Residents who will be serviced by the Northwest Sewer Project received some final details about how much they’ll have to pay for the project at a meeting in Osoyoos on Nov. 26. Photo by Paul Everest - Click on photo for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-December 2, 2009
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
Residents of Osoyoos Lake’s northwest shore whose properties will be serviced by the extension of the Town of Osoyoos’s sewer system got the lowdown on some of the final details of the project at an information session on Nov. 26.
Roughly 100 people showed up to the session at the Sonora Community Centre which was hosted by representatives of the Town of Osoyoos, the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) and TRUE Consulting, the Town’s engineering consultant.
Attendees heard that the overall cost of the project is more than $6.4 million.
Part of that cost includes more than $1.4 million worth of upgrades to the Town’s sewage collection system to handle sewage flow from properties on the lake’s northwest shore.
While the final actual costs of the project won’t be known until work is completed, owners of the roughly 130 properties on the lake’s northwest shore that will be serviced by the Northwest Sewer Project were told they will be on the hook for $1,045,000 of the $6.4 million price tag.
Residents will have the choice of making an an-nual payment of $890 for 20 years or make a lump sum payment of $8,000 to cover the project’s capital costs.
Since the area that will be serviced by the project is in RDOS rural Area A, the RDOS will take out a loan to cover the residential portion of the project’s price tag for those who do not wish to pay up front.
Residential payments will go towards servicing this debt, but they will not be due until the entire project is complete and final costs of the effort are calculated.
DEVELOPMENTS TO CONTRIBUTE $1.1 MILLION TO PROJECT
The rest of the costs of the project will be covered using $4.3 million from an infrastructure grant awarded to the project in 2007 by the federal and provincial governments and from contributions from the developers of the Willow Beach property and the Reflection Point development.
The owner of the Willow Beach property, Georgia Laine Developments, is contributing $950,000, with $614,000 going towards reducing costs for northwest sector homeowners.
The rest of the Willow Beach money will be used to pay for 40 lots on the Willow Beach property to be serviced by the sewer extension and to cover the upgrades to the Town’s sewer system.
The Reflection Point developers will contribute $154,000 to the project, part of which will pay for sewer capacity for 22 lots on the Reflection Point property at the intersection of 87th Street and 120th Avenue and the upgrades to the Town’s sewer system.
Terry Underwood of TRUE Consulting said the project will be built in phases from south to north and the order of the phases depends on efforts to secure rights-of-way for sewer infrastructure.
Phase 1 will happen in the area of 104th Avenue where an agreement-in-principle has been reached with property owners for all required rights-of-way.
Underwood said the design for this phase will be finalized and a construction tender will be called by the middle of this month.
He added that the tender will be awarded in January, construction will begin in either February or March and the system in the 104th Avenue area will be operational by June.
It is hoped, Underwood said, that Phase 2 will cover the area from the 104th Avenue neighbourhood to Roberts Point and a tender for this phase will go out in the spring of 2010.
Improvements to the Town’s sewage collection system, which is located within town boundaries, will also likely be completed in phases and the first phase will be undertaken at the same time as reconstruction work on 87th Street.
A tender for construction of a new lift station for the sewer system will likely go out in the fall of 2010.
Underwood said his firm and the RDOS are continuing an effort to secure rights-of-way for the project.
Local governments are not planning to pay for rights-of-way, he said, but it is hoped property owners will volunteer rights-of-way on their land for the sake of protecting the quality of water in the lake.
Construction crews will restore rights-of-way to “as close to preconstruction condition as possible,” Underwood said, and, once the sewer infrastructure is in place, there will be minimal use restrictions— such as no permanent buildings— in the rights-of-way areas.
Since the expiry date for the infrastructure grant has been extended to March 31, 2012, all construction must be completed by that date.
Residents serviced by the sewer project will also have to pay user fees which were set in a bylaw adopted by Osoyoos council last month.
Single and two-family dwellings, along with light industrial units, will pay $299 per year while rooming houses, hotels, bed and breakfasts and care facilities will pay $230.34 per unit, per year.
Once a particular phase of the project is completed, property owners in that area will have to hook up to the system within six months, otherwise a sewer user fee will be charged.
Owners are responsible for installing their own sewer line from the closest system connection to their residence and owners are required to get a sewer connection permit and have the connection inspected by the Town.
The sewer connection/inspection fee is $110.
Property owners will also have to decommission their septic tank at their own cost.
Attendees at the information session raised a number of questions and concerns regarding the project.
One person asked if the project would bring water to the area being serviced or if residents will have to continue using wells.
Underwood said the project does not include water service, but the Town does entertain applications for water service along the lake’s northwest shore.
A resident of the Willow Beach property asked why people living at the site, who have been told by the property’s current owner that they will eventually have to leave, should have to pay user fees for a sewer system that will benefit someone else living at the site in the future.
Another man asked why residents in the northwest shore area are being asked to pay $8,000 plus user fees when homeowners in the area were not approached by local governments for their input on the project.
Rural Area A Director Mark Pendergraft said the public granted its approval for the sewer project when the concept was first introduced in 1989 and that, from what he’s heard, the majority of people in the area are in favour of the project.
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