New housing not possible without new sewers and streets, P.E.I. mayors warn

With the pressure to build new housing continuing, and an infrastructure agreement between the federal and provincial government coming to an end, the mayors of Prince Edward Island's two cities are getting nervous.

P.E.I.'s population is growing at a record pace, and both Charlottetown and Summerside are approving plans for hundreds of new homes.

Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher said those houses and apartment units are just a small piece of what's necessary, however.

"You can build all the houses that you want, but if you can't connect them to your water and sewer, to your electrical, if there aren't playgrounds for the kids to play in, roads and sidewalks for people to get to and from those houses, there really is no use," said Kutcher.

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown added that the pressure for new infrastructure funding goes beyond hooking up housing to existing systems.

"It's about climate mitigation," said Brown. "It's about our climate action plan. We're looking at that race to [Net] Zero by 2040. Climate mitigation and resilience."

Kutcher pointed out that all of Summerside's wastewater flows into the treatment plant through a single pipe that was installed in 1970. Shortly after it began operating, the 1971 census recorded a Summerside population of 9,439. In the 2021 census, it was 16,001.

"There are pinch points throughout our system here in our community that we really need to make sure we stay on top of," said Kutcher.

Brown can top that. Some of Charlottetown's underground infrastructure dates back to the 19th century, he said.

"I'm scared, when we dig that up, what we're going to find," he said.

Given the tax structure in Canada, municipalities are poorly placed to find enough money pay for big infrastructure projects. The Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities has calculated that municipal property taxes make up just 2.5 per cent of taxes that Islanders pay across the three levels of government.

"Municipalities across Canada really are underfunded," said Kutcher.

A new agreement between P.E.I. and the federal government on what the province will get fromthe Building Canada Fund was expected in the fall, but remains unsigned.

With no agreement and no new infrastructure funding in sight, planning for what is expected to be continued rapid growth on the Island will be a problem, the mayors said.