North Cowichan council has dumped the contentious Meadow Park sewer problem back into the lap of Island Health.
Councillors, following a twothird majority petition by the residents of the rural subdivision, repealed a local area service bylaw which would have dealt with some failed septic systems and put in a new sewer system with payment coming from the group of homeowners involved.
Municipal administrator Mark Ruttan said that on March 19 the residents were given the opportunity to gather a petition by May 30 to stop the process and repeal the bylaw. Since the area had, by the May 7 meeting, managed to get enough people, Ruttan saw no reason to hold up their request. After council voted to repeal the bylaw, he continued, "there will be no local area service after this. It will now go to Island Health."
"I'm glad it's come to this," said Coun. Al Siebring. "I'm sorry it's taken so long. Let Island Health deal with it, let those four lots look after their own sewerage. Why didn't we see the wisdom of this right away?"