An angry public has pushed regional politicians into abandoning plans for a sewage sludge facility at Viewfield Road in Esquimalt.

The Capital Regional District board voted Wednesday to no longer consider a sludge site on Viewfield after public consultation sessions showed overwhelming opposition to the location.

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The vote was unanimous, with several CRD board members admitting the Viewfield debacle was a mistake that badly damaged public trust in the regional government and its contentious sewage treatment plans.

“We have an angry public out there,” said View Royal Mayor Graham Hill.

“Frankly, they are as mad as hell. Frankly, there has been an enormous loss of trust with our community.”

Hill and other CRD directors admitted the regional government did a poor job of public consultation. The CRD only asked for the opinion of residents after its directors voted, in secret, to purchase the Viewfield property for $17 million in late March.

“We got it wrong,” said Hill. “We got it really wrong.”

Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said she’s relieved at the decision. Residents had complained that Viewfield was the wrong location for a sludge site, because it was too close to homes, businesses and schools, would potentially cause odours, increase vehicle traffic and devalue neighbouring properties.

Desjardins said the board needs to seek “accountability” in terms of the advice it got, and its decision to purchase, the Viewfield land.

“I won’t go so far as to say it’s firing somebody,” she said. “But I think we need to re-evaluate how we’re doing things. That builds the public trust.”

The public consultation merely consisted of the CRD trying to convince Esquimalt the plant was a good idea, said Saanich director Leif Wergeland. “Why would we ever believe Esquimalt would support something on Viewfield?” he asked. Wergeland said “heads should roll” over the move.

It’s the second time the CRD has backpedalled from land purchased as a sewage site. The CRD paid $6.5 million in 2009 for property called Haro Woods — also done in secret — but swapped the site with Saanich after a public backlash.

“What is it we’re not learning?” Wergeland asked about Haro Woods and Viewfield.

“Surely there has to be some non-productive agricultural land out beyond the urban area that we could consider.”

The CRD previously decided not to pursue alternative plant locations on a Burnside Road property located within the Agriculture Land Reserve, and a steel plant in an industrial part of Victoria harbour.

The decision to abandon Viewfield means the focus will revert to the original plan for a sludge site at Hartland landfill in Saanich.

A Hartland facility would handle sludge piped 18 kilometres from a treatment plant planned for McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt.

The facility would digest, dewater and dry sludge, to be piped 18 kilometres from a planned treatment plant at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt. The final product could be used for soil fertilizer or fuel.

The entire CRD sewage project is budgeted at $783-million and is in its first stages of tendering with a completion date set for 2018.

Board chairman Alastair Bryson said it’s the CRD’s preference to have public consultation on land before that land is purchased, but that wasn’t an option in the case of the Viewfield property.

Meanwhile, Willis Point residents near Hartland told the CRD on Wednesday they are concerned that a sludge plant in the landfill could contaminate local wells, increase truck traffic and burden the local fire department.

“I believe we can work with the people of Willis Point to do whatever we can to address their concerns,” said CRD vice-chair Denise Blackwell.

Willis Point is an unincorporated electoral district, meaning it doesn’t pay into the sewage treatment project and its CRD director, Mike Hicks, doesn’t get to vote on the plan.

Hicks proposed creating a liaison committee of Willis Point, CRD and Saanich council members, but the idea was pushed off to a future meeting.

rshaw@timescolonist.com