The future site of the Capital Regional District’s wastewater treatment facility has the potential to become a world-class environmental and sustainable energy destination, says the president of a local design firm.
Erik Lindquist, president of Titus Infrastructure Services, put forward a proposal to Esquimalt council at a closed meeting Monday that calls for a 650,000 sq. ft. mixed-use facility at Mcloughlin Point.
The proposal envisions a 100,000 sq. ft. sewage treatment and resource recovery plant in addition to commercial and residential space, and sits in stark contrast to CRD plans for a single-use wastewater treatement facility and marine outfall.
“It’s the most expensive piece of property on the south Island, and the CRD wants to turn it into a disposal site,” said Lindquist, whose company specializes in heat and resource recovery.
Mayor Barb Desjardins forwarded the proposal to the CRD board and core area liquid waste management committee for consideration at their March 13 meetings.
“We can’t officially endorse or reject this proposal, but we’re really interested in some of the concepts and ideas, and we want to encourage CRD to really look at this sort of a project going forward,” she said.
The new proposal would effectively negate current CRD plans to build centralized wastewater and biosolids recovery plants at Mcloughlin Point and Hartland landfill in Saanich.
It would also mean smaller tertiary treatment facilities would be needed throughout Greater Victoria, which could prove a hard sell to CRD directors.
“This is going back to where we were in the process before we turned around and made the wrong turn … we were looking at a number of sites to deal with waste and resource management in one facility,” Desjardins said.
View Desjardins’ letter to the CRD and Lindquist’s proposal below.
dpalmer@vicnews.com
