Courtenay council has approved third reading of a loan authorization bylaw for the $4.1 million Greenwood Trunk Connection to the sanitary sewer system.
The bylaw needs to go before the Inspector of Municipalities for review. Once complete, City staff will report to council on the next steps to begin the Alternate Approval Process (AAP). In an AAP, if 10 per cent of electors sign forms in opposition, a bylaw then proceeds to referendum or is put on hold.
The Greenwood Trunk is a priority project required to support growth in East Courtenay, the City says. The project is slated for construction next spring. The $4.1 million is to come from reserves ($450,000), general revenue ($50,000), new works revenue ($600,000) and new debt ($3 million). Borrowing would not affect the debt levy.
Once constructed, the City will be able to decommission three smaller temporary lift stations, and redirect flows by gravity into the regional district trunk main on Anderton Road.
“In the last few years, as the chair of the sewage commission, this was for us a very critical piece of infrastructure project that was needed,” Coun. Manno Theos said at the Nov. 4 meeting. “When you look at servicing those lift stations, the cost and time involved would negate much of the costs of the Greenwood Trunk. Many of the projects coming in front us in East Courtenay wouldn’t even have the potential of capacity without this moving forward.”