The following are briefs from the Nov. 14 Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board and committee of the whole meetings.
Light treatment
The board awarded a contract for an ultraviolet disinfection system upgrade for the Chapman Creek Water Treatment Plant to Tritech Group Ltd. for just under $2 million. “The current UV system has reached the end of its operational life and no longer meets regulatory requirements and must be replaced,” stated an accompanying staff report. Stantec Consulting Services’ contract for the project was also upped to $157,538 (a rise of $26,256). Work is expected to start mid-to-late next year and finish by April 2026.
New pumper
Gibsons and District Volunteer Fire Department is getting a new fire engine. The board awarded the contract to Rocky Mountain Phoenix Inc. for a maximum value of $1,674,051. An alternative approval process this summer saw electors within the fire protection district not object to the SCRD borrowing just under $1.5 million over a 10-year term to fund a replacement for the pumper apparatus, with the rest of the money coming from reserves. The current apparatus is 23 years old and “insufficient to meet the fire service’s current needs, partly due to its pump capacity and limited horsepower,” according to district information.
Renewed Soils
Directors voted to up two Salish Soils contracts for another year. The local business will continue offering metal container hauling and recycling services (for a cost of up to $297,240) and continue to operate the South Coast Residential Green Waste Drop-off Depot (for a cost of up to $109,520) into 2025. Elphinstone (Area E) director Donna McMahon noted traffic needs to be managed better at the green waste depot’s Henry Road site. “What tends to happen on nice weekends in the fall and spring is that a lot of people rush there towards the end of the day, trying to get in before the end of the day, and then tempers get short, and I’ve heard, anecdotally, of fist fights between people in the lineup, so it does need some attention.” The matter still needs to be confirmed at board.
Fire department farewell
Among the quarterly reports was a note that the Egmont and District Volunteer Fire Department bid goodbye to its longest-serving member in July. Frank Boudreau was a member of the department for 17 years and helped build the Egmont Fire Hall.
Reservoir assent
The province has confirmed that the SCRD would need to obtain elector assent before a lease agreement can be executed for the Lower Crown reservoir, according to the quarterly reports. Staff are working with shíshálh Nation on engineering and design, as well as operational and financial implications for the SCRD. shíshálh Nation has not yet secured funding for reservoir construction, said the report.
Too good to pass up
The 330 youth transit passes (S-passes) that were activated last week were “significantly more than we budgeted for and thought for,” said community services manager Shelley Gagnon.
“So that’s still great news in terms of uptake.”
Normally, they sell about 100 youth passes a month, she said. “Anecdotally, lots of the youth that came forward that got passes were not regular bus riders, but they were interested in potentially trying it out.”
On that point, Roberts Creek (Area D) director Kelly Backs said engaging youth is important. “And it looks like it’s starting to happen, but I believe that the Regional District and the board can engage youth on many more layers than we already are,” he said, noting Gibsons youth councillor(s) numbered among the advocates of this initiative.
Asked how the cost of free student transit will be calculated, staff said it will be based on “lost fare revenue” of passes acquired.
How may the suffering loonie affect the local landfill?: Answering a question about the landfill tonnage decreasing this past quarter over the same quarter last year, manager of infrastructure services Remko Rosenboom acknowledged a difference in recycling services, but said, “there is a pretty strong connection between economic activity and waste that we have to landfill,” he said. “So if the economy goes up, usually the amount of materials that we get [in the landfill] is going up as well.”
Cliff Gilker irrigation
The Cliff Gilker sports field reopened on Sept. 1. It had been closed due to “turf failure” since January 2023. The field’s irrigation project (to change the fields’ irrigation source from the Chapman Water system to an onsite well) is under way, with 24-hour pump testing completed, said a quarterly report. Also at Cliff Gilker Regional Park, the Upper Waterfall Bridge was closed for public safety, while two other Clack Creek crossings remain open for connectivity with the rest of the trail network.
Halls’ mark
Community hall bookings are up significantly from last year. The usage rate for the five community halls was 14 per cent in the third quarter of 2024, up from nine per cent in the same quarter last year. However, Chaster House’s nearly unchanged usage statistics (for the quarter) is skewing the results. Use of Coopers Green nearly doubled to 222 hours July to September, from 122 hours in the same quarter last year (82 per cent). Use of Eric Cardinall Hall more than doubled to 194 hours this year from 94 hours last year (106 per cent). Frank West Hall rose to 131 hours from 69 hours (90 per cent) and Granthams saw a 75 per cent rise in use (to 77 hours from 44). General manager of community services Shelley Gagnon said beyond COVID bounceback, it’s reflective of the investment in a “facility booking specialist” who connects with community and promotes SCRD facilities.
