Dear editor,
I wish to address some of the issues raised in Bruce Livesey’s letter of March 13, 2018 (Union Bay landowners could soon be facing millions in infrastructure upgrade costs).
Mr. Livesey correctly states that “from 2010 to 2014 the cost to finance was zero because a ‘Good Samaritan’ was to provide the water treatment for free, that didn’t happen.”
What Livesey is not saying is, he was one of the UBID trustees during that period which prevented Mr. McMahon, VP of Kensington Island Properties (KIP) to move forward with his development and provide the community with a new water treatment system.
The system in 2016, estimated to cost $1.7 million, was to be built temporarily on the lands of the existing water treatment site and utilize the existing reservoir. The proposed UBID owned and funded water treatment system will now be built on the four acres of land recently donated by KIP on the corner of Musgrave and McLeod roads. It requires site preparation and servicing, security fencing and includes a new above ground tank reservoir.
As explained at the two recent open houses, and posted to the UBID website (www.union-bay.ca), with a $1.5 million down payment from the existing Public Works capital reserve fund, the current annual parcel taxes of $345 per property could support a project of approximately $4 million amortized over 25 years.
This does not even take into consideration the nearly $1 million in capital development charges to be paid to UBID for phase 1 alone; not to mention the additional parcel taxes created for UBID from this multi-stage development. These monies could be lost to Union Bay if the CVRD were to take over.
There will be no “reckless spending of taxpayers’ dollars,” as Mr. Livesey states. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is well aware and supportive of UBID’s current plans for the new water treatment system and its associated cost financing.
Dave Godfrey
Union Bay landowner and former UBID trustee