A group of Nanoose Bay residents say they are expecting victory in their fight against a borrowing proposal for reservoir infrastructure.
As of Tuesday, the group had collected 810 signed forms opposing the Regional District of Nanaimo’s plan to borrow $1.2 million through an alternative approval process, said Paula Chase, a key organizer.
That figure surpasses the 538 electors (10 per cent of electors) needed to sign forms to block the plan for Nanoose Bay, between Nanaimo and Parksville.
Some individuals have already submitted forms to the district and Chase anticipates receiving more from residents.
She plans to take all the signed forms that she has received to the district’s office on Sept. 12, prior to the approval process wrapping up at 4 p.m. Sept. 16.
The process is only open to electors in the Nanoose Bay Water Service Area which is in a portion of Electoral Area E. It does not apply to citizens elsewhere in the district.
The total cost of the proposed improvements comes to $2.48 million.
Reserve funds and revenues anticipated from future payments of development cost charges would cover the difference, leaving $1.2 million to borrow, the district said.
The proposal is made up of two components.
Borrowing would go towards upgrading of the area’s existing reservoir, something Chase supports. But the district could cover these costs without asking for borrowing approval, she said.
The other project would see a new reservoir built to serve future development.
Chase isn’t convinced that planned housing development will take place and said even if it does it could take many years to complete.
It doesn’t make sense to her to pay for a new reservoir at this time.
The development cost charge portion of the financing for the new reservoir to cover the developer’s required 49 per cent share of this project is not in place, Chase said. “It will not be in place before the project starts and it is unknown when or if it will ever be in place.”
The developer has owned the property for several years without moving ahead on the housing plans, she said.
The approval process comes as residents are feeling the effect of rising property taxes in recent years, she said.
Chase wants something from the district. “I want them to concede that this particular (new) reservoir is not, nor will not, be required at any time in the foreseeable future.”
The borrowing plan would give property owners the option of paying $500 at once or spreading out payments over 20 years as $34 per year plus interest, Murray Walters, the district’s manager of water services, said.
Developer Seacliff Properties, of Vancouver, which has several projects underway on Vancouver Island, holds lands in the Fairwinds development area at Nanoose Bay, following a previous owner who launched the plan and built out a major chunk of the site, including a golf course.
A phased development agreement between the developer and the district sets out what will be built and how they are going to build it. It sets out what infrastructure will be required — such as the additional reservoir capacity — and who has to contribute to it, Walters said.
The additional reservoir capacity would allow for construction of about 1,600 homes in a mix of single-family and multi-family, the majority to be in what is called the Lakes district.
The developer pays for its share of needed infrastructure through development cost charges, levied when the company subdivides land and creates lots. Until the developer embarks on a bulk subdivision plan, the cost charges do not have to be paid.
However, the district has to build the shared infrastructure before a developer can put up houses, Walters said. The infrastructure has to go in slightly ahead of construction happening.
It is normal practice for regional districts to borrow against outstanding development cost charges and pay them off as the developer breaks land into lots and then pays on a per lot basis, he said.
“Most of the infrastructure that is built in regional districts is built ahead of the development and the only way you can do that is to borrow the DCCs (development cost charges) ahead of them being paid.”
The district is confident that it will be paid because Seacliff is working on the project, he said. They are starting on subdivision applications, working with the district’s planning staff and with the provincial Transportation Ministry, and putting a lot of money and resources into the development, Walters said.
Seacliff’s director of development could not be immediately reached.
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