Work commences on new location for Jehovah Witnesses Kingdom Hall

The prep work is under way for the new Jehovah Witnesses
home in Prince Rupert as workers cleared land near the Civic Centre

There has been a flurry of land movement taking place at the corner of 9th West and McBride all this week, as the first part of land development for a new religious centre gets underway.

Large equipment, along with dump trucks began the process of the land work to clear out the footprint for the new facility for the Jehovah Witnesses on the North Coast.  

The congregation having negotiated a land swap and purchase back in October that will see the City of Prince Rupert take possession of the former Kingdom Hall on Third East at McBride.

As we noted on October 7th, the land that the former religious centre sits on will be redeveloped as the new home for the Prince Rupert RCMP detachment.

The corner of Third Avenue East and McBride will be the
new home for the Prince Rupert RCMP

The land deal between the two participants brought nearly fifteen years of trying to finding a site for the new detachment to an end.

We first noted the potential land swap in early October.

The details were outlined for the city's residents at the October 5th Council session, when the City's Chief Financial Officer provided some background.

Ms. Bomben noted that when it comes to cost for this initial phase of the plans:  "the Budget amendment requires 2 million dollars which includes land acquisition and legal costs, engineering and geo technical costs and architectural design work." 

She further noted  that the funding for this part of the project comes from the proceeds of land sales of 225,000 dollars and use of 1.775 million from the northern capital and planning reserves. 

So far there is no outline as to when the downtown site will see some development and the process of transforming the land to the new detachment will take place.

For more notes related to City of Prince Rupert themes see our Council Discussion page here.