Editor:
Re: Sewage centre ‘not best for conventions,’ March 4.
Your story refers to UBC’s involvement with the Annacis Island Wastewater Centre ‘academy’ and makes mention of a $1 million pledge to the facility.
In fact, although various sums and funding models were discussed between UBC and Metro Vancouver, no formal agreement was reached, nor was a final contract inked.
The only pertinent documents are a 2011 exchange of letters between UBC and Metro Vancouver stating that UBC would provide $90,000 per year for six years to fund the Annacis Island Academy operated by Metro Vancouver, for a total of $540,000.
The letters make clear that this funding is subject to further negotiations over a detailed memorandum of understanding (MOU), and the establishment of a proper stakeholders governance board for the facility. That MOU has never been completed and there is, as yet, no governance board in place.
UBC has consistently indicated a desire to move ahead and, over the past two years, has set the committed funds aside, awaiting Metro’s decision regarding the MOU.
Despite the administrative limbo, UBC civil engineering professors Don Mavinic and Victor Lo have been running a number of research projects and held open houses at the facility – mostly paid from their own research grants.
The Annacis Island Academy remains an important initiative, but one that will require action from Metro Vancouver to bring to fruition.
John Hepburn, University of B.C
