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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 33
No rush on strata policy Cameron Orr The proposed bylaw to create a strata conversion policy has reached the first reading phase of the process. Although staff had recommended the first two readings (Bylaws require three readings, plus a final adoption before it goes into effect), Corinne Scott on moving the recommendation said not giving second reading will give council more time to consider the subject. The plan is in reaction to drastically falling vacancy rates in Kitimat. In a previous report given to councillors from the planning staff, they were told that “with the current increase in housing prices there is a possibility that owners of rental housing will convert their buildings into strata-title properties.” In town, 262 rental units are currently being renovated, according to a staff report. That includes apartment buildings, like Hillcrest Place and Kuldo Apartments, to townhouses, like on Nalabila, or Little Wedeene Street townhouses. Councillors discussed this issue at a July 22 Committee of the Whole meeting, before the first draft bylaw reached the regular council chambers. Councillors however are opting to move slowly on the changes. They also dropped staff recommendations to set a public hearing date on the matter for early September. “This is an important decision that needs to be looked at very, very carefully,” said Scott, adding that there’s no need to rush any decision on this. Councillors also wanted to ensure any affected property owners would be directly alerted to these proposed changes. Mario Feldhoff said he wants to hear from those people very early in the process, rather than later. “I’m particularly interested in the feedback from the building community,” he said. “I need to be convinced that this bylaw is necessary. I know there’s good intentions...[but] I don’t know if putting the lid on strata conversion is the way to go.” Director of Planning and Community Development Gwen Sewell said that contacting owners is the department’s intention once first reading passed, and that people hadn’t been consulted earlier because there was no actual draft bylaw being considered for any readings until the August 6 meeting. Among the other ways council deviated from staff’s recommendations was for BC Housing to be struck from the list of agencies that the District would refer the bylaw to for comment. Feldhoff put forward that friendly amendment because he didn’t believe there’d be value from getting input from them. “The answer is not tightening the lid on strata conversions,” he continued. “The answer is developing rental housing options and putting a lid on things doesn’t help upgrade our older rental stock.”
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
The Kitimat Museum and Archives’ Summer of Adventure held a ‘back in time’ themed event last Friday, displayed here with kids wrapping themselves up in toilet paper as mummies. From left to right are Jake Quinn, Kaylee Bidnell, coordinator Ilanna Hamilton, Dillon Cooper, Louie Quinn, Cahly Seager and Elizabeth Cooper.
Still holding out for new highway Ron Burnett and Vic Maskulak still believe a new highway can be built from Kitimat east, to Houston and Burns Lake. The pair even presented the plan to the Joint Review panel in 2010, the group reviewing the proposed Northern Gateway pipelines. The two introduced themselves as members of the Kitimat Harbour Group, and their reason for bringing it to the JRP is that they felt that Enbridge’s pipeline proposal was the missing puzzle piece in putting together stronger transportation infrastructure, including the new highway, which would run from Kitimat to Houston. “Due to the difficult terrain there is only one opportunity to locate a twolane highway through the Coast Mountains in this area, therefore the pipelines must share this right-of-way portions of it,” Burnett told the JRP in 2010. Today, the two still hold on to hope
that the highway will see the light of day. And for them, it’s really only a question of when, not if. “We are confident it will happen one day,” said Burnett. “Just like the Coquihalla. Some pundits thought the Coquihalla would be a drain on the economy, it was going to kill Cache Creek.” Getting the road built, however, will require partnerships between the companies and the governments, but as more people turn their attention to Kitimat, he thinks the argument will further solidify. “There’s no question. You can’t argue about the 140, 160 kilometres [saved], that’s simple geography. As the area grows, other people are going to recognize it, so our intention at the moment is to keep it out in the public eye, keep people talking about it.” That savings in distance he’s refer-
ring to is the approximately 142 km saved per direction between Kitimat and Houston if a new connector highway is built, versus the 327 km the route takes now on existing highways. When the idea first began bubbling in the late 1980s and from then on there was opposition. The communities of Smithers and Hazelton, said Burnett, weren’t on board, fearing the road would destroy their tourism economy. But even that’s changed now. Burnett said a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce in Kitimat a number of years back had representatives from those communities, and the opinion shifted. “At the end of the meeting they all agreed to support it,” he said, adding, “A circle route would create more tourism within the area but it would also attract tourists looking to do some sort of scenic tour.” Continued on page 2
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B.C. minister visits area ... page 9