Re: Time to weigh in on sewage debate, Oak Bay News, Jan. 20
At the public consultation meeting June 2015 at the Ocean Point Hotel, questions were asked regarding the costs for the potential plants and treatment options for the yet-to-be-determined sewage treatment plant for the Core Area.
In response to the request for clear comparison of the forthcoming options to the existing approved provincial plan, Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps assured the public the new process would be transparent and inclusive and that all costs and plans would be made available for them to assess. Yet, so far, the costs and plans for the existing and approved plan for sewage treatment, the Seaterra Project, located at McLoughlin Point, has not been made available.
A letter from Harbour Resource Partners, the original company selected to build the plant at McLoughlin, to the CRD on Dec. 29, 2015 states it can build a plant that will meet the charter and is in compliance with the provincially approved plan at timelines specified and at costs much less than any of the other options set out to date. Current options are highly uncertain regarding site technology, and particularly costs.
A plan that does more and costs less and on land already owned by the CRD and does not have to be purchased and is already provincially approved, Seaterra, should be one of the options considered. Mayor Helps and others have spent considerable time, money and effort to consider other options – none of them match the original Seaterra proposal.
Michelle Coburn
Oak Bay
