Rezoning a site in Rock Bay for a sewage-treatment plant won’t be easy, says Victoria Coun. Geoff, who wants the city to get a grip on what control it has over possible amenity packages it can demand and what authority it has over issues such as plant design.
“I’m extremely worried about decision compression,” Young said Friday at a special council meeting. A decision by the Capital Regional District sewage committee to postpone taking the site proposals to the public until there is more information available could eat up another five or six weeks, he said.
“We’re already squeezed for time and I’m very concerned that we’ll be in a position of having to make decisions quite quickly,” Young said, noting that some of the issues are “quite complex.”
The CRD is considering five options for sewage treatment. They range from a single treatment plant to seven plants around the region. All involve a large treatment plant at Rock Bay.
Greater Victoria currently dumps its raw sewage into Juan de Fuca Strait.
In 2006, the provincial government mandated sewage treatment. In 2012, the federal government passed a law requiring all high-risk Canadian cities — including Victoria — to provide secondary sewage treatment by 2020.
Young said he’s worried that the CRD will try to save money by reducing the amenity package for locating a plant at Rock Bay. Esquimalt was offered $19 million if a treatment plant had been allowed at McLoughlin.
He’s also concerned the funding formula might be altered so that Victoria would be required to pay some of the cost for facilities in the West Shore that it will never use.
Council directed staff to report back on both issues.
At Young’s recommendation, councillors also asked staff to confirm the legal requirements that would be necessary for the CRD to change the cost formula and grant allocations.
The CRD, under pressure to salvage a federal grant from PPP Canada, is looking at a variety of treatment options. All involve a treatment plant in Rock Bay.
Already working on a one-year extension, the CRD has until March 31 to submit a detailed plan for wastewater treatment or risk losing $83.4 million from PPP Canada, a federal Crown corporation.
The federal government has also committed $120 million from the Building Canada Fund and $50 million from the Canada Green Fund.
Young, who sat through the marathon public hearings Esquimalt held when the CRD wanted it to rezone McLoughlin Point for a sewage-treatment plant, said Victoria should expect much of the same.
He expects a number of the same concerns will be raised, including the “strong minority view” that treatment isn’t necessary. Other concerns involved cost, the possibility of spills and the plant being close to sea level.
“It’s going to be a very heated, I think, public hearing.”
