1,700-bed Site C dam 'mini town' — complete with gym and movie theatre — could be headed to local landfill

A massive, 1,700-person enactment campy paid for by B.C. taxpayers could beryllium headed to the local landfill by the extremity of the year, a caller study warns.

The accommodations were built to enactment operation of the Site C hydroelectric dam adjacent Fort St. John successful northeast B.C., which the state says is the largest nationalist infrastructure task successful B.C. history.

Opened successful 2016 astatine a outgo of $470 million, the camp includes a movie theatre, gymnasium, fittingness centre, cafeteria and 21 three-story dorms, each with astir 80 rooms consisting of a furniture and bathroom. Google reviews from radical who've stayed there note a java shop and games room, outdoor occurrence pit and brew connected pat astatine the bar.

Now, section leaders are trying to halt the campy from adding piles of discarded to the section dump — a occupation 1 sustainability adept says is each excessively communal erstwhile buildings are demolished crossed British Columbia.

"It's similar a mini town, almost," says Leonard Hiebert, seat of the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) wherever the campy is housed. 

But that "town" won't beryllium needed arsenic the dam is producing powerfulness and the tract transitions from operation to operation, which volition necessitate acold less workers. Once that happens, the campy volition beryllium replaced by a taste centre, and B.C. Hydro is trying to fig retired what to bash with the unneeded accommodations earlier they spell to waste.

WATCH | Inside the Site C enactment camp: 

Local authorities caught by surprise

News that the campy could beryllium destined for a section landfill was archetypal reported by Energetic City, a section quality tract successful Fort St. John, during its sum of a March 20 determination territory meeting.

During that meeting, the PRRD committee received a study from its biology services section informing them that a contractor for B.C. Hydro had precocious reached retired asking astir the sorting and retention capableness astatine the North Peace Landfill.

The study said that successful total, the campy buildings marque up 665,443 quadrate feet on with "concrete slabs, asphalt and alloy piles" associated with demolition work scheduled for aboriginal this year.

"It wholly caught maine disconnected guard," said PRRD manager Brad Sperling, who represents the area that includes the dam and dump wherever the camp could beryllium disposed of, astatine the meeting. 

"This is conscionable wholly wrong."

Other directors expressed akin surprise, arsenic good arsenic interest implicit the costs associated with the monolithic magnitude of materials which would capable up the landfill acold sooner than planned, taking years disconnected of its life.

Some involvement but nary bites

Site C spokesperson Greg Alexis says it is existent that the anticipation has ever been to find a caller usage for the enactment camp, but truthful far, they person not been successful.

As a result, helium said, preliminary enactment is being done to find retired what different options are successful place, including recycling and disposing of the buildings locally.

He said implicit the past 2 years, B.C. Hydro has been reaching retired to groups, including First Nations, authorities agencies and backstage companies to spot if anyone was funny successful acquiring immoderate oregon each of the accommodations, but "ultimately, close now, we don't person immoderate organizations that person a steadfast interest."

WATCH | Site C dam floods monolithic valley: 

The campy is being utilized into the summer, helium said, and "our extremity inactive remains to find an enactment oregon organizations that privation to get the campy oregon parts of it, and that's going to proceed close up until the precise end."

Most of the furnishings and instrumentality successful the camp, helium said, was being repurposed, but the large situation is the buildings themselves.

Part of the problem, helium said, is the sheer size: moving conscionable 1 of the 21 dormitories, helium said, would necessitate "almost 30 flatbed trucks," positive the outgo and clip associated with disassembling and reassembling them and, successful immoderate cases, improving them to conscionable section gathering codes.

He said portion determination had been a mates twelve organizations that had expressed involvement successful the facilities, aft taking a person look, they recovered they did not conscionable their needs.

"We've heard, too, successful immoderate cases it's much outgo effectual for an enactment to spell straight to a supplier and bid their ain purpose-built facility," helium said.

Asked astir the outgo of acquiring campy buildings, helium said that would beryllium negotiated with anyone who expressed interest.

A 'wake-up call' for operation waste

For Glyn Lewis, the anticipation of hundreds of rooms being disposed of aft little than 10 years of usage is endemic to a culture of disposability, adjacent astir homes and buildings.

He's the laminitis of Renewal Development, a Vancouver-based institution that saves single-family homes slated for demolition and transports them to different communities wherever they tin beryllium repurposed and reused.

WATCH | Saving homes from the landfill: 

"It strikes maine that determination indispensable beryllium much liable alternatives to simply smashing up thousands upon thousands of homes and sending each of those materials to the landfill," helium said.

In Metro Vancouver alone, helium said, astir one-third of landfill usage goes toward operation and demolition waste, and helium wants governments and backstage organizations to bash much to deliberation astir however to halt that from happening.

In the lawsuit of enactment camps, helium said, buildings could beryllium constructed not conscionable for the purposes of 1 peculiar task but besides with an oculus to what they could beryllium utilized for next.

Too often, we don't plan for circularity," helium said. "We don't plan with the information of what is the extremity of beingness of the happening that we're creating."

He pointed retired that determination are different assets projects going up astir the state and that modular lodging has precocious to a constituent wherever buildings tin beryllium designed for transport and usage arsenic needed.

"This is simply a truly great wake-up telephone for industry, for governments astir ... looking astatine much liable alternatives than azygous usage for homes oregon buildings, immoderate it mightiness be."

Hiebert, the determination territory chair, said his committee had suggestions for repurposing astatine slightest 1 of the buildings arsenic a attraction installation oregon a spot for children and families to enactment portion visiting the hospital. 

WATCH | What volition Site C's powerfulness beryllium utilized for? 

A gathering is being acceptable up with B.C. Hydro, helium said to sermon adjacent steps.

Asked whether helium supported the request for enactment camps, helium said helium did, having seen aggregate assets projects travel and spell implicit the years. In the lawsuit of Site C, helium said, adding astir 2,000 radical to the section colonisation without determination to unrecorded would person rapidly overwhelmed existing hotels and rental units.

"So I hold with the camp," helium said. "I deliberation the question we're dealing with is what are we doing with it present that they're done?"