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Skeena Sawmills donates parkland to city

Council briefs from March 11
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Skeena Sawmills president Teddy Ciu shakes hands with Terrace mayor Carol Leclerc to solidify the sawmill’s land donation on March 11. (Brittany Gervais photo)

Skeena Sawmills donates parkland to city

The City of Terrace has received a piece of land from Skeena Sawmills, right beside the Kitsumgallum Pioneer Cemetery at the top of the Kalum Lake Drive hill, on which to build a look out.

Skeena Sawmills president Teddy Ciu and operations vice-president Roger Keery made the donation announcement to council Monday night. The idea of donating the land to the city first originated in 2005 from city freeman Bill McRae.

The property, bounded by Kalum Lake Drive and which overlooks the city, the Skeena River and the Skeena Sawmills facility, stretches east of the graveyard.

The city’s leisure services department has discussed plans to develop a viewpoint on the property with the possibility of some trails during the city’s provisional 2019 budget discussions.

READ MORE: City to see two per cent tax increase in 2019

City rezones property for subdivision

Council voted to rezone a portion of the property at 5350 Mountain Vista Drive and amend its official community plan to accommodate plans for a subdivision.

MCF Enterprises Ltd. originally owned the 10-hectare property adjacent to Kalum Lake Road and just south of Coast Mountain College for a proposed multi-family development that never materialized.

They’re now in the process of selling the property to investors in the Lower Mainland, and the prospective buyer has plans for a subdivision that required the city to rezone 4.3 hectares from R5 (high-density multi-family residential) to R2 (semi-detached residential).

City development services director David Block says 102 residential lots are possible within the larger R2 area, and the four parcels still zoned R5 may be used for apartment townhouse development.

READ MORE: Residential projects delayed for years in Terrace pick back up

Kermode Friendship Society moves on homelessness

Angela Percival and Eli McMillan from the Kermode Friendship Society’s Homelessness Prevention Program requested letters of support from council for employment and housing program options for Terrace’s homeless population.

The Prince George Nechako Aboriginal Education and Training Association (PGNAETA) program promotes strategic partnerships to help people who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. Kermode Friendship Society has qualified Indigenous staff who can deliver programs here like the one in Prince George.

Kermode Friendship Society also intends to continue to work to reduce homelessness with a new initiative known as the Ambassador Program that employs individuals by giving them job training experience.

Kitsumkalum possible location for murdered and missing memorial

Advocate Wanda Good asked council to support the carving of a commemoration totem pole so families of missing and murdered Indigenous women can honour their lost loved ones.

Good’s cousin, Lana Derrick, went missing from Terrace in 1995, and she told council there’s need for a place for families to commemorate their loved ones who went missing or were found murdered along Hwy16.

Representatives from families of murdered and missing women have spoken to the city before, raising the issue of choosing a highly visible location along the highway for the pole.

Instead, Good says Kitsumkalum is “very interested” in having the memorial placed there.

Organizers are pursuing up to $200,000 in a federal grant and will receive a letter of support from the city before the March 31 deadline.

City endorses motion for RCMP Appreciation Day

A citizens’ committee from Vernon wants other B.C. municipalities to recognize Feb. 1 as Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Appreciation Day. It would mark the date when the Canadian government combined police forces to create the RCMP in 1920. The letter notes at this time, Manitoba is the only province to officially acknowledge the day.

Private cannabis retail licence approved

Council has approved a bid by High Point Cannabis Ltd. to open a private recreational marijuana business at the Gobind Mall.

The business would be locally owned and operated and is located near the centre of the mall at what was formerly Skeena Fly & Tackle shop. A public hearing took Feb. 25.

The applicant must now obtain all necessary permits for renovations of the retail space. Once renovations are complete, the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch can then issue a licence followed by city licensing.

READ MORE: Second marijuana store applies for license in Terrace

David Block, city director of development services says High Point Cannabis’ proposal is moving through the province’s review at a fast pace, and may open before the government-owned BC Cannabis store in the Skeena Mall does.


 


brittany@terracestandard.com

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