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| Lax Kw'alaams recently acquired building on Third Avenue West will get put to use this week for an information session |
There's no official opening announcement just yet, but tomorrow will mark one of the first opportunities for the Lax Kw'alaams Band to make use of their new footprint in downtown Prince Rupert as they make use of their Community Space on Third Avenue West to host an information session from AltaGas.
As we outlined on Friday, that event takes place Tuesday from 5 to 7 with members of the Lax Kw'alaams Band and Metlakatla First Nation to learn more about career opportunities with the Ridley Island LPG terminal.
The community space building was acquired by the Lax Kw'alaams Band in 2019, outlining their plans for the building through an information release in January of 2020, those notes at the time highlighting the use of revenues from Coast Tsimshian Resources forestry operations to invest in Prince Rupert real estate, just one of a number of areas where the First Nation plans to become a larger presence within city limits.
After a year of renovation work, that after the new Community space was purchased from Amante Home Building supplies, its use will be that of offices and a training facility for members in the city.
The 2020 report which you can review here from our notes of the time, also made note of the growing number of partnerships that Lax Kw'alaams has taken on in recent years to create jobs and training opportunities, as well as to provide for management and executive services for the Band owned companies.
More notes on items of interest from Lax Kw'alaams can be explored from our archive page here.
Great idea, but think bigger!
ReplyDeleteIf you are willing to buy a building downtown for a training facility and offices. Why wouldn't you think to include a housing component for your members above the training facility and offices there instead of 11th?
I don’t think 70 units of housing would fit there. Maybe that’s why they are thinking bigger as in 11th Avenue as a potential location?
Delete70 would be nice, but any housing will do at this point.
DeleteWhat I was getting at is this. It looks like a missed opportunity. If a rezoning discussion was had on the downtown property, maybe some residents could be moving in right now.
The downtown building was bought in 2019, and renovated for a year. This property appears to be zoned C1 or C3. Which is a Mixed Use Core Commercial Zone with a max height of 16-17 metres and 50% housing.
If it was rezoned to C6, you would be allowed a max height of 35 metres, and a max of three units of housing per floor.
Some housing in the downtown location could be online right now if that rezoning discussion was had. While 11th has taken two years to decide on as a build site, and it isn't even rezoned yet.
To me, that is bigger thinking, something this town is in dire need of.