OSOYOOS TIMES-December 23, 2009

By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times

Lines have been put down on a map to identify the rural Osoyoos homes that will be included in the new Northwest Sector Sewer project.
Each homeowner inside that line will have to pay at least $8,000 to be part of the system. It’s not optional and not everyone is happy about it.
Rick D., who lives at 10025 87th St. and asked not to have his full name used, said he had been told all along, specifically by a former Town of Osoyoos employee, the project wouldn’t include his home, it would only include those along the lakeshore.
But last month, he found out otherwise.
“I found out on Nov. 28, the day after the meeting,” he said.
He is referring to a public meeting about the project, which he didn’t attend.
“I was told we weren’t included,” Rick said, adding that he did get a letter inviting him to the meeting.
The letter was addressed to Rick and stated, “The Town of Osoyoos and the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen are hosting an information session to review the new sewer system coming to your area. Please come to see how this affects you.”
But Rick assumed, based on his previous belief that his property was not included in the project, that the letter went out to all property owners near the area, directly affected or not.
Rick said he has since talked to property owners stretching from 9809 87th St. to 10435 87th St.
Like him, most of them did not know their homes were slated to be included.
Rick said most of them aren’t happy.
“Everyone I’ve talked with (in this area), except for one couple, is opposed to it,” he said, adding that one couple is wishing to remain neutral.
The project has been in the works for many years, said Mark Pendergraft, rural Area A director.
To his knowledge, the official lines indicating which homes would be included in the project were put on the map in 2008 in a sewer line engineering study.
Earlier plans did not specify which homes would be included, just a general area.
“To the best of my knowledge, I believe they were included all the time,” he said about the homes on 87th Street.
Each of the approximately 130 homes in the lake’s northwest sector that will be connected to the project, which is a joint project by the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) and the Town, will have to share in the cost of the entire line.
That will come to approximately $8,000 that will be due to the RDOS upon completion of the project.
If a homeowner can’t pay it all upfront, he or she will be able to either take out a private loan to pay it, or have the amount financed by the RDOS and pay a portion each year.
But it’s going to cost the homeowners even more than that base amount, said Rick.
Each owner will be on the hook to pay for the line running from their own house to the main line.
That could cost several more thousands, he said.
That adds up to a big bill for some of the unsuspecting homeowners.
Josette Edwards is a widowed senior citizen living at 10209 87th St. and she said she was completely surprised to find out this was going to include her.
“We have not been consulted at all,” she said. “It’s a lot of money for those of us on restricted income.”
Not to mention the fact she doesn’t see the need to hook up to sewer.
While she agrees taking care of the lake is important, she doesn’t see that her septic tank, which is approximately 500 metres away from the lake, is causing environmental problems.
“My septic tank is 11 years old and it’s perfectly good,” she said, not understanding the need to be forced to hook up – except to help pay for the costs. “I feel we’re being used to subsidize others.”
Pendergraft said the plan to hook up as many properties as possible in the area started in the late 1980s, with the establishment of a liquid waste management plan, and there has been public consultation all along.
And while the idea of giving residents a vote about whether or not they wanted the project is a nice idea, it likely wouldn’t have been binding, he said, and it would have just added another expense.
But he thinks most people are on board with the project, which will mean less pollution seeping into Osoyoos Lake.
“The majority of people that are along the line that have contacted me have been very supportive and want it to happen ASAP,” Pendergraft said.
But Rick still has questions and he is not going to be silent about his opposition.
He wants to see the service bylaw defeated and he doesn’t want to be part of the project at all.
“I would like to see us excluded,” he said.
Pendergraft said this is supposed to be a mandatory service, but he doesn’t know if at this time it is possible for a homeowner to opt out.
“There’s nothing in place to force them (to join),” he said, adding that he is unsure about what would happen if an owner flat-out refused. “At some point there may be.”
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