Doug Stewart knows water and sewer services will come to his property-he just doesn’ t know when, and he’ s given up trying to guess.
Doug Stewart knows water and sewer services will come to his property-he just doesn’ t know when, and he’ s given up trying to guess.
The Mission Beach resident has been waiting for them to be installed for around eight years, ever since a successful petition for the services was submitted to Lac La Biche County officials. Meanwhile, utility lines run right past his neighbourhood on their way to Plamondon.
“We’ re very frustrated,” said Stewart.
At one point, extending the services into the Mission Beach area was a possibility in the municipal budget for 2016, but county officials say there’ s one crucial piece of legislation that needs to come first: a mandatory hook-up policy.
Although it’ s been discussed at multiple meetings, it isn’ t known yet when such a policy might be approved.
“This is still under development and is not on the schedule to come before council in the near future,” said county spokesperson Julie MacIsaac.
The policy would require property owners to connect to water and sewer lines once they’ re within a certain distance. Councillor Dave Phillips, Mission Beach’ s elected representative, said at an open house earlier this year that he voted against building lines into that area because the policy hasn’ t been finalized yet-and that opens the door for property owners who only live there seasonally to avoid connecting, which isn’ t cost-effective.
In an e-mail message to the POST later, Phillips said the only way a water and sewer expansion in the area might be possible is if savings can be found in other projects. Even then, a hook-up policy would need to be approved.
As Phillips and other councillors have said before, the point of the policy is to protect the lakeshore from accidental pollution and to start recouping the costs of building service lines.
“It’ s a substantial cost to put infrastructure in,” said Mayor Omer Moghrabi.
He said there are plenty of properties and subdivisions that are close to utility lines but not connected to them, and the county can’ t let that state of affairs continue indefinitely.
The mayor said he knows a plan for service hook-ups has to be on the radar.
One of the issues facing Mission Beach is the fact that many property owners are seasonal residents who might not want to foot the bill for year-round services.
Stewart, who’ s a permanent resident and is looking forward to connecting when the opportunity presents itself, said he’ s waiting for the day when water and sewer lines are available in his area but he’ s not getting his hopes up for any specific timeline.
“It will come when it comes,” he said. “We’ re still waiting.”
