A CHINESE-OWNED woods company has now moved all of its logs from a city-owned property bounded by Keith and Kenney on the south side and has cleared the site.
YaoRun Wood Company began leasing the approximately 20 acres from the city in early 2013 for $10,000 a month, storing logs there until they could be processed for export.
A forest service official said the company has now relocated its log yard to Hazelton.
YaoRun did run afoul of local contractors in the middle of 2013 when they said the company wasn’t paying its bills and, for a time, a contractor parked equipment at the spot, blocking access to the location.
The company also failed to pay stumpage to the provincial government several times, resulting in seizure notices being posted.
That prevented YaoRun from moving the wood until it made payments to the province.
Beginning in late June, YaoRun began moving approximately 9,000 cubic metres of logs, said the forest service’s Greig Bethel.
“Hauling to Hazelton started almost immediately after the seizure notices had been lifted and the logs were released by the Compliance and Enforcement branch on June 26,” he said.
While the city did have a lease with YaoRun for the property, it also sought to sell a portion of the land and earlier this year struck a $1 million tentative deal with a local automotive dealership group for five acres on the corner of Keith and Kenney.
Terrace Chrysler and Terrace Motors Toyota, along with an accompanying recreational trailer sales arm, now located on Hwy16, want a larger location.
The subdivision of the five acres from the large parcel has taken place and necessary environmental information has been received and the sale will become final once the property is formally rezoned to allow a commercial use.
City administrator Heather Avison said a decision on what to do with the remaining 15 acres owned by the city has yet to be made.
That will depend upon the outcome of a wide-ranging development plan being contemplated by the city along Keith Ave., she said.
The plan would establish zoning for a mixture of residential and business uses on the above property which originally served as a log yard for a sawmill now dismantled as well as the vacant property stretching east of Kenney along Keith to the Sande Overpass which contained the sawmill complex itself.