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www.comoxvalleyecho.com Price: 57 cents plus GST
Volume 20, No. 25
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Three more sign up for space at Crown Isle Shopping Centre By Philip Round Echo Staff
The big new electricity substation being constructed between Buckley Bay and Union Bay is expected to power up in the fall this year.
Big electricity substation powering up well Local contractor feels Valley workers not benefiting from $28m project By Michael Briones Echo Staff The big new electricity substation being constructed between Buckley Bay and Union Bay is progressing smoothly and is expected to be completed in early fall this year. The project, which cost about $28 million, is expected to be a big boost to the Comox Valley as it will allow BC Hydro to keep pace with the increasing demand for electricity due to new developments down the road. “The Buckley Bay substation and the circuits that come out of it will indirectly foster local economic activity by providing more power sup-
ply for growth,” said BC Hdyro’s communication officerm Stephen Watson. “The substation will also help with electricity reliability to the southern Comox Valley.” The huge substation, which started in 2012, has created jobs but one local contractor feels Comox Valley is not benefiting from it. A contractor, who talked to the Echo but doesn’t want his identity published for fear of being blackballed on future projects, questioned why most of the workers are not from the Comox Valley area. He said preference should be given to local workers first. Houle Electric, with bases in Nanaimo and Victoria as well as on the mainland, is the com-
pany hired to lead the construction. There are currently 32 people working on the site, and of those, three are from the wider Comox Valley. “Generally, BC Hydro puts out construction contracts onto BC Bid and numerous companies bid on that work, such as the Buckley Bay Substation Project,” said Watson. “Houle Electric Ltd won the competition for civil and electrical contract work for the substation project. From there, Houle may hire various subcontractors to enable them to complete the work based on their cost bid to BC Hydro.” The site preparation was completed last summer and was done by Upland Excavating out of Campbell River. (Continued on page 2)
Construction of another building in the Thrifty Foods Crown Isle Shopping Centre started this week - and two more will follow very soon. City Hall has issued a building permit giving the go-ahead for the first and largest of three additional buildings in phase two of the development, on cleared land between the existing Thrifty Foods grocery store and Ryan Road. Thrifty Foods’ senior director of marketing and communications, Ralf Mundel, told the Echo the first confirmed tenant in the new 11,700 sq. ft. retail building was Dollarama. Courtenay company AFC Construction had secured the contract for work on the new building, having successfully completed three other structures within the new shopping centre. AFC will also carry out site works in readiness for two other buildings in phase two - a 95-seat restaurant with patio and drive-thru, and an auto service centre. A development permit for those has been approved, but detailed building permits have not yet been issued. Mundel said they were almost ready to go with the other buildings, confirming for the first time that McDonald’s had signed up to operate the restaurant and Mr. Lube would be the tenant of the auto service centre. “We are getting a wonderful mix of tenants at Crown Isle,” said Mundel. “It’s a fantastic development - the whole place has such a good vibe.” (Continued on page 2)
Valley facing $74m bill to upgrade ageing sewer system Revised plan aims to spread cost over longer period By Philip Round Echo Staff Flush any toilet at a property connected to the Comox Valley sewer system, and the waste simply disappears to become someone else’s responsibility. Where it goes, how it gets there, and how it’s treated on the way is not your problem. The only times people give it any thought is if there’s a deeply unpleasant back-up - or more likely when they receive their annual utility bill in the mail. And its now clear those bills are going to be on the rise for the next few years at a pace significantly above inflation. The problem is that most of the Valley’s strategic infrastructure of pipelines and pumps, along with treatment and disposal facilities,
From the air, this is the existing plant on Comox peninsula where the Valley’s sewage is treated before the wastewater is piped through an outflow 3kms long to deep section of the Georgia Strait. (Photo: CVRD) was constructed in the early 1980s. Much of it was brought in to use 30 years ago - and the system was only designed to cope with anticipated flows for 25 years.
So Comox Valley Regional District needs to plan for - and finance - not only upgrades or complete replacement of existing infrastructure, but also its expansion to cope with ongo-
ing population growth. “Most of the infrastructure is now at the limit of its designed capacity and some of it is near the end of its life expectancy,” said Marc Rutten, the CVRD’s senior manager of engineering services. “Many upgrades are required to cope with population growth and to address environmental concerns and newer regulations. “The consequences of not doing this essential work do not bear thinking about. “But we recognize there’s a big price to pay and have been working to find a way to at least ease the inevitable impact.” A master plan charting the way forward was completed in 2011, with spending priorities set for a ten-year period. It was estimated that around $73 million needed to be spent to make sure the system was capable of handling growing flows while meeting tougher environmental regulations. And that’s on top of local sewer costs incurred by the City of Courtenay and the Town of Comox, which hook in to the CVRD’s system of sewage
treatment. Taken together they represent a way higher spending pattern than local taxpayers have ever previously experienced for sewer services. And while a fair share of the money for the necessary infrastructure will be raised from specific charges levied on the developers of new buildings - some is already held in CVRD reserves - the bulk of it will have to be found by existing users. By far the biggest project in the works is the upgrading and expansion of the Comox Valley wastewater treatment plant - also called the pollution control centre - off Curtis Road on the Comox peninsula. Phase one of that project, which involves a major upgrade to meet enhanced provincial sewage regulations, will cost $6.5 million, and other essential new equipment needed on site will add a further $2.5 million. Phase two, including entirely new treatment facilities on neighbouring CVRD-owned property to cope with larger flows, will cost a whopping $24 million. (Continued on page 2)