After years of controversy and notices from the Department of the Environment against its owner, the West Brome mobile homes park will finally get an up-to-standard water and sewer system thanks to TBL. The land on which the 71 homes park sits along road 104, is owned by a numbered company 9033-0408 Quebec Inc. The residents pay rent as well as municipal taxes. They have to drink bottled water.

On several occasions, the owner of the park was ordered by the Environment department to update the water and sewer installations at a cost the owner said he could not pay. At present, sewage is dumped into the Yamaska. So now it is up to the municipality to fix the problem.

A $2.1 million problem

The project is expected to cost $2.1M to be paid by Quebec and the users.  In an interview with Tempo, Gilbert Arel, the town’s Director General explained that “the town is eligible to receive a grant from Quebec that will cover 70 percent of the cost once the project is completed. The other 30 percent, or about $700,000, subject to a borrowing bylaw, will be charged, together with interest, directly to the landowner”. The upkeep and maintenance of the new system will also be added to the owner’s tax bill, all subject to an agreement to be worked out with the town. The residents will likely see their rents go up as well as their tax bill to cover the extra cost of the water and sewage services.

Work to start in a year

Before any work can start at the mobile homes park, the town has to go through a lengthy process. The first is a call for tenders for professional services to get detailed plans and financial guidelines for the project. A few months later another call for tenders will be sent out to select the firm that will actually carry out the work. We won’t see any big shovels on the site before the summer of 2017.