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| Regional District is making plans to borrow funds for planned upgrades for the region's recycling centre on Kaien Road |
Plans for upgrades to the regional recycling facility in Prince Rupert that serves the City, Port Edward and other North Coast areas of the region will be going to the alternative approval process, with the decision to make use of the at times controversial process announced at their December 14th District meeting.
In a notice posted to the NCRD website, the Regional District will be seeking authorization to borrow up to 500,000 dollars for the purpose of borrowing funds, over a 20 year period to complete upgrades to the Regional Recycling Facility.
To facilitate the borrowing of that money, Regional District will be using the Alternative Approval process which will see the borrowing plan authorized if electoral response forms certified by the Corporate Officer total less that 10 percent of the eligible voters in the Regional District.
The process puts the responsibility on residents of the community who may have concerns or questions on the borrowing plan to gather enough responses to force the issue to a wider consultation process, normally that of a full fledged referendum process.
Should the returns for the Recycling plan total more than ten percent, then the loan request will be required to be put to a voting process. The threshold number to trigger that voting process would be returns of 916 alternative approval forms.
With the Regional District offices now closed until the New Year, the forms will again be available in the New Year at the North Coast Regional District Office at 14-342 Third Avenue West in Prince Rupert, Blank forms can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed upon request.
Forms may be submitted in person, or by mail to be received by the North Coast Regional District Office no later than by 4PM on Thursday, February 28th.
The information related to what upgrades may be planned is not included as part of the announcement to go towards the Alternative Approval Process, some of the work may be part of a wide ranging report released in June of 2017 which highlighted a number of elements on the Regional District wish list.
As for the plan to go to the AAP process in 2019, the full details for that initiative can be found here.
Regional District made use of the AAP as part of its plan to change its name back in 2016.
The City of Prince Rupert has used the process a number of times, included on that list was the city's move to expand its boundaries to include land on Tuck inlet back in 2014.
The City also used the instrument in 2013 towards its renovation plans for the Prince Rupert Airport, and in 2016 on issues related to land on Graham Avenue,
With the Regional District meeting having taken place after the City of Prince Rupert's last regular council session for 2018, neither Mayor Lee Brain, or Councillor Barry Cunningham who represent the City on the District have had a chance to offer up any notes related to the Regional initiative through a Council meeting opportunity.
Beyond speaking to the issue for residents through City Council, so far Mr. Brain, or Mr. Cunningham have yet to make mention of the Regional District's plans through their social media portals.
Among some of the other notes addressed at the December 14th Regional District meeting was the appointment of Tim Des Champs, the Recycling Operations Manager to serve as the NCRD representative to a Committee established by the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, the committee will assist in the development of a new solid waste management plan for the Regional District.
Regional District will also investigate the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund and its alignment with the priorities identified by local emergency preparedness and response groups.
The Regional District Board will also look to schedule a Special meeting in the new year to hear from Transport Canada with respect to the ongoing engagement taking place related to the Federal Ports modernization review.
The members of the Regional District also discusses initiatives for Haida Gwaii and Oona River.
More notes on the December 14th meeting can be found here.
For more items of interest related to Regional District see our archive page here.
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