Council here is gearing up to start the next step of the town’s wastewater environmental assessment (EA) in 2016.
Council announced in December the municipality is moving forward with the wastewater EA with four firms included in its request for proposals: Aecom Canada Ltd., Ainley Group, J.L. Richards Associates Limited, and XCG Consulting Limited.
Mayor Allan Alls said in an interview decisions about sewer location and where to locate growth in the town go hand in hand.
Council will be holding a growth and development public meeting at Centre 2000 on Jan. 14 at 6:30pm to share thoughts and comments on development in Erin.
Alls said decisions about where to locate new subdivisions should be made soon.
“If we don’t get growth, we’re going to die… and we’re seeing it now,” said Alls. “The town is on sort of a death watch in some degree, because we haven’t had growth.”
There is currently 94.28 hectares of land set aside for growth in the village of Erin and 110 hectares in Hillsburgh – but nothing can be developed on those lands until the EA is completed and the official plan amended.
Prospective developers of the lands are invited to the public meeting.
Capacity
The Servicing and Settlement Master Plan (SSMP) report, which was completed in 2014, explained “a population of 6,000 persons of assimilative capacity is allowed for discharging effluent to the West Credit River,” limiting the town’s growth.
The SSMP urged councillors to choose the preferred subdivision sites. It presented three options: service existing properties and provide growth of 500 units in Erin or Hillsburgh only, or having a split of 250 units in each community.
Alls however, questions those numbers.
“I’m absolutely positive that the Assimilative Capacity Study needs to be revisited,” he said.
Alls outlined his vision for Erin moving forward, which has not been approved by council. He would like to see sewage lines for the older areas of Hillsburgh and Erin and leave newer areas on personal septic systems, freeing up capacity for new development.
He also stated he would like to see some new development with septic systems in both villages, with all new sewage system allocations in Erin.
“I see growth in two ways. I see service growth; I see growth on private septic and community water,” he said. “My preference would be to put growth in Erin because (of) economical reasons.”
Alls said he would like to explore more than just the three solutions outlined in the SSMP, bit regardless, the decision has to be made.
“Let’s be practical … We got to stick our neck out a little but and we got to decide to go ahead,” he said.
“I think the important decision for the council is where do you want to put growth?
“We got to make that decision and it’s going to be not an easy one, but it’s got to be made.”
Erin has currently spent around $650,000 on the EA process (including the SSMP) to date and has budgeted $200,000 for the next three years.
The estimated cost for a new wastewater plant will be around $60 million.
Alls would like to see the whole town cover the costs of that initial build because the town would be borrowing money or seeking grants in order to fund the project
“The way I see it, it’s a user-pay system but the initial construction and basics of the system will be a town-paid system,” he said.
With the federal and provincial governments promising infrastructure grants, Alls said he is “pushing like hell” to be prepared.
“We can’t put a shovel in the ground until we get money to say how we’re going to do that. But we can’t get money until we do this (EA),” he said.
“It’s a gamble. You have to spend the $600,000 to get where we want to go.”
The next step should be starting early this year, but the whole EA process could take another two years to complete.
Alls said he wants the process completed before the end of the current council term.
