The possibility of restoring the city's sani-dump services at the Quinn Street recycling transfer station appears to be down the drain.
In December, city councillors Frank Everitt and Brian Skakun put forward a notice of motion asking city staff to examine the costs of restoring the service for residents and tourists with RVs. The city had provided the service until 2013, when operation of the transfer station was handed over to the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.
In a report going before city council on Monday, city general manager of engineering and public works Dave Dyer said the city has plans to use the Quinn Street transfer station location as storage site for road salt.
"In Spring 2017, Environment Canada communicated with the City of Prince George that it was not meeting its requirements with respect to the Code of Practice for the Environmental Management of Road Salts..." Dyer wrote. "There are a number of proposed projects in the capital expenditure plan for 2018 and future years to meet the different targets and improvement objectives. Most critical of those is dealing with the salt storage and containment onsite at the 18th Avenue City Works Yard. At this time, these piles are not contained and the storage availability does not meet the necessary requirements."
A new, covered salt storage facility would need to be located near to the 18th Avenue Yard for efficiency, Dyer wrote, and land in the area is valued at approximately $1 million per acre. In addition, there are few potential sites available that would meet the city's needs. The transfer station is directly beside the city yard.
The city's lease agreement with the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George for the operation of the Quinn Street transfer ends in April, Dyer wrote.
"In administration's opinion, the highest and best use of the city-owned property located at 1783 Quinn St. would be the establishment of a salt storage facility; thereby enabling the city to implement a crucial recommendation of the city's Salt Management Plan..." he wrote. "(If) the city were to recommission the RV sewage dump station (at the transfer station) it would be required to purchase a site costing approximately one million dollars to provide for salt storage and containment in an industrial location other than, but in proximity to, the 18th Avenue City Works Yard."
If the city doesn't use the site for a salt storage facility, Dyer wrote, it would cost approximately $32,000 to make changes to the site to provide the sani-dump service, plus approximately $8,000 per year in operational costs.
No official counts were taken of the number of RVs which used the service when it was provided, Dyer added. However, the contractor who maintained the site estimated it was about 10 vehicles per day during June, July and August and half that in May, September and October, he wrote.
"There are currently eight known businesses that provide sewage dump station service for RVers entering into an moving through Prince George," Dyer wrote. "The price charged from this service ranges from free to ten dollars."
