Re: “Esquimalt should reconsider sewage issue,” letter, May 23.
Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce CEO Bruce Carter incorrectly indicated that the Capital Regional District “purchased industrial land zoned to permit wastewater treatment” and suggested Esquimalt could be on the hook for millions of dollars. Both points are wrong.
The CRD acquired McLoughlin Point before it was zoned for wastewater treatment-plant use and then approached the matter as if no zoning was necessary. There was no CRD “good faith” (not even mentioning the secret acquisition of the Viewfield property) nor township “downzoning” and therefore much of the rest of Carter’s letter is nothing more than fearmongering.
Esquimalt is not responsible for the $47 million the CRD has spent, nor the other millions to be spent. Section 914 of the Local Government Act states: “Compensation is not payable to any person for any reduction in the value of that person’s interest in land, or for any loss or damages that result from the adoption of [a zoning bylaw]”).
Assumptions CRD consultants used to assess the costs of other approaches were incorrect and dated, yet some persist in highlighting those numbers. Also, the position that no other sites are available is incorrect.
The CRD and Seaterra continue to spend millions of dollars implementing a plan for which they do not have approval. If the CRD had approached the sewage issue with better information, on the facts and the law, we might well be in a different position today. But the fact we are not rests solely with the CRD and, most important, it is no reason to charge forward with the wrong plan.
Barbara Desjardins
Mayor of Esquimalt
