St. Germaine Creek Development Standards
Development in the St. Germaine Creek area is managed under the St. Germaine Creek Area Structure Plan (ASP) and the amendment to that ASP. As per the initial development agreements, St. Germaine Creek is not connected to municipal sanitary or water systems.
In general, the extension of water and sewer lines into new areas is typically developer or landowner driven. I.e., the developer bears the cost of construction of the infrastructure on public lands to service their private lands. The municipality then typically assumes the responsibility for the maintenance and future replacement. Where the area in question includes a number of landowners, an alternative approach to funding the initial construction can be the utilization of a local improvement tax. In either case, the landowners bear the cost of the construction.
The Town of Peace River has undertaken a preliminary evaluation of what those connections could look like, given the existing development in the area and the planning framework in place, and to provide an order-of-magnitude understanding of the costs involved.
That report is available below. It is available for information and does require current landowners to take any action. Nor is it a prelude to any further work by the Town of Peace River in the projected future.
The report provides a high-level estimation of the costs of providing servicing, based on a number of different options that take into account engineering good practice and the Town’s Municipal Servicing Standards. The report also highlights some of the risks to the Town of servicing the area over the long term, based on the approved St. Germaine Area Structure Plan.
The purpose of the report is to provide an informed understanding of the scale of the implications of requests to connect the area to the municipal utility systems. The table below summarizes the financial information for your convenience.
| Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Infrastructure Cost (1) | $875,000.00 | $770,000.00 | $205,000.00 |
| Cost to Individual Landowners (2) | $15,000.00 | $15,000.00 | $26,500.00 |
| Notes | Provides a directionally drilled water main and gravity sanitary system. | Most closely aligns with the water servicing scenario outlined in the ASP. | Temporary servicing solution to meet needs of existing residential only. |
(1) The capital costs of the infrastructure would be the responsibility of landowner. Typically, this type of cost is covered through a local improvement tax over a 10- or 20-year period. More information about local improvements can be found on the Town’s website at https://peaceriver.ca/engineering-infrastructure/local-improvements/.
(2) It would be the responsibility of each landowner to incur the cost to supply and install a Dual Chamber Effluent Pumping System (in Scenarios 1, 2 & 3), install, or retrofit existing water main cistern (in Scenario 3), and connect these systems to the existing residence.
If you have questions regarding this report please call Planning & Development at (780) 624-2574.
Associated documents:
- St. Germaine Creek Area Structure Plan
- Amendment to St. Germaine Creek Area Structure Plan
- St. Germaine Creek Servicing Scenarios
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Page last updated March 15, 2021