more a year. Oak Bay residents will pay at least $400 more per year. View Royal taxpayers are looking at a $320 annual increase, and Langford single family homeowners can expect roughly a $330 hike.
http://www.taxpayer.com/blog/
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Statement from Mayor Desjardins Regarding Siting of Sewage Treatment PlantAugust 14, 2014
On CFAX this morning Geoff Young, Chair of the CRD Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee, gave the impression that a sewage treatment plant would be sited on the proposed Esquimalt Village Plan area beside Municipal Hall in Esquimalt.
In fact, Council has not recommended siting a sewage treatment plant at this location. The Township is exploring options with all participants under the CRD Liquid Waste Management Plan.
When the Cascadia Green Building Council approached the Township to embark on a global “Living Building” design competition for the Esquimalt Village Project, Council supported their initiative.
This will see design teams from around the world submit concepts for a “Living Building” and “Living Neighbourhood” in the heart of Esquimalt. This is a conceptual competition only and, again, Council has not recommended siting a sewage treatment plant in this location.
For more information, please contact:
Mayor Barbara Desjardins
250-883-1944
http://www.esquimalt.ca/news/
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Is McLoughlin sewage plant dead? Politicians all over the map
LINDSAY KINES
LINDSAY KINES
TIMES COLONIST
AUGUST 15, 2014
Esquimalt has spurned a sewage plant at McLoughlin Point, the provincial government has refused to overrule Esquimalt, and the Capital Regional District has rejected going directly to Esquimalt voters to get them to change their minds.
So is the sewage plant at McLoughlin Point officially dead?
Maybe. Maybe not. It depends whom you ask.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins says the CRD should drop the site now that its directors have decided against sending a mail-out to her residents.
The flyer would have explained the CRD’s offer to cover Esquimalt’s share of the building costs in exchange for hosting the sewage plant at McLoughlin Point. Esquimalt would save $19 million or about $200 a year for 25 years for every household, the CRD said.
CRD directors, however, scrapped the plan on Wednesday. A number said they were uncomfortable bypassing Esquimalt council and going directly to voters. Others argued that the CRD had no authority to make the offer, and that it was unlikely to receive the required support of five of seven municipalities on the liquid waste management committee.
“I really feel that this should end this and we need to come together and move forward,” Desjardins said.
She suggested the liquid waste management committee pass a recommendation “that there will be no further pursuit of McLoughlin Point as a site.”
“We continue to prolong the agony in the region,” she said.
But Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, who chairs the committee, said in an interview Thursday that the $19-million offer to Esquimalt is “still alive” even if the mail-out is dead.
He said Esquimalt residents and other councils might find McLoughlin Point and the offer more attractive once costs and locations of replacement sites become known.
He suggested that Desjardins likely wants the offer off the table because she faces re-election in November.
“I mean it just seems odd to me that you would be so certain that you know what is best for your citizens that you don’t even want the offer to exist,” he said.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be running against somebody who’s going to be saying, ‘Gosh, the CRD has made a pretty good offer.’ Basically, somebody would be running saying, ‘I don’t know how much Barb’s proposed treatment plant is going to cost, but I know that the one I will advocate accepting from the CRD will be free.’ ”
Desjardins countered that Young is being divisive and misrepresenting the facts, since the CRD never had authority to make the $19-million offer.
“If they get the authority and they do make the offer, Esquimalt will go through the normal public process, which includes a public hearing,” she said. “And, absolutely, we will be looking to the public for their response to the latest offer. It’s about how you go about that process.”
Desjardins said her biggest concern was that the CRD planned to use the mail-out to make an unauthorized pitch to her residents. “They still don’t have the authority, so where are we now?”
http://www.timescolonist.com/
AUGUST 15, 2014
Esquimalt has spurned a sewage plant at McLoughlin Point, the provincial government has refused to overrule Esquimalt, and the Capital Regional District has rejected going directly to Esquimalt voters to get them to change their minds.
So is the sewage plant at McLoughlin Point officially dead?
Maybe. Maybe not. It depends whom you ask.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins says the CRD should drop the site now that its directors have decided against sending a mail-out to her residents.
The flyer would have explained the CRD’s offer to cover Esquimalt’s share of the building costs in exchange for hosting the sewage plant at McLoughlin Point. Esquimalt would save $19 million or about $200 a year for 25 years for every household, the CRD said.
CRD directors, however, scrapped the plan on Wednesday. A number said they were uncomfortable bypassing Esquimalt council and going directly to voters. Others argued that the CRD had no authority to make the offer, and that it was unlikely to receive the required support of five of seven municipalities on the liquid waste management committee.
“I really feel that this should end this and we need to come together and move forward,” Desjardins said.
She suggested the liquid waste management committee pass a recommendation “that there will be no further pursuit of McLoughlin Point as a site.”
“We continue to prolong the agony in the region,” she said.
But Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, who chairs the committee, said in an interview Thursday that the $19-million offer to Esquimalt is “still alive” even if the mail-out is dead.
He said Esquimalt residents and other councils might find McLoughlin Point and the offer more attractive once costs and locations of replacement sites become known.
He suggested that Desjardins likely wants the offer off the table because she faces re-election in November.
“I mean it just seems odd to me that you would be so certain that you know what is best for your citizens that you don’t even want the offer to exist,” he said.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to be running against somebody who’s going to be saying, ‘Gosh, the CRD has made a pretty good offer.’ Basically, somebody would be running saying, ‘I don’t know how much Barb’s proposed treatment plant is going to cost, but I know that the one I will advocate accepting from the CRD will be free.’ ”
Desjardins countered that Young is being divisive and misrepresenting the facts, since the CRD never had authority to make the $19-million offer.
“If they get the authority and they do make the offer, Esquimalt will go through the normal public process, which includes a public hearing,” she said. “And, absolutely, we will be looking to the public for their response to the latest offer. It’s about how you go about that process.”
Desjardins said her biggest concern was that the CRD planned to use the mail-out to make an unauthorized pitch to her residents. “They still don’t have the authority, so where are we now?”
http://www.timescolonist.com/
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LETTERS
Put sewage plant on Royal Roads property (Dalton)
TIMES COLONIST
AUGUST 17, 2014
Re: “McLoughlin sewage plant dead? Politicians all over the map,” Aug. 15.
The time is long past to stop the debates on where to locate a sewage treatment plant for the Greater Victoria area. Since the federal government has led the push for a plant, why not look at an option on federal property?
Royal Roads lands include a large abandoned gravel pit, surrounded by buffering trees, far from any residential or historic properties, close to a substantial transportation corridor and near a number of high-volume water users including Westshore Recreation, Royal Colwood Golf Club, two schools, the Royal Bay development and the gardens in RRU — all of which could make great use of the treated waters for irrigation while cutting demand on drinkable water.
Surplus water could increase flows through the lagoon, and environmental studies and business programs at the university would have a first-hand ongoing case study into best practices and marketing of byproducts. The university could also save on energy costs by recovering waste heat from the treatment process while providing a potential revenue stream to help offset the operating costs of the plant. Both federal and B.C. Hydro grants could help the university install such equipment.
Pete Dalton
Victoria
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/put-sewage-plant-on-royal-roads-property-1.1315421
TIMES COLONIST
AUGUST 17, 2014
Re: “McLoughlin sewage plant dead? Politicians all over the map,” Aug. 15.
The time is long past to stop the debates on where to locate a sewage treatment plant for the Greater Victoria area. Since the federal government has led the push for a plant, why not look at an option on federal property?
Royal Roads lands include a large abandoned gravel pit, surrounded by buffering trees, far from any residential or historic properties, close to a substantial transportation corridor and near a number of high-volume water users including Westshore Recreation, Royal Colwood Golf Club, two schools, the Royal Bay development and the gardens in RRU — all of which could make great use of the treated waters for irrigation while cutting demand on drinkable water.
Surplus water could increase flows through the lagoon, and environmental studies and business programs at the university would have a first-hand ongoing case study into best practices and marketing of byproducts. The university could also save on energy costs by recovering waste heat from the treatment process while providing a potential revenue stream to help offset the operating costs of the plant. Both federal and B.C. Hydro grants could help the university install such equipment.
Pete Dalton
Victoria
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/put-sewage-plant-on-royal-roads-property-1.1315421
A 4 hectare sewage plant site imposed over .4 hectare gravel pit at Royal Roads.
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Sewage controversy reason for amalgamation (Ellegood)
Times Colonist,
August 11, 2014
Re: “Esquimalt rejects sewage ‘Goliath,’ ” April 8.
The refusal of Esquimalt to allow the changes to zoning setbacks (and the move to change the zoning altogether) so that the sewage-treatment plant can go ahead is just one more reason for amalgamation, as I see it from afar.
Paul Ellegood
Comox
http://www.amalgamationyes.ca/
Times Colonist,
August 11, 2014
Re: “Esquimalt rejects sewage ‘Goliath,’ ” April 8.
The refusal of Esquimalt to allow the changes to zoning setbacks (and the move to change the zoning altogether) so that the sewage-treatment plant can go ahead is just one more reason for amalgamation, as I see it from afar.
Paul Ellegood
Comox
http://www.amalgamationyes.ca/
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