The City of Terrace is set to update its environmentally sensitive areas report by identifying and evaluating new locations.
The last report was prepared in 1998 and forms Appendix A of the city’s official community plan.
The report did not include 3,897 hectares of land south of the Skeena River consisting of the Skeena Industrial Development Park Lands (airport lands) and Ferry Island which were not within municipal boundaries back then.
Since then, natural processes, industrial and residential growth and development of outdoor recreation spaces have also influenced Terrace’s environmentally sensitive areas.
Budgeted at $75,000, the study aims to assess these changes as well as the areas that were excluded from the previous report.
The project will map and classify environmentally sensitive features of the area, provide GPS locations of natural watercourses within city limits and evaluate the suitability of areas for recreational activities.
It will also recommend management strategies, remediation policies and development guidelines to protect the ecological value of the environmentally sensitive areas.
“The main goal of this project is to provide an updated plan to reflect today’s best practices for regulating protection and land development on, or in proximity to, environmentally sensitive areas, ” said, Jack Cherniawsky, a planner for City of Terrace.
The city has received seven proposals from environmental consulting firms from within and outside of Northwest B.C. and is expected to award the contract to one of the applicants by April 30.
The study is expected to be completed by November.