SEPTEMBER
Ashcroft Ranch formally rejected
A provincial announcement that Metro Vancouver won’t be allowed to build a new regional landfill at its Ashcroft Ranch property appears to be largely a formality, coming about six years after the idea seemed dead anyway.
Metro’s board voted in early 2008 to turn its back on landfills and to instead try to build new waste-to-energy incinerators.
That decision came after the province in mid-2005 suspended the environmental assessment of the Ashcroft Ranch proposal in response to the threat of First Nation legal challenges.
Victoria announced Sept. 9 that the Ashcroft Ranch environmental certificate is now being denied in part because the government approved Metro’s solid waste management plan this summer and it indicates no need for a new Interior landfill.
100 year old car returns to Ashcroft
The first car ever registered in Ashcroft rolled back into town on Sept. 13 - a 1911 McLaughlin Buick, owned and driven by Isaac Lehman, who lived in the Hat Creek area.
The Canadian-built McLaughlin cost $1,500 brand new in 1911 - $1,475 if you didn’t want the doors. The roof and windshield were extras.
One hundred years later, the car is still the talk of the town in Ashcroft.
Pump stalls $2.4M project
Cache Creek Council was surprised to learn that its $2.4 million water system upgrade needs a new pump before they can turn it on.
“I don’t know what we need to do with this,” said Coun. Jim Loucks, chair of the Public Works committee. “We have a $1.7M project that we can’t put on line, and we’ve lost two months of warranty on the equipment.”
Mayor John Ranta wondered, with all of the engineers and consultants they had working on the project, and all of the testing that’s gone on over the course of the past six years, “One would have anticipated that the engineers and consultants would have picked up on the fact that we needed a bigger pump to feed the project. I find it frustrating to be in this position, to be honest.”