A new well field project coming down the pipe for Summerside

The City of Summerside is one step closer to clearing the way forthe development of a new well field to supply water to the P.E.I. city.

In order to move ahead with the project, council must first approve the rezoning of 32 hectaresof landbetween Bayview Drive and Mackenzie Drive property Bon the mapfrom single family residential to institutional.

At a special council meeting Monday night the amendment passed first reading.

• Two developments up for discussion inSummerside

"We need to make sure that we havelong-term supply of water," Coun.Bruce MacDougall said.

"We can do without a lot of things, but you can't do without water. And good clean drinking water is something that we need."

Monday's meeting was an opportunity for the public to attend and ask questions. Though six members of the public did attend, no one chose to speak.

City wants to own the land

The land is currently privately owned, but the city says it plans on acquiring it.

"The intention is for the city to own the land, the utility, and not to lease it, so we have more control over it long term," said Aaron MacDonald, the director of technical services for the City of Summerside.

Though he's not sure when that will happen, MacDonald said once the rezoning becomes official, they'll be able to start the transaction.

Testing concluded last week

Testing on the site took place over the course of the summerand concluded last week.

"The word from the consultants is that, yes, this site will give us a sustainable amount of water," MacDonald said.

The new well fieldif it goes aheadwillinclude threewells, a building that would house all the controls for the wells, and a chlorination system to treat the water.

Amendment not yet official

The next step is for the zoning bylaw amendment to be referred back to the technical services committee for review and recommendation. The committee will meet Tuesday night.

The official amendmentwill then be readand will likely be voted on at the next council meeting on Nov.20 for final approval.

It's not yet clear how much the well field project will cost, said MacDougall.

"It's in the early stages right now," he said,"but it's a project that we have to do, and we'll be proceeding as our funds allow."

Eventually, the construction of the project wouldcome back to council as a budgeted item or as a tender..

'Long-term projections'

The city has good maintenance of its wells right now, MacDonaldsaid, but it's important to be proactive so that if something were to happen to one or two wells, there are other wells available.

"We could get threeor four big businesses that come in that are high water users. It would be great to have. So now we'll hopefully have some water supply and not be saying, well, we couldn't have that business, or it's really drawing on our water resources," MacDonald said.

"We're looking at population growth for 20 years. So we're trying to make long-term projections here."

If the rezoning becomesformally approved, MacDonaldsaid that construction on the well fieldwould start right away, working until weather permits, and then continuing in the spring.

Housing development

At Monday's meeting, council also addressed a proposal tochange the zoning for property Aon the mapfrom single family residential to a low density mixed residential zone.

The rezoningwould allow for the development of single family, semi-detached and duplex housing.That amendment also passed first reading.

Properties Aand Bareboth part of one parcel. The intention is for property Ato remain private property.

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