The Town of The Blue Mountains will have to spend significant money to upgrade/expand its sewage treatment capacity in the Craigleith area.
At council’s committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 10, town staff and consultants delivered a report about the alternatives (including the preferred project) to deliver expanded and upgraded sewage treatment facilities in the Craigleith area.
The town is facing a double crunch with the situation as looming development pressures in the area are consuming current sewage capacity making upgrades and expansions necessary. At the same time, the Ford government’s Bill 23 may be about to limit the amount of development charges revenue the town can collect, which could cause financial difficulties for the project.
At the meeting, consultants and staff presented a report that recommends the construction of a new sewage pumping station at the site of the current sewage treatment plant located on Long Point Road. In the preferred option, sewage infrastructure on Grey County Road 21 would be connected to the system directly. Currently, sewage from County Road 21 flows to a sewage lift station on Timmons Street in Craigleith and is pumped back to the treatment plant.
The report also recommends that the new pumping station at the plant location also be used for the collection of septage and leachate material. At this time, septage and leachate material is collected at the Timmons Street lift station, but that site is not ideal as residential development is occurring all around the station.
Council approved the staff report about the matter and authorized proceeding with a virtual public information centre about the project and the preferred option to be held on Jan. 26.
The report identified and ranked four potential options for the town to pursue. They are:
- Do nothing. The cost of this option is nothing extra over what is already planned.
- Expand the Timmons Street pumping station and upgrade the in-ground sewage infrastructure to handle the flows from County Road 21. Cost is estimated at $16 to 19 million.
- Construct a new pumping station at the treatment plant site on Long Point Road and new in-ground infrastructure connecting County Road 21 directly to the plant. (Preferred option). The cost is estimated at $8.1 million.
- Same as option three, except the new pumping station would be built on land the town must acquire. Cost estimated at $9.5 million.
Full details about the four options and their rankings can be found online here.
Project consultant Jamie Witherspoon of W.T. Infrastructure Solutions Inc. said the project is an important one for the town’s future noting that there is plenty of growth coming to the Craigleith area soon.
“There is a large area that connects into this,” said Witherspoon. “It’s important we don’t undersize this infrastructure. We don’t want to come back and add to it if we can avoid it.”
Members of council were satisfied with the report and were in agreement that upgrades are required.
“We’re past the 'do nothing' point,” said Coun. Gail Ardiel.
Coun. Paula Hope indicated concerns about financing the project due to Bill 23 limiting how much the town can collect in development charges.
“We do have to think very carefully about how we invest our money. We may not see the returns through development charges,” said Hope.
Town staff confirmed the upgrade project is growth related and would be funded through development charges, but did not have a definitive answer about Bill 23 impacts since the province has not released the regulations for that legislation.
“Any dollars the town is not allowed to collect through development charges will have to come from somewhere and that is the (wastewater treatment system) ratepayers,” said deputy treasurer and manager of accounting and capital project Sam Dinsmore.
Mayor Andrea Matrosovs noted that future growth in the Craigleith area depended on the project. The mayor said the town couldn’t approve development in the area and then pull back afterwards due to sewage capacity issues.
“We have to think of that moving forward,” she said.
