At the May 13, Committee of The Whole (COW) meeting a number of items were dealt with.
One of these was the official naming of Barriere’s new industrial park. The new name is the Louis Creek Industrial Park. The name is quite easily optimized for searching on the internet and this will provide a number of advantages when it comes to marketing the lots. It is also suitable in that it provides some inclusiveness to the surrounding area.
I have mentioned the status of the servicing of these lots with water last week. During the COW meeting the District council directed staff to start with the first phase of the water system. This allows funds from the economic development budget to be used to do the work. As I had said earlier the reservoir will be checked by engineers to see if it is suitable and a draw down test will be performed on the well that was drilled a few years ago. This first phase will cost approximately $90,000.
This work will be started once staff has completed the application for a Western Economic Diversification Program grant. It is hoped we will be successful with our application for this grant and that we will gain additional funds to service the industrial park. The grant program provides funds up to 50 per cent of the cost. The usual funding is more in the 33 per cent range though.
Council also approved the use of a BioBurner at the Wastewater treatment plant. The chosen supplier for this equipment is Fink Machine Inc. They are located in Enderby, and have installed a number of these units throughout B.C.
The boiler unit will be installed in a 40 foot shipping container along with the backup generator for the plant. Council also approved the installation of a custom manifold that will allow for easy hookup of the other District buildings as we go forward.
Some residents have expressed concerns about how big the exhaust stack will be for this bioburner unit.
The sizing will be along the lines of the larger insulated stacks you see on the other outdoor furnaces around the District. The height will be just higher than the top of the waste water plant ecology centre, as that is the closest structure to the burner. This boiler has state of the art emissions controls on it and can be monitored for emissions.
There are some with concerns around an increase in the District’s carbon footprint by installing a wood burning unit. However, wood fuel is classified as carbon neutral fuel, which means that it has a net zero carbon footprint. Please take note of the term ‘net zero’.
When trees are harvested, carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere increase because trees absorb this carbon dioxide and release pure oxygen. Take a tree away and less carbon dioxide is absorbed.
Also, when the harvested tree is burning, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.
This sounds like a problem, right? However, if the harvested tree is replaced by another tree the carbon dioxide which is released when the wood is burned can effectively be absorbed by the replacement tree. And when the replacement tree is cut down, another one steps into its place. This all works provided the harvested trees are replaced at the same rate as they are cut down.
Other sources of carbon fuel like coal do not have this feature. We cannot grow new coal. By applying good forestry practices and using efficient wood burning appliances the harm can be mitigated, or very nearly erased.
The archeological work along our high risk areas where we will be excavating for sewer lines has turned up a site of some significance. District staff is working with the archeologists to properly deal with the find and work out a solution so that we can still place the pipes.
Council had a report from Councilor Virginia Smith that the Communities in Bloom (CIB) committee have been working on the various aspects of the project. Councilor Smith said the garden bed planting is progressing nicely and that they have sponsors for all the beds, and there has been no cost to the District so far. Good work CIB committee!