Stratford to create green space when sewage lagoon shuts down

The Town of Stratford says the site of its sewage lagoon is going to be turned turned into green space. Plans are now underway to decommission the lagoon and pipe sewage across the river to Charlottetown for treatment.

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Stratford's sewage lagoon is a familiar landmark to many residents with it's location right at the entrance to the town, at the foot of the Hillsborough Bridge.

'I can't stand the smell'

People have complained in the past about the odour that has sometimes waftedfrom the facility and look forward to it being shut down.

"It's gross. The smell is gross. There's no other way of putting it," saidMary EllenMacKinnon.

Rylie Matters said he was happy to hear it was closing. "I can't stand the smell anymore."

East Royalty lagoon also to be decommissioned

Last week, officials announced a two million dollar plan to decommission the lagoon, and pipe waste across the river, for treatment at the Charlottetown Pollution Control Plant.

The plan also calls for another sewage lagoon to be shut down in the Charlottetown neighbourhood of East Royalty.

The City of Charlottetown says the sewage lagoon in East Royalty may also be turned into green space, but they're still firming up plans for the site.

'Positive flavour to discussions of development'

The Town of Stratford saidit is putting together a request for proposals for engineering and consulting work, and plan to start work in the fall.

Officialsalso expect to have more details about how much Stratford willbe paying Charlottetown to handle the sewage when they close this lagoon down, and they start piping their sewage across the river.

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It will also help with future developments saidRonWaite, general manager, Charlottetown Area Development Corporation.

"[There] is much more positive flavour to discussions of development," Waite said adding somedevelopers in past were not confident without knowing what was going on.

One of those developments includesSouthport Landing, a three million dollar project of CADC to develop condos and retail spaces to create a waterfront Stratford downtown.

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