Residents in the villages of Reinfeld and Schanzenfeld are fighting plans by the RM of Stanley to install a new low flow/low pressure wastewater system.
They not only object to the potential costs but also maintain they are content with what they have now, and they suggest that this project is being forced on them whether they want it or not.
“It’s the way we are being treated. We are being marginalized and told our voice doesn’t count because we are not prepared to pay the tax … yet we are still going to have no choice but to eventually pay it,” said Reinfeld committee chairperson David Hoeppner, who spearheading the collection of just over 500 objector’s signatures to the proposed plan to present to council.
They suggest that represents about 70 per cent of affected taxpayers and will be past the two-thirds threshold required to stop the project.
The group’s objections largely focus on three grounds: affordability with an estimated cost per property of between $9,300 and $16,000, the good working order of their current septic systems, and the increased density of future subdivisions that the new system would allow.
In February, the RM sent out confirmation forms asking property owners to commit to the new wastewater system.
Hoeppner maintained that despite receiving only about 21 per cent affirmative responses, the RM continued to push the plan forward.
Hoeppner alleges that the RM of Stanley had decided that only those property owners who agreed to connect thus far—the 21 per cent—are considered “potential taxpayers” and have a voice, while the remaining 79 per cent of affected taxpayers do not.
All property owners expect to have a say, he stressed, but they feel they have very little, as environment act regulations will require all properties to connect to the system within a decade (sooner in the case of a sale), so they see the RM as trying to side step the legal rights of property owners.
“Basically they were trying to sell us on the virtue of joining the new low flow septic system they want to bring into our village,” said Hoeppner, noting how they had received a document with frequently asked questions and read that all property owners would be affected.
“So we were clearly led to believe that all means all,” he said, further noting how they were then presented with three options: full connection, a partial connection, or not connecting at all. However, the last option made it clear hook up would still be required within 10 years under environmental regulations.
“So I can opt out, but I still can’t run away from this?” Hoeppner said. “The RM of Stanley is not dumb. They also know the Environment Act will kick in within 10 years and force people who don’t sign up today to sign up and have to pay. So the RM is using the Environment Act to over the course of the next 10 years to pick us off one by one until everybody in the village is on board. They have time on their side.
“We find that to be completely undemocratic and manipulative,” he said, further citing how they have thusly been perceived to be “not potential taxpayers” in relation to this plan because they are objecting and not signing on for it.
“Most property owners never gave this the time of day. They wanted nothing to do with it,” Hoeppner suggested. “There is no real choice. It’s just a matter of you’re going to pay now or you’re going to pay later.
“They don’t seem to care that only about 20 per cent of the villages are going to be connecting because over the next 10 years the other 80 per cent are going to be forced … and they know this.”
On the advice and input of a lawyer, Hoeppner and fellow critics of the project are also suggesting that council acted wrongly in terms of having the bylaw brought forward for second reading and having signed off on it as being an accurate reading of the original bylaw approved back in July, despite changes being made to the document’s wording, including a change in reference from “all property owners” to “benefiting properties.”
“This is a strategic, on-purpose change in the wording to cut us off at the knees,” Hoeppner alleged.
Hoeppner said that if property owners’ objections continue to be ignored they are prepared to pursue this matter through the court system.
The bylaw’s planned second reading earlier this month saw the public hearing delayed after things got heated when critics filled council chambers to voice their displeasure.
In an interview, Stanley Reeve Ike Friesen maintained the bylaw in question deals with setting out the borrowing for the project to set up and connect to this new septic system, and it was all done following proper procedures and process.
“This bylaw was for the people who want to connect, and we’re borrowing the money so that they can put it on their taxes,” he said. “We had X number of people wanting to connect, and we went to the first reading at the July meeting … since then, some more people had wanted to connect, so we added those additional numbers with an amendment.
“There is a large number of people who are waiting for it,” he said of the project. “This is a small, loud group who are making it sound like this [isn’t wanted].”
But the uproar that ensued at the Sept. 18 council meeting made it clear tempers are running high on this matter. Friesen said council halted the meeting because they felt “it just got out of hand.”
“Our lawyer’s advice now was to just cancel the hearing,” the reeve said. “And we will need to rewrite the bylaw with the new numbers and then start over.”
Friesen acknowledged there are people who are opposed and have concerns and questions about it all, but he defends how council has approached this and the process they have followed.
He said if people are content with what they have right now and don’t want this new septic system, that is well and good, but he suggested it would eventually have to happen with the growth of the region.
“That’s not our regulations. That’s the province,” Friesen emphasized.
“This was already being worked on several years before I even got on council,” he added. “The province really recognizes this is a need, and the federal government as well.
“Personally, I don’t know why they’re fighting it,” he added. “Improvements are a good thing. And it isn’t just for the sake of development. It’s for the betterment of communities, and with two-thirds of the money coming in as grant money [from government] … it just seems like the right thing to do … other communities have done this years ago.
“A lot of people are aware of it and are waiting for this wastewater service to come in,” Friesen said. “We have to be forward thinking. That’s what we’ve been elected to do.”
