Cartier’s efforts halted by the province

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This article was published 30/04/2010 (5946 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Rural Municipality of Cartier councillor says he is outraged the province nixed a plan that he claims would allow the White Horse Village Trailer Park to remain open indefinitely.

Coun. Andrew Peters said Cartier officials had been working on a development plan that included new sewer lines for the Lido Plage area including the troubled trailer park. Residents of the park could be evicted as soon as July 15 when the province is scheduled to discontinue hauling sewage out of the community.

The municipality recently approved the development plan minus the new sewer lines, Peters said. The sewer lines were removed from the plan after the provin­ce’s Water Services Board recently order­ed that a feasibility study be halted.

Peters said he is frustrated that the province gave no explanation for why it ordered that the study be halted.

“We received a letter from the engineer last week that indicated that the study was being stopped and they didn’t give any reason why,” he said.

“I still think there needs to be a study done to find out what can happen in the area and how we can help people in the trailer park, but this decision just slams the door on any piped sewer plans in the area.”

Peters estimates that the proposed sewer system for the area would cost $4.2 million. He said the decision on whether or not the project went ahead should have been left up to taxpayers in the area.

In addition to allowing residents of the trailer park to remain in their homes, Peters said the sewer project could have attracted new development to the region. He said a number of developers had expressed interest in building in the area if a piped sewer system was in place, which would have helped offset the $4.2 million cost.

Peters said he wants to know what the province plans to do help people still living in the trailer park.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Water Services said the province considered a number of options for rectifying the problems at the trailer park. However, they were all found to be cost prohibitive, he said.

The spokesperson noted that some of the problems at the trailer park aren’t sewer-related, and that installing a new sewer system wouldn’t necessarily allow the trailer park to remain open.

“The matter is not simply one of dealing with sewage,” the spokesperson said.

“The trailer park’s water distribution lines need to be replaced. Unless the water lines are replaced, dealing with the sewage treatment issue alone does not resolve the lack of adequate infrastructure.”

Peters plans to meet with the Minister of Local Government Ron Lemieux May 2 to further discuss the issue.

That comes as little comfort to long-time White Horse Village resident Leslie Gaudry. Gaudry said he was disappointed when he found out the province halted the piped sewage study. He is unsure of what he will do once to province stops trucking sewage out of the community.

prescott.james@canstarnews.com