A scathing report going before Chatham-Kent council Monday night is warning future residential, industrial, and commercial growth in the municipality will be hindered if a lack of planning and division continues.
In his report, CK Chief Financial Officer Gord Quinton noted Municipal VU Consulting was hired to review and prioritize municipal water and waste water projects and found misaligned growth priorities; coordination gaps; conflicting priorities; glaring infrastructure needs; and operational risks.
Quinton said the review also found Chatham-Kent’s municipal administration and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) have "often operated independently" and "lacked a unified strategy" for planning and delivering services like land use, engineering, and infrastructure investment.
Quinton said the division has resulted in inefficiencies, missed collaboration opportunities, and inconsistent communication, adding the future growth of Chatham-Kent and its finances require a unified plan moving forward to align priorities and expectations.
The consultant discovered the Water and Waste Water Master Plan (WWWMP) does not account for Southwest Chatham, a strategic growth area identified by council, and its omission limits the municipality’s ability to support development and meet housing and employment targets.
The draft Southwest Chatham Servicing Study outlines over $780 million in infrastructure needs for phased growth, according to the report, in addition to the $975 million already identified in the Master Plan.
It also found an existing "lack of integration" between the PUC and municipal administration with no shared capital prioritization or unified servicing strategy and a need for better asset management and planning due to aging infrastructure, high water loss, and incomplete sewer separation plans.
Quinton said work needs to begin immediately to get provincial and federal grants for several projects identified ready to proceed, such as increasing storage capacity at the Chatham Water Treatment Plant or water and waste water rates will keep rising.
"Municipal VU’s findings are consistent with the opinion of senior municipal and PUC administrative staff," wrote Quinton. "The growth in Chatham-Kent was not fully considered in the WWWMP and the priorities identified in the plan are not consistent with the current growth outlook."
Quinton added the recommendations before council will redirect staff to focus on the long-term lowest cost solutions to continue to provide quality water and wastewater treatment and the capacity and linear infrastructure needed to allow all areas of Chatham-Kent to flourish over the next 50 years.
One of the recommendations is to continue working with the greenhouse industry to investigate solutions to divert their needs from potable municipal water to other potential sources, greatly reducing the future capital needs of the water plants.
The PUC is also being asked to consider a moratorium on providing water to new greenhouses or greenhouse expansions until a more affordable solution is confirmed.
"The fast expansion of the greenhouse industry in Southwestern Ontario to provide food security across Canada is a challenge to municipal potable water services without receiving 100 per cent funding from the industry or upper levels of government," noted Quinton. "Current residents and businesses cannot afford to subsidize the greenhouse industry."
He also said development charges imposed on the greenhouse industry last year don't recover all of the capital capacity costs and there are potential private sector solutions in early stages of development.