Editor:
Having attended the April 6 council meeting, we came away very disappointed in the manipulation of information by Mayor Milne regarding the capacity of and future upgrades required to the Water Resource Centre (WRC).
We felt this was fear mongering at its worst with misrepresentation of information based on ridiculous projections of Sechelt growth. It was with glee that the mayor relished in the “bombshell” of the need to spend $22.9 million within the next six years on our system.
The Urban Systems report clearly states that this expenditure would be as a result of an additional 5,900 household hookups (14,000 people) to the system by 2035. Mayor Milne has already made clear that he will not endorse the new SSC development being included in these hookups, even though staff recommended it and SSC are prepared to pay the cost.
This leaves 4,285 hookups which could include existing homes in Davis Bay, Selma Park, West Sechelt, etc., but that would require significant funding to build the infrastructure before they could hook up. Is this in the five-year budget? The remainder of hookups would be new construction, which in turn would be paying DCCs (development cost charges) to the District to offset the cost.
Speaking of DCCs, what has happened to the new DCC bylaw update, which was on council’s agenda for May/June 2015? The district is losing a significant amount of revenue from developers if this hasn’t been completed.
A further projection by Urban Systems of $3.3 million to upgrade the outfall into the ocean from the WRC would seem unnecessary if we utilized the outstanding reclaimed water now available to us for landscape purposes, as was the intention.
Enough with the fear mongering – taxpayers deserve unbiased, honest governance.
Geoff White and Carolyn Minchin, Sechelt
