The ongoing Snug Cove sewage saga took a big step forward Monday with the approval of a funding plan for upgrades to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The $1.64 million proposal was detailed by engineering director Patrick Graham at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting. It outlined a series of necessary fixes at the plant to ease its capacity problems, which had become so serious a moratorium on building permits for the Cove was introduced.
This included, much to the dismay of property owners, pausing several active permits. Many of them spoke during the meeting about the impact this has had on their plans.
But there was good news for some of them during Monday’s Special Council meeting. After referring the plan to the Finance Advisory Committee, the group managed to adjust the proposal to include the five properties with active permits, all on Rivendell Drive.
This was managed by opting for a larger equalization tank and deferring some aspects to the next phase of the project. The current work, known as Phase 1, will cover about 500 residents on the Snug Cove system.
The trade-offs allowed the price tag to remain the same, though it sparked debate about where the money would come from. The recommendation was for $1 million to be taken from the Capital Renewal and Replacement Reserve (CRRR) and the remaining $640,000 from Unappropriated Surplus.
Brad Hawthorn, the municipality’s former public works superintendent and engineering and operations director during the 2000s, wrote a letter and addressed council to express his belief this approach violated municipal and provincial laws.
Hawthorn said general taxpayer funds were ineligible for use toward local service areas, and that the Snug Cove Sewer Reserve fund should be used instead.
As of last week this reserve had $53,000 total, and would require a large loan from the general pool.
Chief administrative officer Liam Edwards responded he was confident in the approach. “Municipalities can use general revenue at its sole discretion for local area services whenever it deems appropriate,” he says, pointing to a 2010 example when the municipality used $720,000 from unappropriated surplus for another sewer expansion project.
Edwards outlined several reasons the upgrades should be considered eligible for general funds. “Why are we doing this project in the first place?... There’s a renewal component to it because the original existing plant wasn’t built with sufficient equalization storage at the front end to allow for all of the bioreactors to be used… We’re also having to do it because we’re pushing up against regulatory requirements that will require us to have improved treatment quality and capacity.”
Bowen exceeded their provincially mandated wastewater limit in 2018 and came close again in 2020.
“Perhaps the most pressing reason is that capacity that was once there was given away to projects that were deemed to be strategically important to the island, but there was never any funding identified to fill in that capacity that was given away,” added Edwards.
“So here we are at the day that we have next to no capacity left, and inadequate funding in the Snug Cove Sewer Reserve. So then the question is, ‘who is responsible to pay?’”
Coun. David Hocking says “Snug Cove is more than a local service area, we all use the shops and the restaurants and the pub and so on. So it seems reasonable for us to be paying to some degree.”
While a legal opinion hadn’t been sought before Monday’s meeting, Edwards said Tuesday that on request from council he consulted with the municipality’s legal counsel and was “advised that the approved financing approach is legal and does not contravene local or provincial laws.”
This was also confirmed through a discussion with a Ministry Financial Officer, Edwards said Feb. 3.
Councillors debate funding sources, impact of rain and groundwater
Coun. Alison Morse expressed concern about tapping into the CRRR, and said she was “definitely not in favour of taking it from unappropriated surplus.” She also wanted to know more about how inflow and infiltration (I&I) were impacting the overall flow numbers.
I&I occurs when water from unintended sources enters the sewage system. Inflow is rainwater, and infiltration is groundwater. Together they can contribute to sewage overflow, particularly after periods of heavy rainfall.
Graham says the wastewater plant has overflowed three times in the past six months following these heavy rains. Inflow monitoring is currently inconsistent in the Cove. There are a few metres but a notable absence of readings at the plant itself. The planned upgrades include installing one there.
Four manholes have also been discovered where infiltration is taking place. They are scheduled to be sealed with grout sometime in the next month.
Morse wasn’t comfortable moving forward with the expensive project without knowing if solving the cheaper I&I issues could reduce some of the necessary work. Graham said I&I impact is “probably a fraction” of the overall problems at the plant.
“It’s a problem right now to not have the amount of equalization storage we need for peak days… To rely on being able to address the whole problem with inflow and infiltration reduction measures, it’s not enough to get the system functioning the way it needs to be,” says Graham.
But he added any progress on I&I may help connect an extra few properties to the system.
Coun. Rob Wynen said the situation has put the municipality “up against a wall, and I really don’t see a way out of it.” He agreed the island benefits as a whole, particularly since the municipality’s desire to see more homes in the Cove won’t be achievable without a functional sewer system.
But he acknowledged it may be hard to accept for people who aren’t on the Snug Cove system yet will be contributing to the bill. Wynen expressed a desire to switch to a user pay system going forward, where heavy water users pay more.
Phase 2 of the project was also discussed, meant to address long-term Snug Cove sewage upgrades over the next 20 years. Last week it was estimated to cost $5.81 million, but that’s now jumped to $6.57 million due to Phase 1 deferments and time factors. There’s not yet any indication where this money will come from.
For now council voted, with opposition from Morse, to approve the Phase 1 funding plan and pursue a contractor to carry out the work. Council unanimously decided to continue negotiations with Metro Vancouver to purchase the 102 square metres of Crippen Park required for future Phase 2 upgrades.
“We still have a long way to go on this. This is just the beginning, it is not the end,” says Mayor Gary Ander.
