Now for the rest of the story.
It still amazes me how a politician can make a business decision look like an environmental benefit.
I’m writing this to the local paper hoping that someone can shed some light on the Swan Lake fiasco. The RDNO director is selective about answering his emails so I hoped someone knowledgeable can step forward and explain who the “true recipients” are, and who will benefit from a new sewer system?
The city boundary is just north of Rona and the overpass. Why bring in a new sewer service when it makes physical sense to add the tax base to the city and connect to where it should eventually go anyway? A bigger tax base will give Vernon better facilities and we in the RDNO use them all anyway.
The pub on Sickle road and the school are the biggest facilities to use septic. Everyone else along the corridor would not have large amounts of human waste. They would all be processing or recycling industrial products.
This being the case, would a single-family home on a fixed/limited income be expected to pay the same connection fee as a business? Can we ‘write off’ the cost or will the multiple thousands of dollars be added to our already heavy tax load?
Are they also going to supply drinking water or is everyone still expected to maintain their own wells? I don’t know of anyone who is having septic problems on this side of the highway either.
Did Blue Jay subdivision and all the houses from town to the end of Old Kamloops Road also sign up for sewer services? Or could this be another favour for the school like the boondoggle bike path on PV road that crosses everyone’s driveway? Try another 20-degree slope to your driveway this winter.
So is there anyone out there who has the knowledge to answer any of these questions? Yes, we all have an opinion but we on PV road need properly documented answers to figure out what to do next.
After all, it’s us who has to pay thousands of dollars for someone else’s favours.
Paul Elmont