Of the three commissioners at the May 11 Sechelt Sewer Facilities Commission Meeting, only Sechelt Councillor and Commissioner Tom Lamb was in attendance when the group last met in Oct. 2014.
The newly revived commission was established by bylaw in 1994 to oversee the operation and maintenance of the district sewage treatment plant and disposal facilities and the sewage collection system. Sechelt owns a sewage collection system and sewage treatment and disposal facilities and operates those for the benefit of the municipality and the Sechelt Indian Government District (SIGD).
The meeting was chaired, on an interim basis by Sechelt’s director of engineering, Kirn Dhillon. One of the first items of business for the group was the recruitment of a commission chairperson. The representatives of the District of Sechelt and the SIGD agreed to follow the practice of having an independent third party from the community chair the commission. There was also agreement that the recruiting of candidates to fill the role could be done through advertising and through referrals from commission members.
The majority of the meeting discussion focused on updates to projects affecting the area’s wastewater collection and treatment systems. Those included the Havies subdivision in the Selma Park neighbourhood, which Sechelt’s manager of development engineering and sustainability, Meghan Lee, reported would involve the creation of a new sewer service area. She outlined that the sanitary connection for that development would be a gravity feed from Nestman to Selma Park Road, then continue by force main to Trail Avenue.
Sechelt staff members also updated the commission on plans for flow meter installations, sanitary sewer modelling and pipe condition assessments slated for 2022.
Commissioner Jesse Waldorf, representing the SIGD reported on that jurisdiction’s Selma Park development, involving two phases of residential development that will create 86 lots for single and multi-family homes. In response to a request from Lamb, he agreed to bring the sewer flow calculations to the commission’s next meeting. That meeting will be scheduled for June 15.
Information about costs for upgrading of sewer infrastructure in the area of Highway 101 and Wharf Avenue will also come forward from Sechelt staffers at a future meeting. Future meetings are to be a hybrid in-person and virtual format using Zoom, agreed the commission. It also would like meeting recordings posted to Sechelt’s YouTube channel.
Sechelt’s corporate officer, Jo-Anne Frank told Coast Reporter that there was no breach of procedure or provincial requirements during the eight-year gap in meetings of the commission. “The province was aware that the commission was on hiatus and Sechelt followed all the testing needs and requirement for its permits [related to its wastewater system],” Frank said.
