Some Hart Highlands Residents Push for Sewer Connection
Prince George, B.C.- Some residents in the Hart Highlands of Prince George want to get on with the process that will see their street connected to the City’s sewer system.Some of the nineteen homeowners along Ridgeview Drive, from Highland Drive to Nixon Crescent, have approached City Hall asking to move forward in the process that would create a Local Area Service so at least a portion of Phase 2 could be installed this year.
That means the City would have the property owners vote on whether they support moving forward with the project, one that would cost each property owner about $29 thousand dollars. In order for the project to get underway, the vote results would have to represent at least 50% of property owners who represent at least 50% of the assessed property values on that street.
“We have been trying to see that neigbourhoods realize that this kind of project is specifically driven by their vote” says Mayor Lyn Hall.
It is possible work could begin this year, if a vote is held within the next few weeks.
There is still the matter of who will be carrying the cost of extending that line across the frontage of Ridgeview Park which is owned by the City and is the equivalent of 4 city lots.
The balance of the Phase 2 project, which includes Killarney Drive, Wildwood Crescent Sussex Lane and Sussex Place, would be dealt with for 2016.
Securing grants for the full Phase 2 project ( including Ridgeview) was the subject of heated meetings between City staff and some area residents who have been pushing the City to try and find grants to help reduce the overall cost of the project.
Comments
Many of the residents on Killarney, Wildwood, Sussex Lane and Sussex Place would love to have the city sewer system installed in our neighborhood, and many of us are voting in favor of the installation
We are tired of worrying about the health and safety risks of having our septic systems fail, tired of smelling our neighbors’ septic system every time they have a shower or do a load of laundry, and tired of having to have our systems pumped out every three years. The residents that are opposed to having sewer installed are justifiably concerned about the cost –and the cost is high. We have been quoted $29,000 for the sewer system to go past our homes and another charge for hooking into the system that could be around $10,000 or more, many people feel that they just can’t afford it.
The homeowners are expected to cover the entire cost of having the system installed, to pay to have the road repaved in front of our homes (a potholed, narrow road that is more than 35 years old), and now we also face an increased tax from the city to help pay for updating the aging sewer system in the rest of the city. Some of the areas that have connected to the sewer system recently are only paying about half of what we have been quoted.
We don’t feel that we have been treated fairly by the city, but we are in a position where we know that health and safety concerns outweigh the concern about the cost. We feel that we have no choice but to vote “yes”.
Don’t expect any level of government to move at anything above a snails pace, they simply do not have the gearing for that kind of velocity.
They have not moved ahead with even a vote yet?
Only 2 weeks left, in order to get the work done this year?
I bet this project will be deferred until 2016.
metalman.
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