Much effort and money it seems has gone
into coming up with a proposal for Royston/Union Bay sewer. To help me
make sense of the Royston/Union Bay South Sewer Project, I decided to
review the 2005 proposal (which passed in a 2006 referendum) plus the
2009 update of that proposal.
For 2005/2009, 1,362 parcels were included
but only about 950 parcels are included for the June 2016 referendum.
The 2009 cost of $34,684,000+GST prorated
to 950 homes would be about $24 million. Allowing for three per cent
inflation per year, in 2019 dollars that would be $31 million. Why is
the cost about $56 million now?
In 2009, the failure rate from Fraser
Road to Trent River was estimated to be 10 per cent, but higher in the
Union Bay area (up to 50 per cent). The cost to physically connect, from
your house to the actual sewer line, will be thousands of dollars,
especially if you need to have a pump installed. So, to pay for the
system proposed ($22,000-$25,000) plus the cost of physically connecting
from your house and dealing with your old septic system could raise the
cost to $25,000-30,000. I want a sewer system because it would be more
reliable than septic (and someone else takes care of the maintenance)
and environmentally friendly, but not at these costs.
Assuming a ‘no’ vote that will allow for
the opportunity to look at ways to bring the costs down, include more
parcels and to secure more funding. It is easy enough to ask for grant
extensions. Also, the new federal government is interested in the
environment and infrastructure, so that may be a source of funding.
I cannot see the implementation of septic
system police just for the Royston/Union Bay area. Politically, if such
a draconian idea were raised it would need to cover the entire regional
district including Hornby and Denman Islands.
I look forward to a much
better proposal sometime in the future.
