The Regional District of Nanaimo is holding a public hearing on the zoning amendment applications on properties located at Pitt Road and Shaughnessy Drive in Electoral Area H.
The lots proposed to be rezoned from Residential 2 Zone to Public 4 Zone, if adopted, will allow a wastewater treatment facility to be built as part of the $10.7-million Bowser sewer project.
The RDN board gave the zoning amendment application two readings late last month and the next step is the public hearing to take place on July 9 at 6 p.m. at the Lighthouse Community Hall at 240 Lions Way.
The public hearing for this bylaw will be chaired by Area H Director and RDN chair Bill Veenhof. If Veenhof is unavailable his alternate will chair the hearing.
All persons who consider their interest in their property to be affected by the proposed bylaw shall be given an opportunity to be heard in person or by written submission at the public hearing.
Written submissions can also be received at the RDN office by 12 p.m. Monday, July 9, to ensure their inclusion in the public record.
Based on the public information held in May, the public hearing on Monday night is expected to draw another huge crowd as there are a lot of residents who have voiced opposition to the decision to discharge treated sewage into the ocean.
Stop Bowser Ocean Sewage, and Area H Rate Payers and Residents Association are the two prominent groups in Electoral Area H who have been vocal about this.
The groups have been trying to discourage the board from proceeding with the marine outfall option and are calling for a land-based disposal solution instead, which they claim is a less-costly option.
At the last board meeting in June, Thomas Gates, on behalf of the AHRPPA, appeared as a delegation and highlighted the harm the marine outfall solution will have on the ocean and environment. The group’s pleas went unheeded.
In his letter to District of Lantzville Director Bob Colclough, who inquired about the toxins mentioned by Gates at the meeting, Gates expressed the group’s disappointment with the board’s decision to give the rezoning amendment two readings.
“I was also very disappointed that the board seems to not be concerned enough about emerging — significant ocean environmental health issues and to listen to the people who make up Area H Lighthouse District that have said, in the majority ‘no’, time and time again to ocean disposal. What is the point of public consultation if the people representing us do not hear us? What is the social impact?”
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