S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 26
www.terracestandard.com
Permit values top $50M
TWO CONSTRUCTION projects this month have pushed the value of Terrace building permits issued to date to more than $50 million, a 10-year record. One is the first phase of a large multifamily residential development on the bench now breaking ground and the other is an addition and renovation of a business on Park Ave. downtown. Seven townhomes in two duplexes and one triplex now under construction by Vancouver developer SwissReal carry a value of $1.4 million while an expansion to Park Ave. Optometry has a value of $1 million. The permit value of more than $50 million is more than double last year’s total for the same time period and triple the 10-year average of just under $16 million. The next closest value year to date was in 2008 when more than $23 million in permits had been issued. The SwissReal bench multi-residential development on the 5100 Block of McConnell is called Terrace Heights, which will consist of 35 townhomes on 2.7 acres when fully built out. It will be the largest multi-family residential development of its kind in the history of the city so far, edging out Sleeping Beauty Estates on the 4700 Block of Davis which has 28 units either finished or under construction. Jeremy Towning from Vancouver-based developer SwissReal said strata development Terrace Heights is the first of what he expects will be a number of company construction projects in Terrace and area. “Terrace just has such a nice community feel,” said Towning. “It’s someplace we want to be for the next 20 years.” Its central geographical location within the region, making the city and immediate area a hub for services and activities also contributed to the decision to build here, he added. “We feel the market is the most sustainable. Terrace has had its booms and busts but not as extreme,” Towning said. SwissReal was first attracted to the area by the prospect of a regional liquefied natural gas industry and purchased the Terrace Heights property earlier this year. Each of the Terrace Heights townhomes will have three bedrooms carrying a price tag of approximately $400,000.
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Wednesday, October 21, 2015
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
CENTENNIAL CHRISTIAN School principal Edgar Veldman and students Max Perkins, Nate Menz and Ben Carter plant some of the tulips at the tulip planting ceremony Oct. 16 at Heritage Park Museum.
Thank-you, Terrace!
By MARGARET SPEIRS SEVENTY YEARS after the liberation of the Netherlands by Canadian soldiers and after the Dutch government thanked Canada with the gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs, Terrace celebrated with the planting of 700 tulip bulbs that are part of the 70th anniversary Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Garden, one of 140 gardens distributed across the country. The red and white bulbs were planted out front of the gates to Heritage Park Museum Oct. 16 with many residents, students and dignitaries in attendance. Students and residents lined up to plant a bulb in holes already laid out in a repeating red and white pattern by Eric Lennert, the city gardener, who is also credited with sending in the application for Terrace to be one of the recipients of the tulip bulbs. Bill McRae, city freeman and one of the soldiers who landed on the shores of Normandy in 1944 and who later helped to free the Dutch in 1945, said the people there had a tough time after the war. With service medals affixed to a dark blue sport coat, McRae sat in the front row of the audience, learning during the celebration that both of his great-grandddaughters, Thayna and Zyah Healey, were two of the winners of a Heritage Park contest
for their drawings depicting the relationship between Holland and Canada. On behalf of the Dutch community in Terrace, Joe Vanderkwaak spoke of remembering the liberation of his homeland. “I distinctly remember standing along a road in my hometown, on a sunny May morning, waving and cheering as the Canadian forces drove by in an impromptu parade,” he said, adding he came to Terrace in 1953. Many Dutch people left the war-torn country afterward for other countries to build new lives, said Vanderkwaak. The ones who came to Terrace did so via contacts with the Christian Reformed Church of North America and in 1952, the denomination formed the current congregation, he said. Many residents are descendents of these immigrants and Dutch names continue to flourish here, such as Van Heek, Mantel, Onstein, DeJong, Talstra, Vandevelde, Braam and many others, he added. All of these Dutch immigrants shared the same feelings of immense love for, and gratitude to, the Canadian soldiers who sacrificed so much to liberate the Netherlands, said Vanderkwaak. “Guys like Bill [McRae] here can never do wrong as far as a Dutchman is concerned. For over 70 years, they have been, and still are, our heroes,” he said.
Time for a break
Sign of the times
Headed overseas
A couple who has been feeding the needy for 20 years needs helpers \COMMUNITY A10
The city backs up its removal of business advertising signs \NEWS A3
Cam Hundal’s goal is to play football the European way \SPORTS A25