Investors who own a 3.4-hectare waterfront site at Thetis Cove in View Royal have wasted no time in trying to reignite interest in their property for a regional sewage treatment plant.
In a full-page ad in the Times Colonist Tuesday directed at Capital Regional District directors and concerned citizens, the ownership group touts the former Victoria Plywood mill site as “ideal for Victoria’s sewage treatment and biosolids energy centre.”
The property at the end of Hallowell Road is zoned for residential development.
“It’s apparent, to us anyway, that it’s ideally and uniquely suited for the purposes of the CRD,” said Walt Neufeld, of Great Pacific Mortgage and Investments, who is an officer and director of the numbered company that owns the site located behind Admiral’s Walk Shopping Centre.
“So, we thought we’d put that in front of the CRD again,” Neufeld said.
“They’ve got a few new mayors and a few new CRD directors. I think they should revisit the site.”
But View Royal Mayor David Screech said a sewage treatment plant on the site is a non-starter and that it’s totally contrary to the town’s Official Community Plan.
Screech said he was “absolutely astonished” to see the ad, given that town staff had been working with the owners to try to get the proposed residential development up and going.
“It’s not the right site for a sewage treatment plant. It’s already been evaluated once by the CRD and discounted. … It’s just not an appropriate site at all,” he said.
Neufeld concedes that the site is zoned residential but said it’s historical use has been industrial. He noted that the site met nine of 10 selection criteria in a 2010 core area liquid waste report, surpassing all other identified sites.
“It’s uniquely situated where it’s on the water,” he said. “You can barge from it. The West Shore treatment could run under the harbour and easily pipe to this site. It’s on a rail line. It’s near a traffic artery. The historical use has been industrial.”
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, who will be standing for CRD chairwoman at the board’s inaugural meeting today, said the property owners should meet with the community drumming up support.
“They need to go through normal public process and, if they are wanting to float an idea, they probably should be going to the community and saying what is it we can do within the community and would you be willing to look at this,” Desjardins said.
“At the end of the day, it’s how you bring it forward and how the community accepts it that makes something happen. We learned that painfully through the McLoughlin [Point] site.”
The CRD has examined Thetis Cove, but ruled it out saying it is not large enough, zoned residential and too close to homes.
The property was being marketed last year by Colliers International in Victoria at a list price of $15 million. That listing expired.
Neufeld declined to disclose the current asking price.
The CRD’s plans for a regional sewage treatment plant at Esquimalt’s McLoughlin Point hit a roadblock when Esquimalt refused to rezone the site and the province declined to overturn the decision.
Plans for a number of smaller sub-regional plants are being developed under the CRD umbrella.
