Sechelt council candidates talked about sewer and water needs and other topics at the Nov. 10 all-candidates meeting at Chatelech Secondary School.
Incumbents Alice Janisch, Alice Lutes, Warren Allan and Keith Thirkell were joined by 10 new candidates seeking one of six seats at the council table at the Sechelt Chamber of Commerce sponsored event. Hopefuls Anita Paulin, Mary Bittroff, Chris Moore, Tom Lamb, Darnelda Siegers, Terry Karkabe, Stan Dixon, Doug Hockley, Mike Shanks and Norm Blair were eager to prove they deserved a spot.
When asked how candidates would address infrastructure needs, particularly providing adequate sewer and water capacity to Sechelt, Moore said a plan would need to be created.
"Sewage and water is a huge issue, but I do believe we have to look at a very comprehensive long-term plan for the District of Sechelt," he said.
Lamb said the District needs to stop building piecemeal projects adding, "the SCRD [Sunshine Coast Regional District] controls the water system, but it's very important that we work with them to identify good sources of clean water."
Siegers said Sechelt needs to address the sewage issue by extending current lines and expanding capacity at the sewage treatment plant.
"I personally prefer a new greener sewage treatment plant," Siegers said.
Karkabe said the whole thing boils down to fixed goals and flexible approaches.
"We know what we want. It's a question of how we're going to get there. Building a sewer treatment plant is absolutely mandatory. I live across the street from the one that's there now. It's unacceptable," Karkabe said.
Dixon said that water, parking and sidewalks are important infrastructure projects for Sechelt, noting he sees many projects left unfinished.
"Infrastructure is important. We're about three-quarters of the way on pretty well all the things that we've been doing in the last 25 years in Sechelt village," he said.
Lutes noted the biosolids project Sechelt is currently working on buys the District six to seven more years of sewage capacity at their current plant and time to find more grant money to do upgrades on the Ebbtide plant.
She also addressed the worry there would not be enough water to service future developments.
"Water is the regional district's bailiwick, but any planned developments pass through the regional district to know that there is adequate water before plans go ahead," she said.
Hockley said he was all for mayoralty candidate John Henderson's plan for a new sewage treatment plant.
"I propose to pursue the environmentally superior system that mayoralty candidate John Henderson has shown that can service the overall district needs through residential specific satellite systems," he said.
Allan defended the biosolids option.
"We need to complete our new biosolids facility with the funding that we already received from senior governments to take pressure off our existing infrastructure and we need to begin identifying funding from our senior partners again for our new sewage municipal treatment plant," he said.
Shanks said that the time bought with a biosolids plant would translate into more money for a new sewage treatment plant, with more time to collect development cost charges. However, he noted he was not completely happy with how the sewage issue has been handled.
"It's indeed unfortunate that this didn't go out to an RFP for a biosolids plant and upgrades to our sewage treatment plant," Shanks said.
Blair wanted to see a plan created, noting a piecemeal strategy to infrastructure in Sechelt is not appropriate.
"It will continue to limit economic development and more likely cost us more money," he said.
Thirkell said the District has a plan to fix infrastructure issues and money budgeted to do it. He also said he never agreed with the biosolids plan.
"Because I was amazed when Ledcor came into town and did their experiment at the Ebbtide facility and diverted 100 per cent of the sewage in the treatment plant and it was odourless. It was fantastic," he said.
Paulin said proposals in the future should take into account the water supply in Sechelt and that a new sewage treatment plant needs to be created now.
"We need to ensure that our capacity can grow with development," she said.
Janisch said the best way to do infrastructure projects is to plan for a series of small projects as the government is not giving out many large grants.
"Senior governments sprinkle small grants to many municipalities, not one large grant to one municipality," she said.
Bittroff said some master planning must be done before any funding is sought for infrastructure needs.
"We need a plan on how all of Sechelt will be able to access sewer in the long term future. This has not been done. We can't just piecemeal it. So we have to get a full plan in action, then we can look to senior funding," Bittroff said.
