CRD’s lack of power is a good thing
Times Colonist Letters
July 3, 2015
Re: “Victoria’s regional government is feeble,” letter, June 28.
The letter-writer calls the Capital Regional District “feeble” because it doesn’t dictate land use to self-governing communities. I’m rather glad it can’t do that, because if it did we might not have much farmland left today.
And I’ll bet the Town of Esquimalt is glad it can’t, also. If the CRD had been able to dictate land use, we’d be building a single large treatment plant in one mighty ticked-off community.
As it stands, that inability to dictate means we’re now exploring where smaller, distributed treatment plants might go, which opens the door to more creative (albeit more costly) approaches.
Implementing treatment is proving complicated in Greater Victoria — not just because local communities want their say, but because regional opinion is divided on how it should be done and how much it should cost. The direction to treat came from senior government, the process to this point has been messy and a solution that enjoys community buy-in has yet to be found.
A regional government that could jam a one-size-fits-all solution into this or that locale might meet arbitrary deadlines, but it wouldn’t produce a happy outcome, nor would it necessarily get us the best approach to treatment.
The province opted not to dictate land use to Esquimalt. I doubt it will want to offend the entire region by granting the writer his wish for forced amalgamation, either.
David Cubberley
Saanich
© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/crd-s-lack-of-power-is-a-good-thing-1.1988307#sthash.TzZSd1kA.dpuf
Times Colonist Letters
July 3, 2015
Re: “Victoria’s regional government is feeble,” letter, June 28.
The letter-writer calls the Capital Regional District “feeble” because it doesn’t dictate land use to self-governing communities. I’m rather glad it can’t do that, because if it did we might not have much farmland left today.
And I’ll bet the Town of Esquimalt is glad it can’t, also. If the CRD had been able to dictate land use, we’d be building a single large treatment plant in one mighty ticked-off community.
As it stands, that inability to dictate means we’re now exploring where smaller, distributed treatment plants might go, which opens the door to more creative (albeit more costly) approaches.
Implementing treatment is proving complicated in Greater Victoria — not just because local communities want their say, but because regional opinion is divided on how it should be done and how much it should cost. The direction to treat came from senior government, the process to this point has been messy and a solution that enjoys community buy-in has yet to be found.
A regional government that could jam a one-size-fits-all solution into this or that locale might meet arbitrary deadlines, but it wouldn’t produce a happy outcome, nor would it necessarily get us the best approach to treatment.
The province opted not to dictate land use to Esquimalt. I doubt it will want to offend the entire region by granting the writer his wish for forced amalgamation, either.
David Cubberley
Saanich
© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/crd-s-lack-of-power-is-a-good-thing-1.1988307#sthash.TzZSd1kA.dpuf
