A Seniors Housing option for the Anchor Inn?

Could the Anchor Inn be the next local hotel to see a shift
in its client focus in the future?

One of Prince Rupert's hotel properties may be on the verge of a shift in purpose, that is if recent discussion at North Coast Regional District are any indication as to the changing dynamic on the theme of housing in the community.

The Anchor Inn, which is currently closed for operations was mentioned as a potential option for Seniors housing at the May 26th meeting for Regional District, with Prince Rupert Council member Nelson Kinney making note that the City of Prince Rupert was working with Metlakatla on the potential use as a Seniors housing facility.

Since that meeting, the City of Prince Rupert has moved forward with two Seniors housing proposals in the community, one from Macro Properties for the old Neptune Inn complex.

The other is a plan proposed by the Metlakatla Development Corporation, that would turn the now abandoned lot from the old King Edward School site re-purposed into the site for the Metlkatla Elders/Seniors Village.

Shaun Thomas, the Communications Manager for Meltakatla, noted in a correspondence with the North Coast Review, that for the moment, there is no work being done on a seniors facility at the old Anchor Inn.

Advising, that the Elders/Seniors Village project and the rezoning process related to, it is the only focus for the Metlakatla Development Corporation at this time.

Where that leaves the future for the Anchor Inn remains to be seen, though Seniors housing now appears to be the one area for development in the community where some significant progress has been found.

As we noted on the blog back in June of 2015, BC Housing had at the time put out a request from hotel or apartment building owners to contact the Housing organization should they be interested in the kind of re-purposing for their facilities.

That is a process that is currently underway in Terrace,where 15 million dollars in spending has been put towards housing needs in that community and could a blue print for similar Prince Rupert options including any ambitions for the Anchor Inn.

With the recent announcements related to Seniors Housing in Prince Rupert, the immediate need for accommodations may soon be something that no longer makes for the urgent list, though an affordable housing model for those not quite to their Senior years could still be something that could be considered for the facility.

For more notes related to Housing  in the Northwest see our archive page here.

Credit Union welcomes back three incumbents following Board elections

Northern Savings has outlined the results of voting from
the 207 Board of Directors election

The results of the Board of Directors election at Northern Savings Credit Union saw little in the way of change for this year, with the endorsement of the voting public for incumbents Mimmo Ciccone, Rod Cox and Trent Moraes, the trio were elected to continue on with their posts from the three director positions that were available for this year.

In 2018, there will be four Director seats up for election, one for District 6 on Haida Gwaii and three at large seats, more notes on the electoral process will be outlined in the months ahead.

In addition to the Board election, shareholders of the Prince Rupert based Financial institution were asked to voted on  Special resolution to replace the Rules for Northern Savings Credit Union, customers and shareholders of the Credit Union can stop in at any branch to review the new document or visit the Northern Savings Credit Union website.

The Prince Rupert branch also makes note of some news out of the Financial Advisor office at the Third Avenue West location, as a familiar name in the community taking up new duties there, with Jackie (Hays) Touchet joining the Prince Rupert branch as a Financial officer.

As well, the Credit Union is celebrating the success of Ms. Vida Carson, the Financial Adivsor gained recognition for her achievement out of the Terrace branch , her work was noted as placing her as 1 of 25 top advisors out of over 600 Qtrade advisors in 2016.

More notes on the latest developments for the Credit Union can be found here.

Northern Savings has also outlined some changes for the Haida Gwaii service, adjusting the operations to their Port Clements initiative which was launched in October of 2016 as a pilot project, that option was available until late June, residents of the region are advised that the Masset and Queen Charlotte City branch is offering financial services for those that were using the Port Clements option, as well Northern Savings notes that online banking services are also available in the region.

For more background on the Commercial sector of the Northwest, see our archive page here.

Stewart's Blue Ocean Terminal seeks licence of Occupation for port proposal

The next step towards developing the Stewart area into a shipping hub continues this month as Blue Ocean Energy moves its application for a licence of occupation for a Terminal project at Marmot By ahead.

The application is the prelude to Blue Ocean Terminals filing for it's EA certificate and Environmental Impact statement, with an eye on a timeline to the start of construction in the Spring of 2020 and the launch of operations in 2023.

The path towards that EA certification will take the company through until April 2020 with the Environmental Assessment, Detailed Engineering study and permitting requirements all part of that process.

The proposed shipping terminal is designed to handle a range of commodity mixes with an initial focus on propane, methane, LNG, oil or natural gas.

As part of their proposal for the licence of occupation, Blue Ocean Terminal outlined four areas where they believe the project offers benefits to the Citizens of British Columbia.

Manage crown land in a way that provides certainty for industry to capture economic opportunities while enhancing Government priorities and producing broad public benefit.

Safeguard B.C.'s natural environment by managing land and natural resources in a way that considers long-term implications to the sustainability of resource values and communities.

Increase eco-system health by working collaboratively with multi-sector partner groups and First Nations to restore degraded ecosystems through activities such as ecosystem management, restoration, remediation and best management.

Strengthen Public Trust in natural resource management practices by promotion of values-based decision making principles and engaging with stakeholders and communities.

As well, Blue Ocean notes that there would be both regional and provincial benefits to their proposed development, noting how the company is committed to creating jobs and sustainable economic growth, while protecting the environment and supporting community needs.

Proposed site for a marine shipment terminal at Marmot Bay near Stewart BC

You can get a glimpse as to what the terminal operators have in mind from their application to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources here.

Should they receive approval for the project and move forward towards development, it would add another shipping resource to the Stewart area and provide for some competition for bulk goods that currently ship out of Prince Rupert.

It could also also appear to provide for competition for the City of Prince Rupert's future plans for development of Watson Island as a shipping point, Pembina resources is currently exploring the use of Watson for the shipment of Liquid propane to global markets.

The prospectus included as part of the application, notes the range of uses that could be put in place should the Blue Ocean project move to development, many of which mirror current shipment options through Prince Rupert.

Included in the application are a number of letters of support from a number of Stewart area business interests, who have indicated they welcome the proposed development to their community.

The project is led by a name familiar to the North Coast, with Phil Eidsvik, listed as the President, Operations and Business Development of Blue Ocean Energy and the main contact related to their application. Mr. Eidsvik has previously been involved with the Commercial Fishing industry both on the North Coast and in Lower Mainland area of the province.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations until July 27th as part of the comment period related to this application.

Those with an interest in the proposal can participate in that process, here.

The Blue Ocean plan is just the latest proposal for the Stewart area, a glimpse at some of the previous concepts can be found below:


July 2015 -- Stewart World Port submits land use application for proposed barge anchorage
March 2014 -- Stewart looks for a share of LNG opportunity


With the growing interest in the Stewart area for shipping terminal development, we've added that location to our inventory of Industrial development notes here.

Blue Ocean Terminal - Stewart BC

Our archive of developments around the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter revitalization project in Kitimat.


Blue Ocean Terminal Website (none developed as of yet)



2017



July

July 4 -- Stewart's Blue Ocean Terminal seeks licence of Occupation for port proposal  NCR

Real Estate Tracker: Week ending July 2, 2017

Our weekly review of the listings of the local real estate agents, tracking those properties which appear to be driving the local price structure for the North Coast.

Every Monday, we look over the listing prices of the past seven days and outline the Top 10 asking prices in the area, providing a snap shot as to where the Real Estate market may be trending on a week to week basis.

The listings below are purely for information purposes, for further background on the properties recorded, see our links page for access to the individual real estate listings.

The Archive for our weekly review can be found here.

Our list of the top ten priced homes for the week ending July 2, 2017 is below:

Prince Rupert Real Estate, West side, week ending July 2 2017

Prince Rupert Real Estate, West side, week ending July 2, 2017

The balance between East and West shifts just slightly this week, as two properties from the Graham Avenue listings move off the rankings this week, while one returns into the upper reaches for the Graham area, as well as to the east on Prince Rupert Boulevard.

The Graham Avenue continues to see the most significant attention with six of our ten properties featuring addresses on the west side, two more locations west of McBride also hold a place this week, while the East side was represented by a two property listings over the last seen days.

The combined value this week of our ten high end listings is $6,386,000

The lowest mark for the list of ten was found at $489,000, while our top end from the last week is again listed at $829,000.

Below find our findings as of the Week ending July 2, 2017

2280 Graham Avenue                   $829,000 --   Remax
1027 Borden Street                       $789,000 --   Realty Executives
1830 Graham Avenue                   $759,000 --   Realty Executive
1933 Graham Avenue                   $719,000 --   Remax
2230 Graham Avenue                   $689,000 --   Remax
1208 Beach Place                          $559,000 --  Remax
1805 Graham Avenue                   $539,000  --  Royal Lepage
184 Silversides                              $515,000  -- Remax
1119 Prince Rupert Blvd.              $499,000  -- Realty Executives
1724 Graham Avenue                    $489,000 --  Remax

   
For more items related to Real Estate see our archive page here.

For background on Housing issues in the region see our past items here.

Blog Watching: Week Ending July 2, 2017

The last seven days delivered some drama on the provincial scene, with a change of government now in motion and North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice now finding herself on the government side of the BC Legislature.

As well, on the local scene a range of topics coming out of Prince Rupert City Council caught the attention of our readers over the last week, many of which will set the tone for much of Council's themes through the summer and into the fall.

The item that captured the most attention came from our preview of Monday's Prince Rupert City Council session, where we offered up some of the talking points on the night from Luanne Roth, who appeared at Council to make a presentation to the Council members on air shed concerns related to the proposed Digby Island Aurora LNG project.

Two other City Council items also provided for much attention from our readers, with Council's discussions on the potential introduction of Sm'algyax to road signs and buildings in the future finding a strong readership, as did our review of City Council's discussion on the need for renovations for the city's jail cells to bring them up to national standards and the larger issue of replacement for the Prince Rupert RCMP detachment.

An unsightly mess left at the Kaien Road Recycling Centre after hours, has made for a popular theme on Facebook and we reviewed some of that discussion this week, while our notes on the political drama in Victoria also found a larger readership, as we recounted North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice's enthusiastic response to the prospect of NDP leader John Horgan becoming Premier.

Our top story however, the LNG files of the Northwest and a public presentation to Council on airshed concerns related to the Aurora LNG project proposed for Digby Island.

Aurora LNG air quality the focus for presentation to Council this evening --  Our preview of a presentation by Luanne Roth from the T Buck Suzuki Society highlighting concerns on airshed levels should the Aurora LNG project move forward topped the reading list for the week, our follow up notes that outlined some of the questions from Council members also generated some significant interest this week.  (posted June 26, 2017)

That article was followed by:

Piles, upon piles of garbage at the recycling centre making for conversation theme on Facebook -- An ongoing theme of North Coast residents showing some disregard for the after hours community recycling station on Kaien Road has become a hot topic on the social media platform Facebook.   (posted June 27, 2017)

Councillor Thorkelson promotes prospect of Sm'algyax to be included in future naming projects for the city -- Sometime over the course of the next few City Council sessions, the city's council members will be reviewing a proposal from Councillor Joy Thorkelson to address her concerns over the naming procedures for streets and buildings in the community, with the Councillor proposing a new process which would increase the focus on First Nations of the region.  (posted June 29, 2017)

Prince Rupert's COP COOP chickens come home to roost --  Prince Rupert Council members explored the immediate need to replace the city's jail cells and then reviewed some of the past history in their efforts to come up with a long overdue replacement plan for the city's RCMP detachment   (posted June 30, 2017)

Jennifer Rice hails John Horgan's rise to power in Victoria -- The return to the business of the Legislature this week provided for a historic moment for BC politics, as the Liberal government of Premier Christy Clark was defeated in a non-confidence motion, paving the way for Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon to invite John Horgan and the NDP to form the next B.C. Government. North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice shared some of her thoughts on the dramatic events from Victoria. (posted June 30, 2017)

You can find our weekly Blog watching featured posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

You can also review the full listings of the week just past from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page.

For those looking for updates to items as they are posted to the blog, don't forget about our email alert access.

A daily review of the latest items on the blog can be delivered to your email in box, simply by entering your email address into the information bar, items posted to the blog will be delivered to your e-mail account each day.

You can find the link to that feature on the upper, right hand side of the blog. It can be found underneath the Follow the North Coast Review by Email indicator.

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here

MLA's Week: June 26-29, 2017

The first session of the Legislature following the 2017 provincial election of May 9th, brought the re-elected and newly elected MLA's to their seats for their first week of business.

A gathering of the elected, which by the end of the week found us with a new Premier and the NDP making their plans to take to the government side of the Legislature for the first time in 16 years.

The Throne Speech formalities from last week made for the backdrop to the work for this week, as now former Premier Christy Clark's attempts to form a government quickly were knocked down through a non-confidence vote.

The formal procedure in the House put the new Legislature partnership between NDP and Green members to work to bring down the Liberals and turn the political process over to Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon for further direction.

The week proved to be a fascinating lesson for students of parliamentary democracy as the Lieutenant-Governor first received Ms. Clark, accepted her resignation and then asked Mr. Horgan to form the next government.

How long the NDP will be able to hold power in the Legislature with such a slim majority thanks to the Green support remains to be seen and will make for a good portion of our political intrigue moving through the summer and into the fall, if the new NDP government survives that long.

For North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, the last two weeks found her offering up her thoughts on the current state of BC politics, calling for the Liberals to resign and to let the NDP govern.

With the events of Thursday, she gets her wish, where she will fit in with Mr. Horgan's plans will be determined once he makes his cabinet choices.

Among the other themes Ms. Rice took note of in the Legislature was to return to the call for a replacement facility for Prince Rupert Middle School, as well as to share the success of the first ever Grade Twelve graduating class for the Coast Tsimshian Academy in Lax Kw'alaams.

Our look at the work week that just concluded, can be found below:

Ms. Rice opened the week Monday morning with a statement in celebration of the Alaska Highway which is commemorating it's 75th anniversary this year.

The MLA, speaking in response to the Speech from the Throne, also reminded the Legislature of the need for replacement for the Prince Rupert Middle School.

MLA Rice calls for confidence vote in Legislature; seeks progress on PRMS issue

On the theme of education, Ms. Rice also rose in the Legislature to share the story of the first ever Grade Twelve graduation class for the Coast Tsimshian Academy in Lax Kw'alaams.

MLA pays tribute to Lax Kw'alaams Graduating class at Legislature

As the week came to its close and John Horgan prepared to take on the Premiership of the province, Ms. Rice shared a few more thoughts about the historic nature of the week.

Jennifer Rice hails John Horgan's rise to power in Victoria

Ms. Rice was also a member of the Committee on Children and Youth, that committee did not meet in the past week, and it's unknown if she will retain that possession when the Legislature next returns.

Mr. Horgan has not yet outlined the NDP plan moving forward and when the return for MLA's to the Legislature will next be called.

To follow the latest from the provincial scene digest to track notes of interest through the campaign, it is available on our political portal Darcy McGee.

There is more background on the work of the North Coast MLA available from our MLA's Week Archive as well as our General Archive on the Legislature.