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Trail property assessments drop
CLEARING THE WAY
VAL ROSSI Trail Times
Guy Bertrand photo
John Crockett was doing what most Greater Trail people were doing this week, clearing the snow from the recent snowfall. Crockett was tackling the sidewalks around Jubilee Place on Tuesday. More precipitation is in the forecast over the next couple of days although temperatures are expected to rise above freezing before the weekend.
Police nab young thief raiding unlocked vehicles
VALERIE ROSSI Trail Times
Winter conditions helped police nab a culprit this week when a youth was picked up for taking valubales from unlocked cars in East Trail. A 14-year-old boy with stolen goods in hand was traced from fresh footprints in the snow Monday early morning near Safeway and now the Trail and Greater District Detachment is tasked with returning valuables to their rightful owners. “This time, there were some gift cards, electronics, cash and other
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items recovered,” explained Sgt. Darren Oelke, who believes the “kid” known to the police is solely responsible for the thefts. Police would like to remind everyone to remove items of value and lock their vehicles when unattended. “We seem to get little rashes of vehicle thefts from time to time,” said Oelke. In fact, such was the case in Miral Heights just before the holiday season. “Always the same thing, car unlocked and usually loose change taken,” he added. “Unlocked vehicles are such an
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FAMILY HOME GE E H RA GA FOR T LE UB OM AT O D S RO BO & U PL V
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Trail’s property assessment took the biggest tumble in the region, according to BC Assessment’s annual report, but a drop of nearly seven per cent is still considered stable. Owners of more than 142,000 properties throughout the Kootenay Columbia region can now expect to receive their 2016 assessment notices, which reflect market value as of July 1, 2015. “The majority of properties went up between zero and 10 per cent though there were a few jurisdictions where we saw values decrease and Trail was one of them,” explained Ramaish Shah, Kootenay Columbia regional deputy assessor. “I would say a difference of minus-10 to plus-10 per cent change is considered relatively stable in the market place. We see that year over year.” A typical Trail home is valued at $155,000 this year, down from $166,000 in 2015, the report notes. Neighbouring values in Warfield ($193,000 from $194,000), Fruitvale ($216,000 from $217,000) and Salmo ($170,000 from $175,000) dipped slightly while Montrose ($233,000 from $223,000) climbed along with the City of Rossland ($255,000 from $238,000), which took top spot in Greater Trail with a rise of almost seven per cent. Real estate sales determine a property’s value, which is reported annually by BC Assessment. Overall, the Kootenay Columbia region’s assessment roll increased to $37.89 billion this year from $36.97 billion in 2015, which is reflective of market movement as well as $361 million in growth due to subdivisions, rezoning and new construction. New development is few and far between in Trail and is considered one ingredient to a healthy market, according to realtor Mary Martin of Century21 in Trail. The professional with 28 years experience said the city needs new people to buy in, but recruitment isn’t possible without employment opCONTINUED ON A3
easy target for thieves.” If your vehicle was parked in East Trail and you are missing anything from it, contact the Trail detachment at 250-364-2566. ******
Montrose fire contained to living room
Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire is awaiting confirmed details on the cause of a house fire in Montrose over the holiday season. Ten firefighters from Trail, Fruitvale and Montrose responded to a structure fire on 10th Avenue just
after 4 a.m. on Dec. 27. “They discovered it in the wood insert in their fireplace and it did cause some damage around the actual fireplace,” explained regional fire chief Terry Martin when the Times followed up Monday. The small fire caused about $10,000 of estimated damage but was contained to the living room area. “There wasn’t a lot of water or smoke damage to the rest of the home,” added Martin. There were no injuries to any of the occupants, nor to any firefighters who responded. Contact the Times:
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8 - 1790 Barrett Drive,
1472 Airport Road,
3388 Laurel Crescent,
2495 Albert Drive,
1170 Davis Street,
$21,900
$229,000
$179,000
$415,000
$275,000
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Fruitvale
Salmo
Glenmerry
Miral Heights
Rossland
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Thea 250.231.1661
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