Re: “Province should help fix the mess,” editorial, July 17.
It’s totally unreasonable to lay the blame on the provincial government for the inability of the Capital Regional District to meet Esquimalt’s reasonable demands for rezoning of McLoughlin Point for sewage treatment. The current “mess” is the CRD’s doing.
The province simply ordered the region to proceed with land-based sewage treatment to meet upcoming provincial and federal regulations. Records show that the region had been looking at this for over 25 years and should have been prepared.
The CRD set the budget for the project in 2010 (with no room for amenities) together with a working plan (Amendment 8) and did nothing until this year. They suddenly broke into the current panic, insisting on ramming through a new sludge plant at Viewfield Road and proceeding with contract procurement before respecting the re-zoning process of the host community. This was all couched in needing to secure provincial and federal funding, which will likely not disappear.
The CRD had three years to apply for rezoning at McLoughlin Point, yet chose to do nothing. Perhaps they were pinning their hopes on obtaining land at Macaulay Point, but records show they have been consistently denied any DND land for sewage treatment since 1993. Why keep asking?
Esquimalt’s demands for rezoning of McLoughlin Point are completely within the legal framework of the CRD. The problem here was poor planning and lack of political will.
Why would any provincial government want to touch this mess?
Filippo Ferri
Esquimalt
