Sechelt’s position on water issues at the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has drawn a sharp response from Roberts Creek director Mark Lebbell.
The SCRD’s infrastructure committee was presented a timeline outlining progress on the Comprehensive Regional Water Plan (CRWP) on Dec. 21, including the Chapman Lake outlet expansion, water metering, and the search for new water sources.
At a Sechelt council meeting the night before, Mayor Bruce Milne, who also chairs the SCRD, suggested the municipality would be willing to block any projects that don’t address supply and storage.
“The weighted vote on water changes the dynamics entirely now that Sechelt has six votes,” Milne told his council. “Our position on water will be taken very seriously or nothing will go forward.”
The other weighted vote strengths are: Gibsons three, rural areas two each and the Sechelt Indian Government District one.
After SCRD staff presented the timeline, Lebbell put forward motions calling for annual reviews of the CRWP, the imposition of Stage 2 watering restrictions on the same date every year, and a complete ban on watering lawns at Stages 2 and 3 (all watering is banned at Stage 4).
The first motion was deferred, the second two passed with Milne, Sechelt director Darren Inkster and Halfmoon Bay director Garry Nohr opposed.
Milne then questioned how much money and staff resources have already been expended on the Chapman Lake outlet expansion, which still requires provincial approval because the lake is within Tetrahedron Provincial Park.
“When do you want to stop working on this?” he asked. “Because this is dead, and the votes don’t match any more and there’s more votes opposed.”
Inkster, Sechelt’s other director, said the SCRD would have to take a hard look at available resources and capital in prioritizing CRWP projects.
Those comments drew a lengthy response from Lebbell, who told Coast Reporter afterwards that some of his remarks were prepared in advance.
Calling Milne’s declaration that the Chapman Lake expansion was dead “extremely concerning,” Lebbell went on to suggest Sechelt’s policy of rotating directors was affecting the SCRD board.
“I see a new director from Sechelt every six months, and staff and board members have worked hard to integrate that new person, and they’ve worked hard. But coming and going is challenging in terms of good governance,” Lebbell said.
Lebbell then turned his attention to the Chapman Lake expansion.
“I don’t know what is being is proposed when I hear that Chapman is dead. As an alternative, I hear vague comments around storage. It’s very disconcerting,” he said. “To take an either/or approach puts our long-term water supply at risk. There was a comment made by the chair when he was sitting at Sechelt council about the likelihood of Chapman progressing being ‘a snowflake’s chance in hell’ in the current political context. I think that was an ill-informed comment.”
Lebbell also said now that Milne is SCRD chair, he should stand behind the 2015 vote approving the Chapman Lake project.
“As it stands right now, this board has voted. This board voted in 2015, and I believe director Milne – I know – he seconded the motion to move this forward.”
Lebbell’s criticism was more pointed in a follow-up post on his website robertscreekmark.com.
“It would seem that director Milne accepted Gibsons’ nomination for Board Chair with this governance approach in mind, since until now there has been no specific debate or votes during his tenure at the board table on the Chapman Lake topic prior to his comments,” Lebbell wrote.
“Within minutes of being elected, the Chair spoke of the decisions of the board being made transparently in public, and the role of the chair being one of process rather than politics. This does not feel like that.”
Frank Mauro of Area A, which is not on the Chapman water system, cautioned that changing direction may not lead to a better outcome.
“If Chapman is, in fact, dead. I think we’ve delayed increasing the water supply for the Sunshine Coast by several years. The Chapman decision was made in 2015 and here we are just entering 2018 and it’s not a go yet. There’s nothing to say any other project we come forward with will take less time, because everything will be met with opposition from some people.”
Milne’s belief the Chapman Lake expansion is unlikely to get provincial approval came up again, as directors discussed a Nov. 28 letter from BC Parks.
The letter said the provincial agency is “evaluating the options with respect to the water supply improvements proposed in Tetrahedron Park,” but offers no indication of when a decision on the approvals, or the start of public consultations, will be made.
Milne said it would be a mistake to view that letter, or an earlier one from March, as signalling provincial support.
“When I read this letter and realized that this was what people were using as interpretation of support, I was quite flabbergasted. If you’ve been in government circles long enough to read the language that people use, there’s nothing in the March 6 letter that is positive or negative,” he said. “There’s never, ever been any strong support.”
Chief administrative officer Janette Loveys told the committee that her talks with the provincial government remained positive.
“I can say very confidently that the staff at the ADM [assistant deputy minister] level, and at the planning staff level, they have never given an indication this is not moving forward. In fact, they have provided briefing notes up to the minister and they are waiting for direction from the minister on this project.”
At Lebbell’s urging, the committee voted to write Environment Minister George Heyman, whose portfolio includes parks, asking that he expedite the process.
“We’re pushing for a decision and we’re pushing for public consultation around that decision as well, which are good things to be pushing for,” Lebbell said.
