Tantramar staff will be looking into the costs and other implications of installing an RV dump station somewhere in the municipality.
Tantramar council unanimously backed a motion from Councillor Debbie Wiggins Colwell on July 8, requesting that staff “examine potential location and associated cost of establishing an RV dump station within Tantramar.”
Wiggins Colwell didn’t elaborate on why she made the motion, but several other councillors spoke on the motion, including Deputy Mayor Matt Estabrooks, who said it inspired him to “do a little bit of digging and research” into other municipally-owned dump stations in Canada. Estabrooks says he quickly found one in Alberta and five in Ontario, all municipally-owned with various payment schemes. “So I’m just thinking that this probably has merit, and that it would be great if staff could look at it,” said Estabrooks. “From a tourism perspective, I’d like to see if there actually is something here.”
Councillor Bruce Phinney told his fellow councillors he supported the idea of having staff research a possible RV dump station because it’s an idea that has been floated for the past 21 years, and he’d like staff to report back on the possible value for tourism and local use.
Councillor Josh Goguen told council he likes the idea because “it’s bringing people into the municipality, even if it’s just for a few minutes.” But Goguen asked staff to check into how to prevent dumping of contaminants besides sewage that might do damage to municipal treatment systems.
Councillor Barry Hicks also asked staff to consider the town’s sewage infrastructure, including the capacity of lagoons and lift stations.
Mayor Andrew Black also chimed in, and told council he had looked at websites showing dump site locations across Canada, and found hundreds of dump stations in New Brunswick. “The vast, vast majority of them, with the exception of seven that I counted, are all attached to, obviously, trailer parks, national parks, visitor information centres, campgrounds… these kinds of things,” said Black. “There isn’t a precedent in New Brunswick at the municipal level to have an RV dump station,” said Black. “I’m not suggesting that we don’t do it, but I think it’s something to consider that we may be the only one in the province. I don’t know if that’s ‘precedent setting’ or if it’s a word of caution.”
CAO Jennifer Borne was absent from the July 8 meeting where the motion came forward, and no other Tantramar staff weighed in on the idea.
Staff are now tasked with researching and reporting back on the idea in time for Tantramar’s 2026 budget deliberations in the fall.
Council is taking a small break from meeting in the coming weeks, with the July committee of the whole meeting and August regular council meeting cancelled. The next scheduled meeting is a committee of the whole session on August 25, and then a regular council meeting on September 8, 2025.
