With time winding down for Sunshine Music Festival, qathet Regional District (qRD) has postponed a decision on the status of the washrooms at Palm Beach Regional Park being open for the event.
At the qRD board meeting on Thursday, July 25, directors were presented with a motion that the washroom facility closure for the music festival be maintained due to public safety and financial implications. The festival is scheduled for August 31 and September 1.
At the committee of the whole meeting on Thursday, July 11, Wendy Cocksedge, a member of the music festival board of directors, outlined the importance of having the washrooms open for people with young children, people with disabilities and for seniors. The committee requested a staff report to examine the alternatives to closing the washroom during the festival.
In his report, manager of operational services Patrick Devereaux recommended closure of the washroom facility, citing the septic system starting to show signs of failure after the music festival in 2017. He stated that in the summer of 2018, it became apparent the septic system was failing and required replacing.
The qRD operational services department closed the washrooms after the 2018 festival, where the septic system failed. There are now portable toilets onsite for visitors to the park.
In the fall of 2018, qRD staff put together a plan and budget for a septic system replacement. A budget for the project was established at $35,000 and one bid came in at double the price.
qRD went back to the drawing board and a new system was designed. A winning bid came in significantly less than the $35,000 budget. The new system is under construction with a contractual completion date of August 15. However, there is concern the music festival could overload the new system, potentially resulting in the spillage of raw sewage.
qRD corporate officer Michelle Jones said there was an alternative to closure involving having staff at the washrooms. The facilities could be pumped out prior to the festival. If an alarm was to go off the washroom facilities would need to be closed.
“At this time, we’re not sure we can find staff to staff it, but that was an option that was available,” said Jones.
City director CaroleAnn Leishman said she reached out to Cocksedge to reiterate whether they could have a designated person such as a security person to monitor the washrooms. Leishman said the music festival was willing to pay up front for the pumping of the septic system.
“They very much would like to have that opportunity to have it open for a limited amount of time,” said Leishman. “If it can’t be a staff person, perhaps it can be a hired security person designated to be in charge of the facility.”
Leishman said she thinks the washrooms should be open for some level that will work for the music festival.
City director George Doubt said the report states there is too much risk to the facility and the report recommended the risk not be taken. The latest information seems to modify that and perhaps the right answer is to table this so the board can consider all of the possibilities and risks of getting a staff person or competent person to be there and supervise it, he added.
The board carried a motion to postpone the decision until the next board meeting.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he wanted to raise concerns about the new septic system installation. He said the system being installed did not have the capacity like the original request for proposal, which would have accommodated the festival, but was more than $36,000 over budget. He said that if at any point in the future qRD wants to upgrade the system now being installed, the location of the septic field might be an issue.
Gisborne asked if the board should talk to the engineer about repositioning the septic field, so at a later time, it could possibly be extended.
Chair Patrick Brabazon said that would be a motion for the committee of the whole, with a report from staff, so regional board members could understand what is going on.
Gisborne said this is an emergency issue because the septic field was scheduled to be installed three days after the board meeting.
“If we don’t act on this now, we may lose the opportunity to ever expand that septic field,” said Gisborne.
Doubt said when the initial quote for the system came in at double the budget, the system was redesigned to make it something the regional district could afford.
“What the regional district can afford is being put in,” said Doubt. “I would not want to interfere with that without having some real evidence there was a better solution.”
Gisborne said he was wondering if there was some way, not this year, but in the future, to expand the system so the park can accommodate the increased usage.
“I’m looking at this as an emergency because that septic field will be going in and if it’s going in too close to the property line at the intake, we can’t extend it in the future,” said Gisborne.
Brabazon said part of the new system was already in place. He said the board had not received any technical evidence that the regional district could not do anything else with the system.
“Unless this board receives a report from the appropriate technical staff that this must be done this way or it cannot be done that way in the future, I suggest we deal with the motion before us,” said Brabazon.
Gisborne made a motion that the board contact the engineer. The motion failed to get a seconder.
Gisborne moved that the board direct staff to put a stop work order on the installation of the septic field and consult with the engineer on the repositioning of the field, so in the future, the qRD may expand on that field in order to meet the needs of the growing community, the seniors and people at risk.
The motion failed to get a seconder.
