Esquimalt residents were invited to an open house this week to see what $20 million in amenities for their municipality could look like — amenities that would come from being home to a regional sewage-treatment plant at McLoughlin Point.
Included in the mix is a $55,000 annual payment to an Esquimalt reserve fund in lieu of property taxes, as well as $7 million for waterfront parks, $5 million for community-recreation buildings and spaces, and $5 million for emergency services/public-safety facilities. Also part of the package are an upgraded pump station at Macaulay Point, upgraded air filters for local schools, $100,000 for public art, and road and sidewalk improvements.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said the air-filter upgrades would be added assurance that schools wouldn’t have issues with construction dust or particulates.
Desjardins and her council have yet to consider rezoning needed to bring the plant to McLoughlin Point. That responsibility was handed to Esquimalt in December following a decision by the Core Area Waste Water Treatment Project Board, a panel formed by B.C. Community Minister Peter Fassbender to oversee the development of a plant.
Council’s unanimous rejection of zoning variances at McLoughlin Point in 2014 ended a previous effort to have the plant built there.
Amenities valued at about $13 million were offered to Esquimalt at that time, but were concentrated in the area of the site itself. This time, the idea is to spread them around the municipality with more flexibility as to what is chosen, said Esquimalt Coun. Beth Burton-Krahn.
She likes how specific amounts of money would go to such things as waterfront parks.
“That’s where the public really weighs in,” Burton-Krahn said. “That’s really money for us as the township to invest back into our community.”
The amenities are a matter of “trying to make the best of something they didn’t see coming,” she said.
“We didn’t bring this site forward.”
The open house was held to get the public involved in the process, Desjardins said. That process will include a Feb. 6 council meeting to consider first and second readings of the required rezoning bylaws, a Feb. 20 public hearing and a Feb. 27 council meeting for a final decision on the rezoning issue.
“The time frame is a bit accelerated so we wanted people to have the heads-up as soon as possible, so that they can be watching for what’s coming forward and participate,” Desjardins said.
Esquimalt resident Kim Bellefontaine took in the open house and said that having the amenities distributed to a variety of places beyond McLoughlin Point is a good step.
“It makes lot more sense to use it for the greater benefit of the community,” she said.
Bellefontaine said the amenity package is the result of people making their voices heard as plans for the sewage-treatment have developed.
“It’s been quite a bit of a community battle to make something good happen.”
Duncan Cavens also likes the new approach, but is looking for more information.
“There needs to be a lot more detail and that’s all going to come out.”
Raegan Elford, who chairs the Esquimalt Residents Association, said she is happy the community is being asked for feedback but has ongoing issues with the project.
She has concerns with possible odour problems and how the construction period would affect nearby residents.
