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Finance, sewage treatment top priorities

Mayor Carol Hamilton identified cutting costs as one of her top priorities, two months after she took office.
colwood map

Mayor Carol Hamilton identified cutting costs as one of her top priorities, two months after she took office. With multiple candidates waving the same flag three years later, it seems improving the financial health of a municipality isn’t an easy fix.

This election, topics such as sewage treatment and governance structures are also competing for attention.

Among the challenges is the Capital City Centre development site at Colwood Corners. The mixed-use project was expected to break ground in early 2012 and be completed by 2015. Today, it remains little more than a hole in the ground, thanks to the downfall of developer League Assets, which has filed for court-approved restructuring and is liquidating its assets. Hamilton said she is cautiously optimistic about developer Onni taking over the site and resuming construction, even if it won’t be on the scale promised by League. The city stands to gain $719,000 owed in taxes from the site, in the deal Onni has struck with League.

Several candidates say they are troubled by Colwood’s finances and promise to reduce debt and bring taxes in line with the services residents receive.

Cautious optimism also surrounds the prospect of a regional sewage-treatment plant. The inaugural meeting Oct. 23 of the Westside Wastewater and Resource Recovery Select Committee has given some hope for a sewage-treatment option that doesn’t involve Esquimalt’s McLoughlin Point, a location Esquimalt representatives oppose. It also suggests a central role for Colwood, with Hamilton as co-chair. Although representatives may change after the election, the committee plans to put together a regional wastewater-treatment plan for Colwood, Esquimalt, View Royal, Langford and the Songhees Nation.

A few candidates want governance reform. Robin Stanbridge is talking about sweeping change — direct democracy conducted digitally — while it’s all about amalgamation for Natalia Lebedynsky. Colwood was one of the first municipalities to say it would include a non-binding amalgamation question on the ballot, but council reversed its decision when only three volunteers came forward for a citizens’ committee to work on the question.

» READ MORE: Candidate profiles

Colwood facts

  • Seats on council: six, plus mayor
  • Major issues since last election:
  • Sewage treatment
  • Reducing debt
  • Restructuring governance
  • Annual stipend, mayor: $23,753.40
  • Annual stipend, councillors: $11,876.64
  • Estimated population: 16,405
  • Estimated eligible voters: 11,536
  • Voter turnout, 2011: 26.77 per cent
  • Advance voting: Nov. 5 and 12, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Colwood City Hall, 3300 Wishart Rd.
  • General voting: Nov. 15, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Colwood City Hall
  • Revenue, 2013: $19,808,326
  • Expenses, 2013: $17,739,202
  • How votes will be counted: Electronic vote tabulator