CITY COUNCIL has decided to buy 88 hectares of land from the provincial government for its planned Skeena Industrial Development Park otherwise known as the airport lands.
The purchase is meant to make things less complicated should the city find someone to buy land at the park.
The city has an option to buy lands from the province to form the park with the idea that should an industrial buyer be found, it would in turn use the purchase money to buy the land from the province.
The $75,000 sale price, which includes legal and survey costs, takes in an unfinished access road from Hwy37 South just past the airport on the way to Kitimat.
Council released these details at a council meeting last night, having discussed the matter in an in-camera meeting Feb. 14. The money comes from a land reserve account.
The airport lands project has been a priority of the city for years but so far there have been no takers despite a sales pitch of the land being close to an airport, railway lines and ports.
The city is to receive $668,000 each from the federal and provincial governments to build an interesection and 700 metres of access road provided the city also puts in $668,000. Some work has been done but the city has had troubles coming up with its share.
The federal and provincial grant announcement was made in Feb. 2009 and the city has until March 31, 2016 to fully take advantage of the cost sharing program.