Sani-dump OK’d for airport land near mall

By ROY WOOD

Oliver will finally get a RV sani-dump after council this evening approved about $120,000 in funding for excavation and other related work. The dump, where recreational vehicles can empty their grey water and sewage tanks, will be located on about 10,000 square feet of airport lands just behind the Canadian Tire store.

The plans are for a $10-per-use charge. Operations director Shawn Goodsell told council that charging for use would allow his staff to monitor usage and would allow the project will pay for itself. Mayor Martin Johansen said that he had been reluctant to support an earlier proposal for a sani-dump near the town works yard. But the airport location, just behind Southwinds Mall, will increase tourist traffic and help local businesses, he said.

The lone dissenting voice was that of Councillor Larry Schwartzenberger, who said, “I’m not convinced it’s a driver of tourism.” He pointed out that people who bring RVs to town tend to stay in full-service campsites, which include their own dump sites. “The people who want this are local,” he said, who go camping in places without facilities and come back home and need to dump their grey and black water tanks.

Although the price tag is higher than the $95,000 budgeted for the project, Goodsell told council that savings from another sewer capital project will more than cover the overrun. The approximately $100,000 earthworks contract went to Mike Johnson Excavating of Oliver.