Green Lake Closer To Sewer Hookup?

Council Rejects Staff Recommendation

City staff had recommended that Council abandone the establishment of a Local Area Service for the Green Lake area and put the Green Lake sewer project on hold until the City of Nanaimo receives senior government grant funding for this project.

There was  a delegation from the area requesting City Council finally get the residences around Green Lake connected to sanitary sewer. The lots which for the most part are small acreages came into the city back in 1975 at the time of amalgamation. There is some disagreement as to whether the residents of the area were promised sewer hookups at the time of the vote on amalgamation.

However, since that time the issue has been visited on a number of occasions and it seems the residents of the area felt the costs proposed by the city were simply too high. It is the owners responsibility to run the sewer line within the boundary of their own property and pay a connection fee to the city when they connect to the sewer line.

After another marathon debating session council finally agreed to have staff come up with a cost sharing plan which hopefully will be accepted by the Green Lake residents, which if accepted would become mandatory upon all area residents, whether they want the sewer or would sooner remain on their existing septic tanks.

One concern raised during the discussion was the fact that tests indicate that Green Lake is suffering from some form of die back, caused by either lawn fertilizer run off or septic tanks draining into the lake.

The issue is far from resolved as staff will have to prepare an acceptable plan which will call for the residents contributing to the cost and the majority of residents will have to approve. Depending on resident's views of being on their own septic system or paying to hookup to the city sewer it is likely the final decision could still go either way.