Townsite Ratepayers Society representatives were told qathet Regional District (qRD) has not made a decision on its request for proposals for a regional composting facility.
At the April 15 committee of the whole meeting, ratepayers society member Stephanie Miller and president Diana Collicutt made a presentation indicating community composting is the right way to go but siting a facility in Townsite is not the best decision.
Collicutt said siting a compost facility in Townsite is not a “not in my backyard” reaction.
“You would be hard pressed to find any resident in our town who has said what a great idea to put this in front of her home,” said Collicutt. “Wildwood and Westview ratepayers, and other concerned citizens, have submitted to us letters of support in this regard.” She added that no one wants a compost facility in their neighbourhood.
“The regional district has a responsibility to protect our economy and taxpaying citizens of Powell River,” said Collicutt. “This can be done by siting the compost facility outside of city boundaries and away from residential and commercial areas. It belongs in the regional district away from homes and away from businesses where there is room to implement proper buffers. Residences in our city deserve an odour-free and pathogen-free neighbourhood to live in.”
Collicutt said in 2019, the qRD board went in camera and granted letters of support and commitment for a Tla’amin Nation composting facility to be located on the Townsite waterfront. She said in 2021, the public became aware of a compost facility, which was disclosed in a provincial media release.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he wanted to thank the ratepayers society delegates for doing their homework. He said at a previous qRD meeting, he asked the question of who is in charge of the lands that Tla’amin wants to use for a composting facility. Gisborne said he believes staff indicated the property was Tla’amin Nation treaty settlement lands, but he said that has since been corrected because they are not yet treaty settlement lands and are actually subject to the city’s bylaws.
He said the regional district would not be building a composting facility but it is exploring alternative vendors to accept the organic waste.
Gisborne said qRD is subscribed to the coastal communities social procurement initiative. He said one of the main principles of social procurement is breaking up large contracts into smaller components so multiple vendors can participate. This results in better community and social impact for the procurement and also creates the option that if one vendor falls behind, or negatively impacts the community, the organization then has various options.
“We haven’t chosen which vendor yet, however, my question for the public is, would they be more in favour of there being multiple locations, and that way, if one of the locations starts to have issues, the regional district could then divert it to one of the other vendors rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket,” said Gisborne. “My question for the delegation is: would they be in favour of a multiple vendor approach as opposed to the single vendor approach?”
Collicutt said as far as the Townsite ratepayers are concerned, the concern is having a composting facility in their neighbourhood on the waterfront.
“We just do not want that type of use in our neighbourhood,” said Collicutt. “There is a lot of land throughout the regional district outside of residential areas and we do not think this is a suitable location whatsoever for a compost facility.”
Committee chair and Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said no decisions have been made by the qRD board.
