A saga about which local government is going to pay for former landfill and incinerator sites closure plans may be coming to an end.
Powell River Regional District staff had presented a recommendation at the May 12 committee-of-the-whole meeting to accept revisions in the wording of the draft solid waste management plan that addresses former disposal sites within City of Powell River boundaries. The new wording states that closure plan costs will be funded from the regional district waste management reserve, as part of its solid waste management planning responsibilities. The revision also states that upon completion of closure plans, the regional district and city will negotiate how the associated closures will be funded. It delays the development of closure plans by one year and reorders the schedule. The revision suggests the following schedule: municipal airport site, 2012; municipal incinerator site, 2013; and Squatter’s Creek landfill, 2014.
Rural directors voted against the motion that recommended acceptance of the revisions. They then passed a new motion directing staff to organize a meeting with city representatives to discuss the issue.
Colin Palmer, regional board chair and Electoral Area C director, said at the May 19 rural services committee that he wanted to have a meeting with city councillors to ensure they understood what the city’s responsibilities are in the plan and what the regional district is already doing and its responsibilities. He thinks council needs to understand that the solid waste management reserve is for capital items that are included in the plan, such as a composting facility.
Palmer also suggested that the regional district should be part of the process of developing the closure plans. “What I wanted to stress to you today is that rather than fretting about what Councillor [Chris] McNaughton is up to, raiding the reserve, we’ve got three or four years here to sit down and figure out what the actual plans are for these sites,” he said. “My argument to you is the plan says this has to be done, so are we just going to say to them, you get on with it and we’ll sit over here?”
Funds for the closure plans can come from the waste management operating account, not the reserve, Palmer also said, adding it wouldn’t hurt the regional district to be involved in the closure plans. “It will clarify for us as directors what the eventual challenges are going to be for us financially and where it’s all going,” he said. “Let’s find out what the total picture is.”
Mac Fraser, regional district chief administrative officer, said the norm in British Columbia is that, on approval of a solid waste management plan, regional district staff implement the plan, usually by hiring an expert who is experienced in closure plans. The professional provides a full site analysis and advises what remediation is needed for various types of land uses, based on provincial standards. “The ministry of environment would be quite acceptable to say, if your end use is this, then we agree that your closure methodology would be this,” he said.
The regional district has been privy to public domain legal advice to other regional districts, Fraser also said. “We are not, as an entity, obligated to do the closure,” he said. “In the same way, the sword cuts with two edges. The city is not obligated to do a closure plan. Solid waste management planning, just the discussion of what to do, is an obligation of regional government, not rural, not urban, but regional.”
The draft solid waste management plan includes a budget in which $30,000 a year for three years is allocated for closure plans.
City and regional district officials are organizing a meeting in the near future.
