If White Rock council directs staff to look into moving the city’s works yard, the options will be explored.
But the endeavour would likely be a costly one, predicted Greg St. Louis, White Rock’s director of engineering and municipal operations.
“It’d be cost-prohibitive, (but) if council directs us to do so, we’ll look into it,” St. Louis told Peace Arch News.
The move is one that several residents who live around the Keil Street facility have suggested as a means of resolving issues they’ve raised around noise pollution, vermin and odour associated with the site.
“There’s got to be a better way to handle it,” Diane Bradley told Peace Arch News the day after appealing to council members for a reprieve.
“We’re full of rats, vermin everywhere, (and) diesel fumes are killing us,” she told the politicians Dec. 10.
St. Louis told PAN that while rats have not been found on-site, a number of steps have been taken to address the residents’ concerns, including the installation of flags and motion-sensored water cannons to scare off winged scavengers.
Contractors have been told not to make noise before 7 a.m., and dumpsters used to collect organics are taken away “at least daily,” he said.
Residents have said the measures aren’t enough, and are compiling video footage to prove it, but “we’re doing our best,” St. Louis said. “We hear what the residents are complaining about. I think we’re addressing them pretty good.”
St. Louis noted his office is located at the Kiel Street site, and said he has not noticed the smell and noise that residents have cited, even in the summer.
He is open to suggestions for improvement.
“We are always looking at ways to improve the operation. Obviously, we want to be able to do it efficiently,” he said.
“I think we do it very, very efficiently.”