Canada/150 people attend information sessions in L'Anse-Saint-Jean
One hundred and fifty people attended two public meetings this week regarding the proposed wastewater treatment plant in the Mont-Édouard ski resort area of L'Anse-Saint-Jean.
The two sessions were held Thursday night and Saturday morning at the town's Little School Community Center. The meeting lasted nearly three hours on Saturday.
The municipality's chosen $3 million plant project will treat wastewater from three housing projects in addition to treating water from existing buildings in the Alpine area.
The information sessions were organized by the municipality after 240 people signed the register of the borrowing by-law adopted by the City to finance the project in late January.
The borrowing by-law was subsequently cancelled and is expected to be reintroduced in March.
Engineer says septic systems problematic
According to Philippe Racine, an engineer with the firm SIG3, it is important to regulate the treatment of wastewater in the area to avoid contamination of the water table.
In a few years, many residents with septic tanks will have to modify them, but the engineer says that the alternatives are very limited. As such, he favours the creation of a treatment plant for all residents.
It is currently estimated that 82% of [existing buildings] have problematic septic systems. If we look ahead 10, 15 or 20 years, we will have 600 cubic metres of effluent to treat. [...] However, the plant will be built for 450 cubic meters initially. And if the demand is good in 5 or 10 years, it will have been planned an extension, explained the engineer.
The latter was hired in 2019 by the municipality to carry out a study. According to him, developers had not yet shown interest in making housing projects at that time.
A few years later, the engineer completed another study for the promoters responsible for the 82-unit project called Le Croissant, of which triathlete Pierre Lavoie is one of the investors. It is the company Le Croissant that must assume the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, according to what had been presented by the municipality.
Philippe Racine was responsible during the public meetings to present the technical aspects of the plant project and the points related to the environmental impacts and gains. He says he is doing this because he cares about the development of the municipality in which he lives. Philippe Racine defends himself from being in conflict of interest.
It should be noted that the municipality has hired an outside firm for which the engineer Patrice Lavoie works and which carries out, each time, a double verification, he indicated.
Concerned citizens
Several citizens questioned the municipality on Saturday to find out who would pay for the project.
The promoter is coming to set up a plant," said Jonathan Desbiens, the municipality's director general. He may need 75 cubic meters out of 450 cubic meters.
"We are asking him to do a plant that is bigger. We are paying for the larger portion of the plant to be able to connect to our existing building. Basically, the promoters build the plant and when we pay our share, we will become the owner at that time."
- A quote from Jonathan Desbiens, general manager of L'Anse-Saint-Jean
Other citizens asked for more details about the financial package. If the new borrowing by-law is accepted, all citizens will have to pay an additional annual amount of taxes.
The amount would vary from almost $90 to $290, depending on the location of the residence.
The amount will be between $86 and $210 as sector taxes according to the municipality's preliminary estimates, plus an amount of $80 for all citizens. These amounts will be used to pay for the plant as well as the distribution network to serve the entire Alpine village, explained Jonathan Desbiens.
He added that the citizens' taxes will be used to pay for the connection of existing buildings in the Alpine sector. The costs incurred by the connection of future buildings resulting from housing projects will be paid by the developers, he added.
Questions about the development of the sector
A woman who attended the meeting would like to see the development of the Mont-Édouard sector take place over the longer term.
Let's provide enough space for the development of the mountain, let's squeeze the development of the Crescent a bit. I'm not against development, but let's pack it in to give us a chance to develop later. We can't close our eyes to a possibility that is permanent residents and aim only for rentals," she said.
A citizen who lives in the village wonders about the projects presented.
I have many friends who have businesses and they are forced to buy houses in L'Anse-St-Jean at high prices. It is made very expensive to house their workers. There are problems with social housing and they come to us with a project that will be units at, I don't know, $300, $400,000. [...] I'm not sure they [the developers] live in the same reality as I do," he said.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca
