Dear Editor.
Until recently, many landowners of Union Bay were hopeful that the Kensington Island Properties development would move forward. And in turn, would help with the heavy financial burden of a VIHA mandated water treatment system and the CVRD’s South Area Liquid Waste (Sewer) Management Plan facing the community.
Despite receiving final approval for the Master Development Agreement from the Provincial Government in October 2014, Kensington is now being stonewalled by the Union Bay Improvement District board for approval of new water agreement. The former agreement, which expired on December 31, 2014, allowed for a phased-in approach to water treatment, sufficient for all existing Union Bay properties plus the initial phases of the development. It now seems that the current UBID board has their own demands from the developer which have yet to be made public to Union Bay landowners.
I would encourage all Union Bay landowners to attend the Annual General Meeting at 1 p.m. at the Community Hall this Saturday, April 25. Let us all hear the report from the board how their plan is going to benefit our community without bankrupting its residents. Let them prove to us that the UBID’s stand alone water treatment plan is more cost effective than having a major developer ready to invest in these systems taking the financial burden off the taxpayers.
Dave Godfrey
Former UBID Trustee