Drayton Valley explores charging campers to dump waste

A campsite is seen in this undated file photo.

Campers may soon have to pay to use the sanitation dumps in Drayton Valley.

The town's council directed administration to bring forward a report outlining ways that the sanitation dumps could be monetized to help offset the costs of dealing with the waste.

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Bre Haskill, the acting utilities manager, recently brought forward a report that outlined two upgrades that could be made to the stations to allow the Town to collect fees.

The first option was a payment system paired with gate arms. These arms would be placed at the entrance and exit of each of the stations. The estimated cost for this type of system was just over $156,000.

Haskill said the second option is one that is commonly used in sanitation dumps across Alberta and B.C. Rather than use gates, there would instead be a cap put over the station that would only open after a payment had been made. This option would cost approximately $60,000.

Before the town goes ahead and makes a decision on these options, Haskill said it's recommended that it gets an idea of the traffic in the area.

She told council that if they were to set up a traffic counter for the entire camping season next year, it would cost about $52,000. If they were to have counter up for the two busiest months, July and August, the cost would be $20,000.

Coun. Rick Evans expressed concern regarding the cost of traffic counters. He suggested that the town look at a camera system, instead.

"I wonder if we could do it for much less than that and then determine if it's worthwhile to go ahead with the proposal," said Evans.

Haskill said they looked at cameras similar to trail cameras, which would require a staff member to do a manual count of the vehicles.

"We can buy some quality cameras for $2,500," said Haskill.

Evans wondered if they could use the camera system that Enforcement Services is using. If they chose to go down that road, the town would have to get permission from the Privacy Commissioner.

Another issue with setting up a camera in the area is the cost of getting power to the camera. CAO Wally Ferris suggested that using something like a trail camera would be most cost effective.

Council decided that administration should put up the trail cameras before they made a decision on whether to monetize the sanitation stations. The cameras are scheduled to be put in place before the September long weekend.