Having read Stephanie Miller’s opinion piece [“Viewpoint: Coastal by Nature?, April 4,] a few points need to be made.
I might point out that 40 to 50 people turning out from a population of thousands would indicate to me the interest in changing long-standing plans for the wastewater treatment facility are not a pressing issue with a vast majority of residents. She does mention “concerned residents” but they seem quite low in numbers.
A few facts might clear some of this up. While this is a new treatment plant, it is going in the same location as the existing plant, albeit with a larger footprint, but a much more effective operation. It will also be screened from view and is quite low enough that it will not block any of the residents’ views at all.
As to the possibility of smell, again, there is an existing plant there already, as well as a paper mill just down the way. I doubt seriously this will create any new issues and may very well mitigate some existing ones.
The planning and approval of this treatment plant and its location took years to achieve with extensive opportunities to voice opposition to it. It is in my mind to ask Miller why she did not bring her concerns forward then. Should we grant her desire, we would have to go through the entire process again, thus risking the loss of millions of dollars in federal and provincial funding for the much-needed plant.
There is no doubt it is needed just in order to be compliant with current provincial environmental regulations, as well as new federal ones due to come in 2020, less than two years away. I am fairly certain most residents would not want the huge fines that would accompany such a thing, nor the loss of the millions now available, which have a time limit on them, that we would have to come up with on our own should we delay as she wants.
Miller mentions Saskatchewan as a comparison, but that province does not have the topography we deal with. We are quite limited in locations where this could go. This was chosen as the most logical and cost-effective location.
She also states we need to “take back our waterfront area from industry.” We will have an opportunity to do just that in future as the OCP must be rewritten by 2019. This will entail the opportunity for much input from residents as to what they wish, just as the opportunity for input on the treatment plant discussions occurred in the past.
As for the digging up of the Willingdon Beach Trail, it is no different than placing a pipe under a roadway. The trail will be recovered once the pipe is laid and thus is a moot point.
The time for input and decisions is long past. The decision was made and we must move forward with this in order to avoid the inevitable huge costs associated with not carrying on. I do not think the residents of Powell River wish to shoulder these huge costs for the benefit of a very few who do not like this.
It strikes me as NIMBY (not in my backyard) at its most obvious.
Cameron Bailey is a Powell River resident.
