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Engineers leave with many questions unanswered

By Meg Olson

Point Roberts water district engineers came to Point Roberts to present property owners and residents with the tip of the sewer iceberg but the almost 80 people in the audience at the September 10 meeting weren’t satisfied. They wanted to know what was under the surface.

“I thought I was coming here for concrete information,” said one audience member. ‘How will this affect me? What will it cost?” Engineers Bob Bergstrom and David Nitchals did not come with answers but with questions of their own. “We need to look at how much wastewater is generated, how much is generated, how do we get it to where we treat it, how do we treat it and how do we get rid of it,” Nitchals said. “It’s all up to you.”

The water district is paying for the new sewer comprehensive plan, the last version of which came out in 1991, with help from an 80 percent grant from the U.S. forest service which was secured by the infrastructure task force of the Point Roberts Economic Development Committee. “This is as far as we’ve committed to go,” said water district commissioner Tom Prescott. ”Whether we take the next step or not is not something we’ll answer today.”

Nitchals and Bergstrom presented a number of options they would consider as they drafted a sewer comprehensive plan for the Point.

Two collection systems are being looked at. A conventional gravity feed system would be more expensive to build, but ongoing maintenance would be less. The other option would involve using smaller pipe and a grinder pump at every home to pressurize the system.

“What happens if the power goes out?” was the question from the audience. Representing pump unit distributor Correct Equipment, Howard Taub said that without power the pumps would not work but that didn’t mean you couldn’t use the toilet. The pump units also incorporate large storage tanks and an overflow onto the ground if they fill up. The pumps, which cost $3,500 to $4,000 installed, could either be the responsibility of the homeowner or of the district, rolled in as part of the system cost. Taub said the units required minimal maintenance. “Typically you put them in the ground and don’t see it for at least nine years,”he said.

There is a long list of possibilities for treating and disposing of the wastewater, from a treatment plant on the Point to sending it to Delta for treatment. Nitchals said there was such an arrangement between Abbotsford and Sumas. “They had a long two-year process but the precedent has been set,” he said. So far Delta had not appeared receptive to such a solution. “They’re not returning our calls,” Nitchals said. Nitchals and Bergstrom said they had some guidelines to follow in determining which areas should be sewered, but wanted more feedback from the community.
“If there’s a group that wants a particular area sewered that’s something we can focus on,” Nitchals said. The system will have to work around numerous wetlands and zoning restrictions on sewers for rural areas, which accounts for many of Point Roberts larger parcels.

Nitchals said environmental or development seemed to be the primary reasons proponents of the sewer felt it was needed. “If someone has a long narrow lot he may not have enough land to build a house and leave enough room for a drainfield,” he said.

According to a map presented by engineers, of 23 septic failures on county records for the Point, five are on Gulf Road, four in Maple Beach and four in the Shady Glen subdivision. Several audience members said the primary need for sewer was in the central business district. “It cost me $40,000 to put in the septic for the restaurant,” said Brewsters owner Joan Roberts. “I’d much rather see that go into a community system.”

“Our mandate is to look at microsystems and look at a global system,” Bergstrom said. “We have all these different service levels to look at, including doing nothing.”

Doing nothing is precisely what many members of the audience had in mind. “There’s a terrific organization trying to push sewer on you – a very well connected operation that wants the taxpayer to buy them a sewer,” said Roger Gates to the audience. “We moved to Point Roberts for eagles and bunnies,” agreed Lynn Pyles. “The minute you bring in sewers the whole area will turn into another Tsawwassen.”

“Mr. Gates is entitled to his opinion and his open spaces but right now someone else is paying for them,” said airport owner Robin Lamb. “If we want the land for green spaces we should get together a group and buy it from people who have invested their money in it,” said Ann Christi.

Local developer Shawn Hodgins of Century Holdings acknowledged a sewer for all of Point Roberts would in a minor way subsidize bigger development. “There may be a little bit of truth to that,” he said. “Sewer would not be a determining factor for us to go ahead with the development but it might save us $100,000.” Hodgins said they are considering a small resort development across from the golf course. Construction has stopped on another partially completed off Johnson Road. As those properties develop, he said, if there is no sewer they would build independent community systems. “We’ll be putting hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars into a system that could better go into a community system.”

Environmental concerns due to the potential for leaky septics many in the audience to support for the sewer. “The county health department doesn’t hear about one tenth of the septic problems here,” said Hank Peltier, who as the founder of Hank’s Backhoe Service built many of the Point’s drainfields. “Some have wooden boxes and they flush right out to Boundary Bay with the tide.”

“If septics are a health problem we need to do something, but are they?” said Val Stewart. “Are the waters showing contamination? We should be testing that first.” Kent Craig, representing the Maple Beach Property Owners’ Association’s 171 members said they were adamantly opposed to sewers. ‘If someone doesn’t have a proper septic system we should be concerned about it but a good working system is far better than collecting it all in one place. Soils are the best filter there are,” he said.

The bottom line, said Arthur Wilkowski, was that there wasn’t enough information for anyone in the community to make an informed decision. “I want to decide based on concrete information,” he said. Other audience members said that how much the system would cost and how it would be split up was the most important question.

Options include a bond issue put to voters, a local improvement district in which property owners are assessed based on the cost of getting them the system, federal and state grants and loans, or a combination of the three.

Another sewer planning meeting has been scheduled for October 30 at the fire station on Benson Road at 7 p.m. The meeting will review service options and construction and operation costs...

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