No sewer line for fire hall

by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Feb 27, 2015 at 1:00 AM
The City of Vernon won’t budge from its annexation policy even for a fire hall. City officials say the only way they will extend sewer services to the BX-Swan Lake fire hall is if the property is brought into Vernon boundaries. “We have set the policy (annexation for sewer) in our official community plan and at this point, we don’t want to revisit it,” said Coun. Catherine Lord. “If we make one exception, we have to do it for others.” Mayor Akbal Mund is also concerned about precedent as other BX residents want city sewer. He also isn’t sure why the Regional District of North Okanagan would oppose annexation of the fire hall. “It doesn’t affect them if they do join the city. They don’t lose any taxes,” said Mund. In a letter to the city, RDNO states that the BX-Swan Lake fire hall is expanding its offices, training facilities and truck bays. “A request is being made to council for authorization to connect to the city’s sanitary sewer system located on Silver Star Road in order to avoid the need to expand or relocate the existing septic system,” said Ron Baker, RDNO’s community/protective services manager. However, city staff insist that extension of sewer to the fire hall would have to include annexation of that property and several other adjacent properties. “This block boundary extension process was proposed, in part, to address concerns from Areas B and C regarding single property and small block boundary extension applications for the purpose of receiving a sanitary sewer connection,” said Kim Flick, the city’s community development director, in a report. “The proposal involved exploring extending the city boundary to properties adjacent to both city roads and sanitary sewer services. The fire hall property meets this criteria but was omitted from the process as it was considered an important service for Areas B and C.” Plans for sewer will now be abandoned at the BX-Swan Lake fire hall. “We are a bit restricted on where the septic field can go but it will be accommodated,” said Mike Macnabb, BX-Silver Star director. Macnabb also questions council’s decision by saying the city’s sewer policy hasn’t been consistent over the years. “The (BX) school is hooked on to sewer and there are properties on Pottery Road on sewer and they are not part of the city,” he said. While city officials express concern that someone outside of city limits may refuse to pay their sewer bill, Macnabb says, “It’s pretty easy to focus attention by cutting off service.”