K
Volume 62 No. 04
I
T
I
M
A
Sentinel
T
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Refinery need pipes Two pipelines, both of which would have to traverse the Skeena River west of Terrace in some fashion, surface in a multi-billion petroleum refinery proposal released last week. The pipelines, one for gasoline and the other for diesel, would extend 120 kilometres from the proposed Pacific Future Energy Corporation refinery location on the Dubose Flats between Terrace and Kitimat north to an undefined marine export terminal location on the Portland Inlet on the coast north of Prince Rupert. “Early third-party studies suggest a marine terminal could be situated along the Portland Inlet, in the event such a development were to secure the support of a...First Nation,” indicates a project description submitted to federal and provincial regulators. “If such a marine terminal were to be developed, we anticipate that two (one for gasoline and one for diesel) short (120 km) pipelines, developed in partnership with First Nations along the route, could be built to support the marine terminal’s operations,” the project description reads. Pacific Future official Don MacLachlan, speaking last week, was confident a river crossing could be accomplished. “New techniques for putting a pipeline under rivers and lakes are proven,” said MacLachlan in emailed comments. Should Pacific Future be successful in its $15 billion refinery plan and should those pipelines be constructed, the company anticipates Panamaxsize ships being used to transport gasoline and diesel to overseas markets. Continued on page 9
Celebrating 2016’s first baby in Kitimat.
/page 8 How Portugal built Kitimat.
/page 9 PM477761
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
Pow A collision on the ice sent these players from the Terrace River Kings and the Kitimat Ice Demons in to the air. This was the Ice Demons’ final regular season game, played at Tamitik Arena. For more results see page 12. Cameron Orr
Horizon North gets rezoning Cameron Orr The planned worker camp at the Horizon North property near the Kitimat Chamber of Commerce can be a bit higher after a rezoning proposal went through, but the notion of increasing density on the land worried at least one property owner of rental units in Kitimat. Horizon North structures can now be as high as 12 metres, a boost to accommodate more storeys and a peaked roof design to deal with snow load. The proposal did draw a letter of concern from John Rigoni, who owns apartment units in town and was one of the proponents of a high-density housing proposal in the Strawberry Meadows subdivision which drew opposition from concerned neighbours. Rigoni wrote to council saying that allowing higher density developments,
especially at a time when vacancy is much higher than it was a year ago, may devalue existing properties. “It is this scarcity that gives it [land] value to owners who have invested into purchasing, speculating, developing and managing these properties,” he writes. “Whenever land is rezoned it affects the scarcity and value of land that falls into each side of the change of the affected zoning.” He said increasing density is not necessarily bad for a community, but “it should not come at the expense of existing investors during a period of surplus supply.” Rigoni also weighed in on the topic of renovictions, saying that while he never did it in his apartments he would have if he were the owner of some of the older, derlict buildings in town. Renovictions were an issue at
the peak of Kitimat’s housing crunch where people were evicted in order for an owner to do renovations to a suite. When housing was scarce it often meant residents would have no choice but to pay significantly higher rents to live somewhere else. “The renovictions that took place were long overdue,” Rigoni writes. “It is unfortunate that it did adversely affect the individuals who were displaced. For them it was not a welcome change. A small consolation is that hopefully they can look back on the extremely low rents that they had paid as one of the benefits that they got to experience.” Rigoni goes on to say that his proposal to council is that they lift the pressure on industries to not give their employees Living Out Allowances. (LOA). Continued on page 7