The District of Sooke implemented the business licence bylaw and it appears they are having a difficult time finding all of the business owners.

There are roughly 646 businesses in Sooke listed with the Chamber of Commerce, leave out the ones outside the district boundaries and the number drops to 524.

To date, only 326 have obtained a business licence, the others are dragging their heels, not responding to letters or contact by the district. What one has to wonder about is how can they carry on business in the district without some sort of licence or up-to-date contact information?

Staff is trying to track these people down and get them to comply with the bylaw. They are spending a lot of time on this — too much time. All of this taking them away from their other duties. The distressing part of this is that it was supposed to be simple and uncomplicated and has proven to be just the opposite. One has to question whether the time invested by staff is worth the return.

Speaking of compliance. There are over 500 properties in the Sewer Specified Area not connected up to the sewer. Connection is compulsory and not an option. The district has been sending reminder and warning letters to these people and still they aren’t getting hooked up. There have not been any fines levied against these property owners, but soon there will be. Fines will likely be added to the homeowner’s property taxes.

There are hardship cases but not very many. One can’t say the schools who refuse to hook up are hardship cases. They do have their own systems, but that isn’t the point. If a bylaw is passed making it compulsory to hook up to the sewer, then it should have some teeth. School District #64 needs to follow the bylaws of the community and it is up to them to make sure the schools are following the rules. And on the same hand SEAPARC is one facility that definitely needs to be hooked up. Why should others have to pay to hook up when they don’t or won’t?

Council has been lenient and it is time they put some muscle into the compliance orders. People will be fined and some will be taken to court. It is not fair for those who have hooked up and paid the cost for others to snub the rules. Many of the unconnected have had warning letters dating back to July 2007. Connecting up to the sewer and decommissioning septic tanks within the SSA was one of the conditions when the infrastructure grant for the sewer system was given to the district.

Hook up or pay the price. And the price should be hefty enough that compliance would be cheaper than non-compliance. The district has waited long enough and been lenient enough.