The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is holding off on plans to convert the Pender Harbour landfill to a transfer station - at least until the board has been able to study the viability of leaving the decision up to a referendum of Area A residents.
The board passed a motion Thursday, Feb. 25, to support "in principle" a referendum paid for by Area A residents that would ask voters if they are willing to take on the full cost of expansion and operation of the landfill.
Before deciding to go ahead with a referendum, the board has asked staff for a report on the costs, options and impacts of how a referendum would be worded and how it would affect current SCRD operations and staff time.
Beyond that, the board is also asking staff to confirm with the Ministry of Environment, which is responsible for landfills in the province, if expansion of the Pender Harbour landfill is an option.
West Howe Sound director Lee Turnbull suggested a referendum in light of the fact there seemed to be no clear consensus from Area A residents on the future of the landfill.
"I think they ought to have the right to decide what level of service they're willing to pay for. I don't think it's an open and shut case that closing the landfill in favour of the transfer station is necessarily the best option for Pender," she said.
Other directors said they did not necessarily think the expansion option was the best way to go, but they were OK with a referendum to see what Area A residents thought.
Roberts Creek director Donna Shugar said she isn't convinced expanding the landfill is the best decision, but she was willing to vote in order to get the staff report.
"I was elected in Roberts Creek to be both fiscally and environmentally responsible to our community. I don't, based on the evidence I've been presented with, accept that the expansion of the Pender Harbour landfill is the fiscally or environmentally responsible route to go," she said.
She added that if a referendum were viable and showed a clear consensus for expansion, she would support it.
Shugar later cautioned that support in principle does not guarantee a referendum will happen and that the report from staff on a possible referendum will guide the board in its discussion on whether or not to proceed.
"I hope that's understood by everybody. If it comes back with hazards and costs that we are not prepared to accept on behalf of our other areas, then we may want to reconsider that," she said.
Gibsons director Barry Janyk voted against the motion after listing a number of problems that may arise even if a referendum were to happen and pass, including the potential to spend the money on the referendum and studies to support an application to the province and still get rejected.
The decision to investigate the possibility of a referendum was popular with the approximately 20 Area A residents who turned out to the meeting to press the board to reconsider its decision for a transfer station without first doing a survey of Area A residents.
Howard White, along with former Area A director John Rees, made a presentation to the board on behalf of the Save the Landfill Committee. White said the issue was so important to Area A residents that it threatened the area's unity with the SCRD if residents were not consulted first.
"This issue has been a flashpoint in SCRD relations with Area A for decades - one that has the power to sour those relations to the point of even bringing on another incorporation drive," he said.
Carol Rubin, speaking on behalf of Concerned Citizens for Sustainable Waste Management, urged the SCRD to examine the facts in its own reports and appeal to environmentalism.
"We are now asking you for the leadership that you were elected to provide. As directors, you have not only an obligation, but a duty to vote to protect human health and the environment for future generations," she said.
Chief administrative officer John France said legal referendums take about five months to set up with the province. He said the report on the potential referendum would likely be ready for the March 11 board meeting.
