Smithers town council met at a Committee of the Whole meeting last Wednesday to discuss the possibility of extending the town’s boundaries to include the ski hill on Hudson Bay Mountain, as well as the future housing development planned on the hill.
Lorne Borgal, President and CEO of Hudson Bay Mountain Adventures (HBMA), approached council with the idea last fall, hoping to be able to tell potential housing buyers that their property would be connected to Town sewer and water services. A few of the benefits to the Town would be an extended tax base, as well as some control over future development on the mountain. Including the ski hill within the Town boundaries might provide qualification for the provincial Resort Municipality Initiative, which includes finance, development and business promotion tools and some added tax revenue.
A report to council from Mark Allen, the Director of Development Services, lays out the relevant issues and questions regarding a possible expansion. The report states that water supply shouldn’t be an issue, as long as HBMA or the strata corporation set up for future residents covers the cost of building and maintaining the water main and pumping stations. The main issue is whether to expand the Town boundaries or simply sell water – the latter would require creating an amendment to the Official Community Plan, as the OCP disallows providing services outside Town.
As for sewer service, the report mentions a recent draft report on the current sewage treatment situation. That draft report suggests constructing a third treatment lagoon would be necessary to service a population any larger than what currently exists. This would leave HBMA to develop its own sewage treatment plan for the subdivision.
The report mentions other possible concerns, including fire protection, road maintenance, and the lack of resources to enforce bylaws on the mountain. The Town doesn’t have the resources to deal with many of these, which might add too much of a service cost onto the future property owners.
Deborah Sargent, the Town’s CAO, pointed out that the existing connection between the ski hill and the town makes an ideal fit for the boundary expansion and the Resort Municipality designation. She also said the expansion can be done to include only water, and no other services to residents on the mountain.
“I think the whole community would benefit from the Resort Municipality designation,” said Borgal.
Councillor Mark Bandstra questioned the cost of actually working through a boundary expansion, with engineering, legal costs, planners and staff time all adding up. The timeline would also likely be much longer than HBMA’s current plan of servicing the first 16 lots by summer of 2011.