Councillor asks for one more shot to make Kingsport water project a reality

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The project didn’t get enough community buy-in to give it a green light, but Kingsport may get one more shot to make a central water system a reality.

Councillor Jim Taylor, who represents Kingsport, has requested the community be petitioned again to see if the required 40 per cent support from affected residents that would allow the project to proceed under current county policy can be procured.

Councillors reviewed a staff report from Chief Administrative Officer Brian Smith on the most recent petitioning process for the proposed project at the January committee of the whole session. He reported that the county submitted an application for Municipal Rural Infrastructure Funding (MRIF) for the Kingsport Central Water Project in 2006. This was successful and the county obtained $1,090,667 in MIRF funding in 2007.

Smith said, thanks to the efforts of the community association, Taylor and Kings North MLA Mark Parent, a further $400,000 in potential senior government funding has been identified for the project.

Water for 181 homes

The project is intended to provide central water to 181 homes in Kingsport and along the road between Canning and Kingsport. There have been water quality concerns in the area for years, with many private well owners experiencing saltwater intrusion from the nearby Minas Basin. There have been some instances of biological contamination as well, which is not unusual with individual wells.

A water connection would be provided from the Village of Canning to Kingsport, including the Longspell Road area. The estimated project cost is $2,200,000, meaning that the cost per property would range from $4,000 with 100 per cent participation to $10,000 with the minimum 40 per cent.

A mail-out package was sent to affected residents in early December. Smith said, recognizing the potential for a low response rate over the holiday season, the deadline for responses was extended to Jan. 13.

Several community meetings were held last year to explain the project and the community association worked hard to contact as many residents as possible.

However, of 181 potential responses, 56 (or 31 per cent) were in favour and 35 (or 19 per cent) were against the project as outlined, well below the required 40 per cent support.

Smith recommended that council endorse a motion to have the municipality give formal notice to the Canada-Nova Scotia Infrastructure Secretariat to cancel the MRIF funding agreement for the Kingsport Central Water System.

However, so that the municipality might still reap the benefit of the funding, Smith recommended council approval of having staff develop a corresponding application for MRIF funding for the Regional Sewer Treatment Plant. Any project substitution for Kingsport would have to be completed and invoiced by March 31, 2010. Smith said there are UV filter and other upgrades for the sewer treatment plant that have been approved by all partners and are ready to move to construction this year.

He said the project with the greatest overall impact in terms of need and future development would be the continuing upgrade of the plant. If the county were successful in having the funding reallocated, this would significantly reduce the costs for the municipality and its partners and expedite the work to bring the plant into compliance. Higher wastewater treatment standards are now under review by senior government.

People need safe water: Taylor

However, Taylor moved to defer the recommendations in the staff report to April 30 to allow time to identify further funding for the Kingsport water project, such as federal gas tax funding or further infrastructure funding, and give the community petitioning process another chance. “Realistically, there are people in the community who don’t have $10,000, even if the county is willing to finance it over a 10-year period,” Taylor said. “People want and need safe water, but they can’t afford it.”

He said 90 people didn’t respond to the survey, which was sent out over the holidays, and there are a lot of seasonal residents in the area. Taylor said a high sodium level in well water because of saltwater intrusion is not fatal, but it’s not healthy. Salt in water wreaks havoc with metal pipes and other plumbing fixtures as well.

He said the Kingsport project was to be carried out in two phases, with the first phase involving the provision of central water to the main portion of the community and the second phase involving the remainder of the water service and extending central sewer service in the community. This was to be funded among the three levels of government on a one-third, one-third, one-third cost-sharing basis.

Taylor said Kingsport was once at the top of the priority list to get a central water system, but the community decided to step aside so the community of Greenwich, which was experiencing water quantity and quality problems, could get its system. “I’m asking for a stay of execution,” he said. “I’d like to take one more shot at this project.”

The municipality had been asked to bring forth projects that are “shovel-ready” for potential infrastructure funding under the federal budget. “The shovels have been ready there for quite a while,” Taylor said in relation to Kingsport. “They have rust on them.”

He said if the survey fails again, he would have to accept that the community doesn’t want the project.

Councillors react

Councillor Chris Parker said council should learn from other water projects. For everyone who doesn’t connect, the county has to carry the costs and every resident of the municipality must subsidize it. That’s why he moved to revamp the way the county handles water projects.

His concern is that a minority wants the water and he doesn’t think the project is worthwhile at this time.

Taylor said because of the recent experience with the Balsor-Eaglecrest water project, the people of Kingsport have been asked to sign a legally binding document stating they’d be on the hook for the municipal portion of the costs. They were told the onus is on them.

He said he’d like to see staff put together a fee structure, including a formula for those residents who chose not to sign up right away.

Councillor Janet Newton said she has sympathy for the residents with bad water. However, she pointed out the Village of Port Williams has two public wells that have tested positive for high nitrate levels because the surrounding land continues to be farmed and council doesn’t seem to think something has to be done.

She asked that if $10,000 were unacceptable to the residents, how much would they be willing to pay. Taylor said they would like to see it brought down to $6,000 or have the option of financing the project over a longer period.

Councillor Basil Hall asked how many wells in the community are contaminated. Director of Engineering and Public Works Richard Lloyd said they didn’t sample all of the wells, but of the 40 or 50 they did test, there were about 18 with problems: either saltwater intrusion or coliform bacteria.