REQUEST FOR DECISION
DATE: May 11, 2016 Report No. DEV-16-034
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Bill Brown, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT:
Title
Public Feedback to the Draft Guiding Principles for Wastewater Treatment in Esquimalt
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That Council receive the four responses attached as Schedule “B” for information and consider whether or not to amend the Draft Guiding Principles prior to their adoption, as attached as Schedule “A” to Staff Report DEV-16-034.
Body
RELEVANT POLICY:
The Draft Guiding Principles are not based on any specific policy, however, Council has always maintained that consultation with the community is of paramount importance.
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE:
This initiative is congruent with Council’s Strategic Priority to, “Participate in Westside Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery Select Committee and Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee to review wastewater treatment strategies for local and regional solutions”.
BACKGROUND:
At their May 2, 2016 meeting, Council reviewed the “Draft Guiding Principles for Waste Water Treatment in Esquimalt” and instructed staff to elicit public feedback. To this end, the Township’s Communications Coordinator undertook the following actions:
- Issued a news release on May 3, 2016 (Schedule “C”);
- Published the document on the Township’s website and included it as a feature news item on the home page;
- Posted on Facebook ® and pinned it to the top of the page; and
- Issued three tweets on Twitter ®.
A total of four (4) responses were received. They are summarized as follows:
- Monty Locke - Esquimalt Resident - Would like to see a guiding principle that would be based on, “minimizing financial impact (taxes) to municipal residents”. He supports a single treatment plant built in Esquimalt.
- Norma Brown - Esquimalt Resident - Is concerned about guiding principle “6”. She does not want the Township to commit to Integrated Resource Management without understanding the implications. She suggests that the wording be changed to, “Integrated Resource Management is an important component of waste management and Esquimalt believes that IRM (with no anaerobic digestion) should be employed and sited at Harland and/or an alternate, negotiated site’s throughout the region”.
- Rick ILLI - President, CUPE 1978 - Would like a principle included that required the waste water treatment plant to be: “publicly owned and operated infrastructure”.
- Lisa Luo - On behalf of CUPE Local 1978 - Would like to see a “publicly owned and operated project”.
In addition to the four submissions that were received prior to the May 10, 2016 deadline, Council may receive additional submissions at their May 16, 2016 regular meeting.
ISSUES:
1. Rationale for Selected Option
As directed by Council, staff is providing Council with copies of the four submissions received prior to the May 10, 2016 submission deadline.
2. Organizational Implications
There are no significant organizational implications.
3. Financial Implications
There are no significant financial implications associated with gathering public responses to the guiding principles.
4. Sustainability & Environmental Implications
The guiding principles contain a number of sustainability and environmental initiatives.
5. Communication & Engagement
As noted above, there was an extensive range of public notification using a variety of media in order to elicit feedback.
ALTERNATIVES:
1) That Council receive the four responses attached as Schedule “B” for information and consider whether or not to amend the Draft Guiding Principles, as attached as Schedule “A” to Staff Report DEV-16-034, prior to their adoption.
2) That Council not approve the Draft Guiding Principles attached as Schedule “A”.