Council will decide on near $4 million proposal Monday at noon
A $3.94 million dollar grant, which will fully cover the installation cost of water metering in the Village of Lions Bay is within reach. The grant has been offered by the province to Lions Bay, and is subject to Council formally accepting the provincial funding agreement at a special meeting on Monday.
On Friday, Director of Public Works Karl Buhr announced the awarding of the large grant from the BC Water Metering Pilot Program in the Village Update.
According to his announcement, the grant will cover all the costs of installing water meters in every home, plus 10 watermain zone meters and 11 remote-control pressure management installations. Lions Bay is one of 19 municipalities awarded the grant of the 45 applicants from around the province.
Water meters measure the volume of water that passes through a pipe or other outlet into your home. They work like a car odometer, recording the cumulative amount of water that has passed through the meter.
This grant would put Lions Bay in line with many other municipalities already undertaking the metering process around the province, but at no cost to taxpayers.
Residential water metering is already taking place in a number of municipalities . including Coquitlam and Gibsons. Richmond residents have had water meters since 2018. The Town of Merritt, having received a similar grant from the province, is in the process of installing meters in every residence.
Buhr has been doggedly pursuing this grant opportunity since the pilot project was announced in December of 2024. His report to Council can be found on page 4 of Monday's agenda package HERE.
The decision from Council will come on the first business day after International World Water Day.
"With water an increasingly valuable commodity in Lions Bay – particularly in summer – understanding where it is going is essential to ensuring we have enough of it," said Buhr in his announcement. He noted that water metering will reduce the amount of time Public Works allocates to finding and repairing leaks in both municipal and private lines.
In addressing the potential for this grant over the last months before both Council and the Climate Action Committee, Buhr has stated his belief that mandatory water metering across the province will come "sooner rather than later", and he suggests that possibility as the reason the province has allocated the $50 million for these pilot projects.
Should Council decline this grant, the cost of installing water meters would be borne by homeowners if and when metering becomes mandatory.
Buhr's report offers a number of benefits to water metering in the Village, including better leak detection especially during times of restricted supply, more accurate data for planning fire reserves and storage, better consumer feedback and awareness of consumption and more equitable billing.
"Metering is vital to conserve Lions Bay’s water for its intended purposes, especially in times of short supply."
The reason Council has chosen to meet at the unusual time of Monday noon was not offered in the Friday announcement, but a hint can be found as a part of Buhr's report.
"The Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs had embargoed disclosure until public announcement, and a previous version of this report was considered by Council in Closed meeting on Mar. 18 for that purpose, with no decision reached. On Mar. 19, the Ministry waived their embargo to allow Council to consider the grant in open meeting in time for acceptance within a one-day deadline extension to noon on March 25."
For residents who want to share their opinion with Council before a decision is made, emails can be sent to reception@lionsbay.ca or pwm@lionsbay.ca
For those interested in offering comments in person or watching the decision, the zoom link for the Monday meeting can be found on the Village website, or you can click through HERE.
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I note with some alarm the rushed schedule to accept the provincial government’s proposal funding water meters and related water system improvements in Lions Bay. Upon reading the very limited background material that has been made available by Council I have to admit that it is woefully inadequate to consider what may become a very costly enterprise for individual stakeholders (taxpayers) due to cost overruns and increases in water parcel taxes. I think Council did the right thing by not approving it on the 18th or immediately after a review by legal however to be given notice on Friday on an issue that would be voted three days later on Monday doesn't seem right either.
I offer some points of…
Rejecting this grant opportunity would, in my opinion, go down in local history as being akin to the record executive at Decca who turned down the Beatles!
In 2002, Lions Bay was the only municipality in BC at the time to turn down a grant to put micro hydro in our creeks. This came to light when the Climate Action Task Force under then councillor Ruth Simons began investigating sources of “green”energy. Let’s hope history does not repeat itself and that this incredible opportunity isn’t lost. The fact that it was initiated by the Climate Action Committee for their reasons and supported by the Infrastructure Committee for their reasons should say it all. Receiving 100% to fund it on top of all this makes it a complete no-brainer. PS Anmore has been on water metering for over 10 years as well and they get their water from…
I want to commend Karl Burh for working so diligently on the water challenge of this community.
From trying to access more water from creeks and spring drain off to capping water leaks throughout the community—He has worked tirelessly on this grant and as someone who has recently taken the municipal grant writing program it is a slog to get a grant application completed. So to learn grant approval is hanging on a divided council vote - it is frustrating when this community depends on knowing where we stand on the water issue, never mind going to the trouble of applying for the grant only to have a couple council members quash it.
I realize this has been behind closed…
There's a number of things about this matter that have me confused.
How can someone planning to vote against this grant explain how the Village and its residents would benefit from turning down this grant of almost $4 million.
Why would anyone voting against accepting the grant want to be remembered in Lions Bay history as "The Four Million Dollar Man"?
Why would the Council meeting to vote on whether or not to accept this grant money be held at Noon on the day before the deadline, when fewer residents would be available?
I have my suspicions.
Assuming the provincial government makes water metering mandatory, it will cost each household over $7,000 (in today's dollars) if we do not accept…