Ingonish sewage system will help with growing residential development in Victoria County

Construction is just starting on a new sewage treatment system for a northern Cape Breton community and it's already creating interest in further residential development.

The $15-million system is being built by Victoria County in Ingonish, N.S., with the cost being split between the county and the province.

Chief administrative officer Leanne MacEachen said the county's treatment plant will be located on land owned by Cape Smokey Holdings, which is building 74 condominium units at the foot of its ski hill.

"As we know, Cape Smokey is going to be a huge development, so they have a definite need there, and then we've heard from at least three other potential areas where development could be happening based on hearing that there's a sewer system going through," she said.

MacEachen said the extent of the service area will be determined once tenders are finalized because council is not prepared to accept any cost overruns.

"They did not decide the actual route," she said. "They were waiting to hear when we came back with a budget on how far the route can go based on costs."

Ingonish growing

Officials say the system is needed to handle residential and tourist growth in the community.

It will start at Ski Cape Smokey and extend north through the community.

Parks Canada and the Keltic Lodge had originally been interested in connecting to the system, but MacEachen said they are not willing to contribute to the project at this time.

The county had been prepared to pay for the full cost of the project last year and was pleasantly surprised when the province agreed to kick in half.

"We received $7.5 million from the province last March, which was awesome news. That actually cuts Victoria County's capital contribution of it in half, so we were pretty excited with that."

The county is paying for its share with reserve funds, so there will be no impact on taxpayers for construction of the system.

MacEachen said landowners who hook up will only be required to pay for operating costs.

The proposed sewer system came up nearly two years ago, when Victoria County council was considering a new local improvement bylaw that would have made community residents responsible for funding the capital cost of local infrastructure projects, instead of spreading out the cost among all county taxpayers.

Residents overwhelmingly objected, saying the current system of having the county cover capital costs made infrastructure improvements more affordable.

MacEachen said council is respecting the wishes of residents with the new sewer system.