Re: “Mayor slams sludge site for Esquimalt,” March 21.
I am outraged at the Capital Regional District’s poor planning practices and its behaviour and attitude toward the public. To purchase such a small piece of land for a whopping $17 million for a biosolids plant, without even a whiff of public input for the spending of the funds or for the purpose of the purchase, is an abuse of power and shows blatant disregard for due process.
The CRD is dumping multiple facilities on a single community that only has one vote at the table. They are suggesting that short-term construction effects that would originally have been shared across the region with a Hartland location would now be exchanged for serious and long-lasting economic, environmental and social impacts on the community of Esquimalt. The CRD has already admitted there is not even a cost-savings with this option. What exactly is the reason for this bad decision and misspending of public funds?
This is the wrong site and the wrong plan for the capital region. The CRD needs to stop bullying communities and go back to the drawing board for the biosolids facility and for sewage treatment as a whole. There needs to be meaningful and upfront public consultation on decisions of this magnitude that have such serious economic, social and environmental implications and not just pay lip service after the fact.
Kim Bellefontaine
Esquimalt
