Plan moves forward without public input

Editor's Note: story corrected to reflect that both councillors Russell Brewer and Myrna Leishman voted against the recommendation.

Members of the liquid waste management plan steering committee voted to forward a contentious plan dealing with City of Powell River’s wastewater to council for approval.

Approximately 40 people packed into the planning committee room at city hall for the meeting Monday, March 31.

The meeting centred around a 252-page Stage 3 Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) Draft 6 report submitted by Opus DaytonKnight Consultants Ltd. Two main points of contention to the public at the meeting were the uncertainty over engaging public opinion on the matter and that the large clarifier tank at Townsite was once again back in the plan.

The committee voted in favour of forwarding it for council’s approval and then submission to the ministry of environment.

The issue of wastewater treatment has been going on for almost 16 years with little progress.

In 2007 the idea of co-treatment was broached and in 2011 council approved a phased consolidated treatment option as the preferred choice for liquid waste management. The option involves treating city sewage at Catalyst Paper Corporation’s Powell River division, followed by a stand-alone consolidated plant sometime in the future.

A timeline presented at the steering committee’s last meeting in June 2013 stated that after the Stage 3 plan was received, a town hall meeting would be held. Following the public meeting, the plan would be submitted to council and then to the ministry of environment for review. A referendum regarding the LWMP would then be held in the city during the November 2014 civic elections.

Councillor Russell Brewer pointed out that a commitment had been made to seek public approval before the process moved forward. “We made a promise to bring it before the public,” he said. “We need to honour that commitment.”

Both Brewer and Councillor Myrna Leishman voted against the recommendation, but were outvoted by the majority.

Use of the old clarifier as a discharge location for the city’s wastewater resulted in a petition of more than 1,000 signatures, collected by Townsite Ratepayers’ Association, being delivered to council in June 2011. At that meeting, council passed a motion to remove Catalyst’s old clarifier as an option for treating the city’s sewage.

The use of the clarifier is back in the LWMP draft report.