The town of Hampton is hoping to secure funding for infrastructure upgrades to support the addition of about 1,800 housing units over the next 20 years.
Last week, council approved an application for nearly $2.4 million through the Canada Infrastructure Fund.
Mayor Robert Doucet says the funding would help upgrade and expand the capacity of the lagoon treatment facility and sanitary sewer main.
“We’ve been looking at the lagoon and the sewer system for a while now, and we realized some upgrades needed to happen because we are growing fairly rapidly,” he explained.
According to a staff report, over the past five years the town has seen sustained growth and expanding residential development, which has led to the review of housing needs and strategic plans.
In 2023, Dillon Consulting completed a Housing Needs Assessment for Hampton, which determined that the municipality will have a housing gap of 623 to 1,273 units over the next 25 years.
This highlighted a need for more housing in municipal serviced areas to support higher densities, such as semi-detached, townhouses, and multi-unit dwellings, reducing the land area needed for housing supply.
Staff proposed three projects to increase the number of units serviced by the infrastructure and prevent bottlenecks if the town’s population grows too rapidly.
The town is looking to upgrade the lagoon treatment facility aeration system to accommodate approximately 1,200 new housing units, upgrade the sewer main from the Lagoon to Main Street to add capacity for an additional 400 housing units, and extend the sewer line from Villa Drive to Hall Road to support about 200 new housing units.
Combined, the total costs of the projects amount to $2.25 million, plus a $125,000 contingency for rising costs and engagement.
If the funding is approved, the federal government would cover 50 per cent of the costs, the provincial government 33 per cent, and the municipality 17 per cent.
Doucet said there are no current issues with the infrastructure, but the town wants to be prepared for the future.
He added that the town already has a proposed housing development in the works, which officials hope to accommodate through the new infrastructure.
“Where some development is going to be coming, we just need to get ready for those developments and make sure that they can hook up to our sewer system,” he said. “We just want to make sure we can handle it all.”
The staff report said the lagoon upgrades are planned for 2027, while both of the sewer main changes are planned for 2028-2030.
