106th Year - Week 20
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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GIGUERE TOP FARRIER Jake Giguere named best of class.
COMMUNITY/A20
ALL-STUDENT DEBATE HONOURING ‘JACK’ Two communities honour a fallen Smithereen.
OUR TOWN/A22
Grade 5 and 6 students in Mr. Peter Rhebergen’s Grade 5 and 6 class at Bulkley Valley Christian School held their own all-candidates debate, last Friday. The students fielded questions on a wide range of topics including Enbridge, education and beaver trapping. Left to right: Ivy Bell, Nathan Boone, Ethan Tucker, Joshua Boone, Josh Parker and Chris Bandstra step into their roles to field questions from classmates. Percy N. Hébert photo
Smithers not the friendliest for business Some practices place undue burden on business owners
By Ryan Jensen Smithers/Interior News
TREE REVOLUTION Documentary inspires Smithereens.
SSSCOOP/A24
INSIDE LETTERS SPORTS COMMUNITY OUR TOWN SSSCOOP THREE RIVERS CLASSIFIEDS
A7 A12 A20 A22 A24 B1 B4
The Town of Smithers may claim to be open for business but any dealings Kim Tran has had with the local government suggest otherwise, the developer said. Tran is the man responsible for opening the Sunshine Inn and Estates hotel on Highway 16 in Smithers about four years ago. He has opened similar hotels in Burns Lake and Houston and at the end of April received a variance permit from the City of Terrace council to start construction on a four-storey 90—100
room hotel with more than a dozen condominiums and a restaurant on the top floor. Compared to the welcome he has received from other towns along the Highway 16 corridor, Tran said the Town of Smithers threw up the most beauracratic roadblocks. “Of course there are rules and regulations we need to follow,” Tran said. “But don’t just throw down a big stack of papers and say these are the regulations.” A huge hurdle Tran said he had to overcome while developing the hotel in Smithers was the
“The security deposit is ridiculous.” Kim Tran substantial security deposit he had to come up with for the off-site work that needed to be completed. This amounted to more than $200,000 in additional funds Tran had to raise for the project. In Houston, for example, Tran said he didn’t have to come up with the additional money, instead the town withheld the occupancy permit for the building until the work was complete. “The biggest concern for me, as
a developer, is the security deposit for off-site work,” Tran said. “For a developer, it’s very difficult. “First you round up the money to try to put the project together which is hard enough, then you have to put down a deposit?” Tran said. Adam Cseke, Town of Smithers planner said for commercial developments, they require 110 per cent security deposit for off-site works and in residential developments it is a
120 per cent security deposit for off-site works and 100 per cent security deposit for landscaping. “It’s absolutely standard during development permits to take security,” Cseke explained. “The rationale is if the developers don’t do what they say they’re going to do, then the town can take the money and do it themselves.” Tran said he thinks this policy alone turns developers off from setting up a business in Smithers when they can go down Highway 16 to find a number of communities more welcoming. It would not make sense for him
to leave his projects incomplete, he said. “The security deposit is ridiculous,” Tran said. “Do you think I’m going to spend a couple of million dollars here and not finish the work?” While Tran has raised this concern with the town before, Cseke said they have no plans to revisit the policy at this time. This requirement is enough to make Tran unsure of whether he will develop any more commercial projects in Smithers, he said. “I don’t say I won’t do any commercial business here but it’s not likely I will,” Tran said. See BIZ on p. A5
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