I found a white tag with a Sunshine Coast Regional District logo hanging from my door last week. It announced, “Your water meter will be installed within three business days.”
I knew this would happen because I had attended a water-meter open house for Area F residents. At the event, in Eric Cardinall Hall, William Hutchings, project manager for the Neptune Technology Group, showed me a water meter. These brass, 10- by 15-centimetre instruments are being attached to water lines at the edge of most properties in West Howe Sound. A meter will be installed below each property’s water shutoff cap within three days of getting a door tag, Hutchings confirmed.
It’s been taking longer than that for installation at my home. Last Friday – three days after I found the tag – workers dug a hole next to my driveway. They filled in the hole that same afternoon – without installing a meter. They had dug in the wrong spot. They promised to return this week to chop through the driveway’s concrete, where they’re sure they can find the water line. I’m waiting for a jackhammer to come, one week after I got the tag. Actually, I’m happy to wait as long as possible. When the noise starts, I’m getting out of here.
According to Hutchings, the misplaced pit in my property was the exception and not the rule. Most installations will be quick and easy, he said, like they have been throughout the SCRD. But if concrete has to go, the company will replace it.
Area F is the last of the SCRD electoral areas to get water meters under the district’s most recent water bylaw. Neptune is installing meters at 640 properties throughout West Howe Sound, except for Hopkins Landing, which manages its own water. All meters are expected to be installed by the end of September.
For at least two years the metering system will be tested and leaks will be plugged. Sometime around 2020, the SCRD will decide what to charge for the life-giving resource that falls from the sky.
Peter Trant, who lives on Owen Road in Soames, attended the open house in early May. Trant was a trustee for the Soames water system until the neighbourhood gave the system to the SCRD. That was the 1980s, he said. “The Soames well was amazing then. It could never be drawn down.”
Since that time, the neighbourhood has barely grown but much of its water has been diverted into other areas that needed it. Considering Soames’ contribution, water charges would be an unwarranted burden, Trant said. “The meters are just a move to charge us more.”
I asked Raphael Shay, sustainability and education coordinator for the SCRD, about Trant’s comment. After a long, philosophical talk in which I suggested the meters would subsidize development, he said, “Development is necessary. How would a young guy like me ever buy a house? If there’s no development, property costs will rise.”
Shay had a point. Property costs are already too high for many people who are forced to remain renters. The West Howe Sound Community Association lost an outstanding director, Fran-cesca Ryan, last year because she couldn’t find a long-term rental suite in Area F.
Yet short-term rentals abound. While I was writing this, I checked Air BnB and found more than three dozen vacation rentals in Area F. There are also many, with possibly some overlap, on Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO). As for long-term rentals, between online postings and Coast Reporter, I found only three in West Howe Sound, with only one for less than $1,700 a month.
Meanwhile, the SCRD has been talking about the problem of affordable housing. Ian Hall, general manager of planning and community development, said the focus is on reviewing official community plans, having conversations with those communities, and looking at zoning revisions that would mesh with the plans. I’ve asked for specifics and will get back to you about them in a later column.
Until then, you can get in touch with me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you about any news of West Howe Sound. You can also tell me your news in person at the launch of my book, Demon in My Blood, at Truffles Cafe in Lower Gibsons, at 7 p.m., Friday, June 16.
