GORE BAY鈥擥ore Bay town council has turned down a request from WEST (Waste Energy) for a waterline connection from the town to its proposed advanced waste recovery plant on property that is located beside the transfer station in Gordon/Barrie Island as it could impact future water capacity for the town.
Jason Quinlan, town manager, told council at a meeting last week, 鈥渨e recently received an email from Mathieu Gagnon (chief executive officer and founder of WEST), outlining several requests from WEST. We contacted them to clarify their requests and informed them through discussions that they would be brought to council to decide.鈥漌EST has requested a two-inch waterline connection, stating it is critical to maintaining project timelines; a municipal support resolution of the proposed project in principle (which council had previously provided); Direction for municipal staff to enter into a schedule A waste processing as a service agreement for managing town waste through the proposed WEST facility.
As for any financial impact, Mr. Quinlan indicated in his report that WEST would be responsible for covering all associated costs with construction and installation of the waterline including time for our public works to supervise. This would add a new customer to the Gore Bay water supply.
鈥淚n looking at it from a staff perspective, we don鈥檛 feel we should enter into a schedule A waste processing as a service agreement at this time, as the project is still in its infancy,鈥 said Mr. Quinlan.
鈥淎s I have said previously, I would not be in favour of providing further water connections to anyone outside of the town, as we are looking at further expansion and a population increase in the future,鈥 said Councillor Dan Osborne. 鈥淎t the April 28 meeting when Mr. Gagnon made a presentation to council, I had asked if water was needed (from the town) and he said no, they could drill wells and have a holding tank.鈥
鈥淓xtending the water line will not benefit the Town of Gore Bay,鈥 said Councillor Osborne, 鈥渁nd it could affect our water capacity if we have further growth in town.鈥 He explained that when the water treatment plant was constructed, it was built to handle more capacity than the town needed at the time to provide for growth in Gore Bay in the future. 鈥淚f we push out water outside of Gore Bay, and someone wants to put in a subdivision and we don鈥檛 have the water capacity for it, then what? It could diminish what we can do in town.鈥 He also pointed out the town only gets a user fee (not a tax bill) for those who have been added to the water system outside of town over the years.
鈥淚 agree we shouldn鈥檛 extend out to Gordon, and we shouldn鈥檛 sign a service agreement until the (WEST) facility is in place,鈥 Councillor Dan Forrest said.
鈥淚t was also said in the presentation to council April 28 that all (WEST) wanted was a letter/resolution from the town approving the proposal in principle,鈥 he continued. 鈥淭hings have obviously changed, and I don鈥檛 think we have enough information yet. And Mr. Gagnon had indicated at that meeting that no, they didn鈥檛 require water from the town. If we push water out to Gordon it could diminish what we can do in town. A two-inch water line is a lot.鈥
Council agreed it would not support the waterline connection and will not support the waste service agreement until more information is provided.
