View Royal is also taking a look at its approach to the Capital Regional District’s proposed sewage treatment plant.
At its Nov. 6 council meeting a delegation from the Association for Responsible and Environmental Sustainable Sewage Treatment spoke against the project as a whole.
View Royal resident and mechanical engineer Brain Burchill and former federal cabinet minister David Anderson spoke of the economic, environmental and scientific arguments against building the plant.
Mayor Graham Hill, vice chair on the CRD board, explained he has consistently voted against the project for reasons other than the delegation brought forward.
Hill would like to have seen a provincial order debated in the B.C. legislature to decide the merits of the federal order, which is mandating the sewage be treated.
“I found that we did not have, to my thinking, the solution that I was looking for. I felt uncomfortable,” Hill said. “I was unsuccessful in getting more than, frankly, 40 per cent of the vote around that table to support our position. And so the proposition has rolled forward.”
Hill explained the project is in a delicate stage and on hold due to disagreements between the province and the CRD on the wording surrounding how the project will be managed.
Council passed a motion to bring the issue before the next committee of the whole to discuss the town’s involvement in the project.