Update #1 - a reader challenged me to say what I felt WL Council should do and here's what I responded with:
My own thoughts, if I was a WL City Councillor now, would be two options:
1) Request residents' to bring a consensus opinion as to which service they want immediately... and which service they feel that they can wait on...
2) If Option 1 can't be done in a reasonable time period, then take the entire issue to *all* residents' of Williams Lake (as any new additions to/improvements to the water/sewer system need to be approved by *all* residents who pay for water/sewer services by the City of WL) and lay out 4 options to finance water/sewer for Woodland Drive residents' including water only, sewer only, water/sewer or "none of the above" and given the price tag of $3.5 million - it must be a referendum vote
Finally - there would be very good cause to wait/see what the price tag for a renovated/new Sam Ketchum Memorial Pool is before deciding on the issue of water/sewer for Woodland Drive as residents' may argue (quite successfully) that we can't afford to do both at once...
Original Blog Post:
Earlier this year - City of Williams Lake Staff asked residents' of Woodland Drive to complete a survey around future water/sewer services... and as of June 29th, 36 residents' completed the survey
This was a follow-up to a meeting held with Woodland Drive residents' which was held on April 26th to discuss the options available to the City and to discuss next steps with the residents
The survey was split into three primary areas:
1) Water
2) Sewer
3) Threshold for Future
For #1 - 57.6% of residents said they experienced no water shortages while 42.4% of residents said that they did experience water shortages
On #2 - 18 of the 26 residents who responded said that they use a septic field as their sewer system while the remaining 8 said that they use a lagoon as their sewer system
On #3 - 84.4% of residents survey (27 residents') said that they want water/sewer, while 12.5% of residents' surveyed want water only while the remainder want sewer only
On personal contributions to a water/sewer system - a full 25% said that they were willing to contribute between $15,000-$25,000 to the development of a water/sewer system for Woodland Drive but for a established Local Service Area , a full 63% do not like any of the options for a Local Service Area...
As Staff note - there is no clear message from Woodland Drive residents' which thus puts the following questions back onto Council:
1. Does Council want to proceed with construction of a sewer and water system to service Woodland Drive?
2. Does Council want to proceed with construction of one of either water or sewer services for Woodland Drive?
3. If Council wants to proceed with construction what year do they feel it should take place?
4. Does Council still support the options that they selected when direction was given to proceed with the grant application?
5. Given the information that staff has provided on why we were not successful on the grant application, does Council want staff to reapply and what for, sewer/water or only one of either sewer or water.
6. What direction would Council like staff to proceed with respect to project funding?
7. If Council wishes to borrow money with respect to this project do they wish to conduct a referendum or an Alternative Approval Process?
8. Council needs to provide direction on future subdivision requests that will be received if a water/sewer system is installed.
9. Consideration should be given about implementing a DCC Bylaw that would collect monies from any future subdivisions or building construction for the eventual construction of future water systems improvements.
Staff have laid out two options for consideration of WL Council:
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1) Future Study of the issue
2) Pursue a Local Service Area (Water/Sewer) for Woodland Drive
3) Wait for Grant Money to come from Ottawa/Victoria
Finally - some of the individual comments left by Woodland Drive residents included:
I don't think it's acceptable for the residents to pay 100% of the costs. With the
high tax rate we already pay, the City could budget to pay a reasonable
proportion of the construction costs. I know there is a water utility but as I
understand it, that doesn't include sewer so the City could cover those costs and
any associated costs including digging the ditches, any repaving etc so that the
residents could be required to be the incremental cost of laying the water lines.
you would rather make a park for dogs to shit, rather then get water to those
who pay taxes
I am not sure my property value on my taxes reflects the true value of a house in
a neighbourhood with no water and with no plan to obtain water in the
foreseeable future. If we are on our own to provide our homes with water we
certainly shouldn't be paying $4000+ a year in property taxes.
You can read the full report here
5 comments:
What do you think council should do?
When will these people ever understand that
A) their taxes have never ever included water and sewer and B) Assessment Bc sets their property value, not the city. when you have a big home on a big acreage, it's gonna cost more, even with no water.
It baffles me that they want a 3 million project for nothing. worse they want the rest of the city taxpayers who already pay for their own water and sewer to pay for them. Who do they think they are
Anonymous #1 - thanks for your comment...
My own thoughts, if I was a WL City Councillor now, would be two options:
1) Request residents' to bring a consensus opinion as to which service they want immediately... and which service they feel that they can wait on...
2) If Option 1 can't be done in a reasonable time period, then take the entire issue to *all* residents' of Williams Lake (as any new additions to/improvements to the water/sewer system need to be approved by *all* residents who pay for water/sewer services by the City of WL) and lay out 4 options to finance water/sewer including water only, sewer only, water/sewer or "none of the above" and given the price tag of $3.5 million - it must be a referendum vote
Finally - there would be very good cause to wait/see what the price tag for a renovated/new Sam Ketchum Memorial Pool is before deciding on the issue of water/sewer for Woodland Drive as residents' may argue (quite successfully) that we can't afford to do both at once...
Thank you!
Anonomous at 4:07. I fully agree that Woodland Drive residents have never paid for sewer and water on the taxes and that these larger parcels of land are going to cost the landholders more that most other properties. I also agree that BC Assessment sets the property value.
However........... As we are all taxpayers to the city of WL. WL sets the amounts on our tax notices for police, recreation, etc. This neighborhood received a heafty tax increase this year again as did all other landowners even though this neighborhood most likely requires less police presence for instance than most of the other areas in town and yet we all pay the same amount. (Per $100000 assessed value so this neighborhood actually pays far more than it's fair share) We also pay the same for recreation if we use it or not.
Would it not make sense then for a city, being legally obligated or not, to treat us all fairly and equally and give us a basic life necessity such as water instead of a dogpark and other unnecessary projects?
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