METRO Vancouver officials are promising an extensive public consultation leading up to the construction of a new sewage treatment plant in North Vancouver.
Project manager Fred Nenninger and a delegation of senior Metro staff outlined the timeline for a new Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant at a city council Feb. 27.
"Our integrated liquid waste and resource management plan was approved by the Minister of Environment last year," Nenninger said.
"That plan ensures liquid continues to be managed safely, affordably and effectively across the region. An action in that plan is that Lions Gate secondary treatment plant be in place by 2020, the end of the decade."
The new facility will be built on a tract of land between McKeen Avenue and West First Street, which Metro purchased from B.C. Rail several years ago.
In addition to meeting new federal standards, said Nenninger, the new facility is intended to be "environmentally, socially and economically sustainable." It could also recover resources such as water and combustible gases.
To meet the 2020 target, design and construction work has to start in 2014, giving Metro this year and the next for consultation.
"We are bringing together our engineering team, architects, cost experts and the community itself. We're doing this as an iterative process right from the beginning. We're not doing the engineering first, we're going to have the whole team involved right from the beginning."
The public advisory committee will be made up of two people from the Norgate Community Association, three environment advocates, three representatives of the North Shore's chambers of commerce, and three "non-affiliated citizens."
Those meetings will start later this year. First Nations groups, particularly the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations, will also have a prominent place in discussions.
Nenninger also said he is hopeful that Ottawa will provide some funding. The overall budget is estimated to be $400 million.
"This is really important to us for the project's long-term funding and cost-sharing," he said.
Even with cost-sharing, Nenninger said, North Shore utility rates will more than double by 2030.
"This is a significant build for us, no question," he said.
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