shíshálh Nation’s Lower Crown raw water reservoir project is to be discussed at a special Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board meeting at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 30. The public can attend the meeting in person at the SCRD’s Field Road office or virtually through links provided on www.scrd.ca.
The meeting order paper was posted Nov. 24. It lists a delegation to provide an update on the reservoir initiative from Jasmine Paul, vice-president of negotiation, governance and policy for the Castlemain Group, a consulting firm working with the Nation on project planning. That is to be followed by a report from SCRD staff. No supporting documents on either were included with the posted agenda.
The board last publicly discussed the reservoir project on Oct. 12 when it supported a funding application by the Nation to the province to help move forward the proposed build of an estimated 780,000 cubic metre water storage site on its gravel lands at the Heidelberg Materials aggregate mine site. The Lower Crown location was also one of two reservoirs and other water infrastructure improvements included in an earlier joint Nation/SCRD submission for $125 million in federal funding. With a decision on that application projected by staff to be months away, the Nation made the second grant request related to the lower site to support a construction start this year and to have it operable by mid-2024. As of Nov. 26, no funding award decisions on either application have been released.
A staff report received at that October meeting outlined a “high-level overview” of steps required before the board considers committing to expedite plans for that reservoir ahead of other regional water supply initiatives. Listed first was a project “cost-benefit analysis including financial implications for ratepayers."
To complete that work and requirements related to water licensing, health approvals, operations agreements and infrastructure impacts of the reservoir would mean additional 2024 budget asks for staff and external resources, according to the report. 2024 SCRD budget deliberations are set to start Dec. 4.
