B.C.’s environment minister says she hopes she doesn’t have to become involved in a dispute between the Capital Regional District and the Township of Esquimalt over a proposed sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point.
“We don’t want to get into a place where we need to intervene,” Mary Polak said Tuesday.
“I’m not going to speculate as to what decisions we may make if there’s an impasse reached. We have the authority to step in, if need be. But again, our preference is that they resolve these things between themselves.”
Esquimalt is currently hosting open houses on rezoning McLoughlin Point to allow the CRD to build a sewage treatment plant on the land.
If the township votes against rezoning, the CRD could appeal to the province to override the decision.
Polak also said the provincial government’s promise of one-third of the funding for the $783-million budget “absolutely” remains in place.
She said any suggestion the project could be delayed would need federal approval because of a 2020 deadline to meet new waste-water effluent requirements.
“It’s not our deadline,” she said. “We don’t have any authority to extend that.”
A public hearing on Monday attracted close to 400 people to Archie Browning Sports Centre to offer their opinions to council on the issue of rezoning for a sewage plant at McLouglin Point.
The hearing continued Tuesday evening and, if warranted, will also be held today. For more information, go to esquimalt.ca.
