April 10, 2014 - 9:58 AM
VICTORIA - Plans for a sewage treatment plant on the waterfront of Esquimalt, B.C., could be flushed away by a dispute between the township and the Capital Regional District.
Councillors in Esquimalt have derailed plans for the treatment plant by voting against a rezoning application.
That has prompted the regional district to urge Environment Minister Mary Polak to overturn the township's decision, but Polak says the issue is within local jurisdiction and she's unlikely to step in.
Both the federal and provincial government's have ordered construction of a regional treatment facility and the regional district says nearly $10-million has already been spent on the most appropriate location at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt.
Polak has offered to extend the provincial time limit for construction, but notes the federal deadline of 2020 is looming and she urges Esquimalt and the CRD to settle their differences and get to work.
Esquimalt opposes the McLoughlin Point location saying the former industrial lands are at the marine gateway to Greater Victoria and are not the right spot for a sewage processing plant. (CFAX, The Canadian Press)
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014