Esquimalt, already accused of dragging its feet on the Capital Regional District’s sewage treatment proposal, is now asking for a raft of new documentation on everything from tsunami walls to super bugs in secondary treatment plants.
Mayor Barb Desjardins says the municipality is simply looking for answers to questions raised at the municipality’s public hearings into the CRD’s proposed sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point.
“We’re just looking for more information, and a lot of it is because members of the public have brought forward concerns that we don’t have the information about,” she said.
But Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, chairman of the CRD core area liquid waste management committee, says it’s becoming apparent that the municipality may very well turn down the CRD’s application.
“I have to admit that it does raise the question again of whether the rezoning is likely to be approved and whether we have to start thinking about how we’ll proceed if it’s not,” said Young, adding the CRD expected the rezoning would have been dealt with by now.
Representatives of Seaterra, the civilian commission overseeing the $783-million sewage treatment project, estimate costs are mounting at a rate of $1 million every month the project is delayed.
“I think it is only prudent of us to start thinking about what the options are for proceeding,” Young said.
If Esquimalt were to turn it down, the CRD could appeal to the province to override the decision. The CRD board has said it does not want to make any overtures to the province until Esquimalt’s hearing process is completed, Young said.
Esquimalt is being offered about $13 million in amenities from the CRD should the siting of the $230-million plant on the former oil tank farm be approved.
The amenities include oceanfront walkways, a million-dollar bike and path system on Lyall Street, public art, bike lanes, road improvements and $55,000 a year for at least five years to compensate for hosting the unpopular sewage plant. The site is already zoned to allow wastewater treatment, but the CRD is seeking what it characterizes as minor encroachments into a 7.5-metre shoreline buffer.
But the information now being sought by Esquimalt goes far beyond the question of land use. Included in the list: a third-party review of all CRD information in support of a six-metre tsunami wall; a map of the route or possible routes of the biosolids pipeline to the Hartland landfill; maps showing upgraded electrical and water main routes; letters from the Ministry of Health and the chief public health officer commenting on propagation of antibiotic resistant bacteria in secondary treatment plants; and a third-party analysis of costs associated with treating Oak Bay storm water infiltrating into the treatment system.
Esquimalt council held two days of public hearings Feb. 18 and 19 and have scheduled sessions for March 20 and, if needed, March 22. Esquimalt council is not scheduled to make a decision on the application until April 7.
Langford Coun. Denise Blackwell, vice-chairwoman of the CRD liquid waste committee, said it appears “anyone who’s ever had a beef with the project went out to Esquimalt and listed all their theories” during the public hearings.
“Now we have them coming back to us in a list. It’s not like they are things we haven’t heard before and tried to address,” she said.
Desjardins said her municipality is not trying to delay anything.
“In fact, it was CRD that delayed this process,” Desjardins said. “Had they brought this information forward in the appropriate fashion, then we would not have to ask for it now.”
