Green Lake residents settle on sewer deal

Residents at Green Lake could soon be getting the sewers they've been demanding for 36 years, and at a reduced cost.

Nanaimo city council voted Monday to cover the entire $3.2-million cost of installing sewer services on public land instead of a proposed 80/20 split that would have required Green Lake's 107 property owners to fork over an additional $640,000.

Katherine Miller, a Green Lake resident who has lobbied council to install the sewers on the public's dime, said the decision is like a breath of fresh air.

"It's what we've wanted all along," said Miller. "It's the responsibility of the city to provide the sewers down the public roads."

Green Lake was amalgamated into the city in 1975 and residents have waited to be hooked up to sanitary sewer services ever since.

Still, landowners will have to pay an $1,800 connection fee, for which council has provided a 12-month grace period once the sewers are installed, as well as for the work which includes pumps, pipes and holding tanks to be installed on their properties.

Tom Hickey, general manager of community services, said the average cost for property owners to have connections completed will be about $7,500.

"Some properties will be significantly more challenging, like blasting rock for example, so they will be more expensive, and some will be less," said Hickey.

Without the city covering the cost of the main line, Miller estimates her costs would have soared to more than $15,000, instead of what she estimates will be half that.

"Once [the sewers] come it means a lot of us with larger properties will be able to subdivide a smaller piece off and stay there, which is my intention. Once I retire, I wouldn't have been able to afford to live on my two-acre lot, but now I can," said Miller. "I can afford the cost over a period of time."

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Green Lake residents settle on sewer deal