Royal Colwood Golf Club has stepped up to the plate and offered a three-acre parcel of land for possible use in a Westside wastewater treatment system.
The private club, the first organization to voluntarily offer up property for the project, recently wrote the Westside Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery Select Committee (Westside Select Committee) to declare its intention to be part of a treatment solution.
“They sought us out,” said committee co-chair and Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton.
“We did the work ahead of time,” she said. “We made sure what we were looking at met at least minimum requirements.”
With the deadline Wednesday (July 22) for the public to provide online feedback on the possible sites at fluidsurveys.com/s/WestsideSiteSpeak/, the addition of Royal Colwood Golf Club gives another potential option. An addendum form has been added to include the golf club site and completed feedback forms can be adjusted to provide input on this new site.
Hamilton said instead of selecting every potentially suitable property they could think of, the Westside group did a careful analysis of its area to find the best options, a strategy that has made the process easier. By comparison, the Eastside committee took a different approach and whittled down a large list of properties.
In general, Hamilton said the push is on for public input. “Early feedback (of the entire process) has been very positive.”
The Westside committee had asked private landowners who might be interested in providing lands for the project to come forward, as a way of not missing any opportunities, Hamilton said.
Last month the committee, which represents View Royal, Colwood, Langford, Esquimalt, and Esquimalt First Nation, released a list of 20 possible wastewater treatment facility sites for consideration and public input.
That list originally included five locations in Esquimalt, one in View Royal, two in Langford and 12 in Colwood. Any one or combination of up to four properties could be considered.
Several factors were taken under review for selecting those potential sites, including recovery potential, proximity to truck routes, ownership, current use and existing municipal zoning.
The committee hopes to have a plan to present by March 2016.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com