City puts its outdoor washroom plan out for proposals

Whether the Prince Rupert model
of an outdoor washroom
will resemble the Portland Loo
above, or something else remains 
to be seen

The City of Prince Rupert is set to move forward on its plan to provide for an outdoor toilet facility somewhere in the downtown core area. 

With a Request for Bids posted to the BC Bid website last week, launching  a fifteen day period to accept potential bids for the step up above your traditional porta-potty concept.

As we outlined back in February, City Council had given the go-ahead towards seeking out 200,000 dollars in grant funding for the project, with the City to supply suitable land to host the site and an estimated 30,000 dollars in operational funding for the toilet

The Report to Council at that time from the City's CFO Corinne Bomen provided some background to the grant and the city's plans.

The RFP for the proposed toilet was issued last Wednesday through the provincial bid site.

For those considering putting in a bid request, the outdoor facility planning covers a wide range of items for proponents to consider, the list of which you can review below:

The weighted scale of consideration, covers four elements, with the most important of the quartet that of Sustainability and Serviceability, with Budget a close second.

The timeline for delivery of bids is set for 3 PM April 8th.

The City states the proposed deadline for delivery of work is June 30, 2021 but advises that date could be amended at the City's discretion.

Of note from the documentation is that the city has yet to identify where it plans to place the Outdoor facility, which would appear to be part of the process for the Bid to advise on the potential sites.

You can review the full RFP from the City through the BC Bid website.

A look at some of Council's past notes on the Outdoor Toilet proposal this year can be found below:

February 10 -- City Council looks to be Lookie-Loos on grant prospects for 24 hour public loo

February 8 -- Council to consider opportunity to seek ou funding for additional public restroom facilities in the city

You can review some of the City's past RFP's here.

For more notes related to past Council discussions see our archive page here.

Real Estate Tracker: Week ending March 28, 2021

There was not much in the way of change to our list of ten over the last  seven days, with just one new addition to the top end listings. 

That being a replacement for a property which departed from the For Sale ledger.

The split between the east and west of the city remains the same from last week, with seven properties now listed on the west side of the city making for three for the list for the area east of McBride for the review.

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 March 28, 2021 can be explored below:

Real Estate listings on the East Side of Prince Rupert
Week ending March 28, 2021

Real Estate listings on the West Side of Prince Rupert
Week ending March 28, 2021

The total value of the list of ten now sits at just under the 7.5  million dollar mark.

The lowest mark for the review of the week is at $529,000  while our top end from the last week now is marked  at the price point of  $1,098,980


Below find our findings as of the Week ending March 28, 2021

1824 Graham Avenue                    $1,098,980 --  Realty Executives 

234 4th Avenue East                      $898,000 --     Remax

1160 11th Avenue East                  $799,000  --     Remax

2050 Atlin Avenue                         $799,000 --     Realty Executives

2085 Graham Avenue                    $725,000  --    Realty Executives 

1933 Graham Avenue                    $699,000 --     Remax

119 Gull Crescent                          $650,000 --     Realty Executives

2101 Graham Avenue                    $650,000 --     Remax  

525 Pillsbury Avenue                    $599,000 --      Remax

2440 Graham Avenue                    $595.000 --      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.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

Blog Watching: Week ending March 28, 2021

This having been a City Council session week, a number of our notes from the Monday evening get-together had generated a significant number of views by weeks' end.

With a presentation to Council on an Urban Farm project, some discussion on land use along Park Avenue and a question on public participation at Council just a few of the stories  that were culled from the Council session and the three which generated the most interest from our readers.

Also making for a much read item over the last seven days, was our look at this weeks data release from the BC CDC detailing local COVID case counts, with the Prince Rupert region still the area with the highest level of COVID cases in the Northwest.

However, it was our Monday article on the decision by CityWest officials to close the Prince Rupert offices for two weeks owing to the high level of COVID in the community which resonated most with the readers for the week.

CityWest closes Prince Rupert offices, reduces services for two week period owing to COVID --  The Northwest communication company has closed the office to the public and reduced service in Prince Rupert as a response to the current high level of case reports found in the community   (posted March 22 , 2021)

That article was followed by:

Food Security the focus for Demonstration Urban Farm planning in downtown Prince Rupert -- Prince Rupert City Council has shown much enthusiasm towards a downtown demonstration project from Ecotrust Canada which will operate a Demonstration Urban Farm on land provided by the Metlakatla First Nation at the old Farwest Bus Lines lot on Second Avenue West. (posted March 24, 2021) 

Any progress for proposed Micro-Hotel development for Park Avenue may all come down to timing of application -- City Councillors spent close to half an hour of Monday's council session towards what may be the process ahead for a proposal for a micro-hotel accommodation  structure on Park Avenue.   (posted March 26, 2021) 

A positive sign from weekly COVID data, but numbers remains high for Prince Rupert at 113 for period of March 14-20 -- The BC CDC released the weekly community by community data on Wednesday and while the pace of our COVID numbers has slowed, Prince Rupert still had a high count of 113 cases for the period. The data an interesting side note to comments from Premier Horgan on Thursday as he praised the community for its efforts during the COVID vaccination clinic period of last week.    (posted March 24, 2021) 

Councillor Cunningham seeks guidance on city administration's policy on council presentations  -- With a group of residents seemingly left on the sidelines for Monday's City Council session, Councillor Barry Cunningham sought some clarification on the city's policy towards public presentations. You can review all of our notes from the Monday Council Session here.  (posted March 24, 2021)

You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for 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.

As well, those who use Twitter can get updates as we post new items from our twitter feed

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here.   

To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

MLA's Week: March 22-25, 2021

It was a light week for speechmaking at the Legislature, with only one of the Northwest MLA's making for a mention in the weekly listings of the account of the chamber.

That coming by way of a remote contribution to the Thursday morning session by North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice.

Prince Rupert also gained a mention from a government event outside of the Legislature, with Premier John Horgan making note of the community effort that went into last weeks COVID-19 vaccination clinic, which saw a significant level of the local community vaccinated.

BC's COVID-19 vaccination program crosses over the 520,000 mark, with 9,000 of those results coming from the Prince Rupert Vaccination clinic last week

As for more on the week of work from the House, the four days unfolded as follows:

****************************************************************************

On the week, Ms Rice was mentioned once in the record for the week in the Legislature from March 22-25

As part of the Thursday morning session the MLA shared some thoughts towards the work of 911 Emergency dispatchers.

MLA Rice shares some 411 on Emergency Response, as she recognizes 911 Emergency Service Dispatchers

The North Coast MLA is also a member of the Following committees:

 Select Committee on Children and Youth

Ms. Rice serves as the Government's Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness

*****************************************************************************

For our readers from the Terrace-Kitimat region, Skeena MLA Ellis Ross  was not mentioned in the record for the week in the Legislature from March 22-28

The Skeena MLA is not currently assigned to any Parliamentary committees

Mr. Ross is currently the BC Liberal's Opposition Critic for Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

The Skeena MLA is also contesting for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party

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For our readers from the Bulkley Valley area, Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen  was not mentioned  in the record for the week in the Legislature from March 22-28

The Stikine MLA is not currently assigned to any Parliamentary committees

Mr. Cullen serves as the Government's Minister of State for Lands and Natural Resource Operations 

*****************************************************************************

There is more background on all three Regional MLA's available from our MLA's Week Archive, as well as our constituency archives below:

North Coast Constituency

Skeena Constituency

Stikine Constituency

The Legislature now takes a two week Easter Break, not set to return to the Chamber until April 12

A larger overview of provincial issues can be found on our political portal D'Arcy McGee 

BC's COVID Surge continues, with Friday results topping the 900 mark on the day

The pace of new COVID infections continues to gallop along, with today's review of data from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix making for another day where the totals are again spiking from the day before.

The Friday afternoon review made note of 908 new cases of the coronavirus reported in the province, just under half of them from the Fraser Health Authority alone, that too making for a recurring theme for much of the last few months.

“Today, we are reporting 908 new cases, for a total of 95,677 cases in British Columbia.  

There are 6,245 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 9,996 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 87,866 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Of the active cases, 294 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 81 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

There have been three new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,449 deaths in British Columbia."

Across the province, the regional Health Authorities relayed the following new case counts fffor the day.

294 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 438 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 55 in the Island Health region, 43 in the Interior Health region, 

There were 78 new cases in the Northern Health region, which brings the total in Northern British Columbia to 5,777 cases since January of 2020 .

Today's data revealed that there were no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada. 

Provincial Health officials continue to keep a watch on the rise of variant cases as well and today they reported 140 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 1,912 cases. 

Of the total cases, 258 are active and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 1,666 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 47 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 199 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant. 

The provincial vaccination program continues to roll on and to date, 637,856 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,233 of which are second doses. 

While the current increases are making for an alarming trend, Doctor Henry's statement today also focused on some of the measures that have been slowly dialled back a bit; as well as to remind British Columbians not to let their guards down just yet.

“We have been able to slowly turn the dial on some restrictions. However, we all need to remember while some activities are safe for us to do, others simply are not. 

We can be outside with the same small group of people, but gathering inside is high risk for all of us. We can soon see our Elders and seniors in care, but we must follow the safety protocols that remain in place. 

Seeing different friends on different days – even if we are outside – is unsafe. So is gathering in our homes where the layers of protection, like physical barriers and masks, are not used. 

Social connections and the sharing of a meal or a hug is important for us all, yet we must be vigilant that our need for those connections doesn’t put ourselves or those we care about in harm’s way. Rather, step away from our screens and step outside with our small core group of close contacts. 

Equally important in staying informed about what has been an ever-changing pandedmisd There is myriad misinformation, especially on social media, that fuels our apprehension and anxiety. If you are unsure, err on the side of caution or go to a credible, reliable information source, like the BC Centre for Disease Control, for the latest updates."

Further notes on  Friday's report can be reviewed here. 

BC CDC Data for BC For March 26 2021

BC CDC Data for Northern Health Region For March 26 2021

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

More from  Northern Health can be reviewed here 

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.   

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, those past advisories  can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

Ottawa Observations

Victoria Viewpoints

 

 

Zoning Bylaw Survey participation and results brings some surprise, some disappointment and some appreciation from Council members

Prince Rupert City Council received the results of an online consultation program which they launched through the Rupert Talks portal earlier this year,.

With the city's contract planners from iPlan delivering an overview Monday evening as to some of the key findings from the public participation process.

We first made note of the project on February 25th and over the course of almost a month, residents were offered the opportunity to explore and comment towards some of the proposals towards new bylaws, with the consolation period coming to an end at mid March. 

The survey consisted of a panel of twelve questions on a range of themes.

 Summary of Storyboards, Home occupations, Parking Standards& Secondary Suites,  Outdoor Equipment and Vehicle Storage,  Short Term Rental Accommodations,  Shipping Containers,  Student Housing,  New Marina District Zone,  Expanding Industrial Areas near Ridley Island & the Highway,  Focus Commercial Uses in the City Centre, Miscellaneous Additions

The Report from Chris Buchan from iPlan was included as part of the Monday Agenda package, with the introduction and a few observations from the report provided below:

 

As part of his presentation to Council, Mr. Buchan offered a wider overview of some of the findings for Council at the evening session and answered questions from the Council membership.

From the observations Councillor Cunningham viewed the participation level with a bit of disappointment 

"I'm really disappointed in the lack of  participation when you look at the numbers in the different categories and that and you know when you see that only 195 people actually participated in this survey it's kind of disappointing because it's really affecting the town in different ways . And for very few people to participate in this ... I don't know how much more the city can do to communicate this to the residents  but it's just somewhat disappointing that so few people participated in it"

While for his part, Councillor Adey found some positives from the level of engagement with the public that the opportunity provided.

"By the same token if you put 195 people in a room and called it a public meeting you would say it was a pretty good meeting"

Councillor Adey also had some thoughts on a few of the elements, one of them speaking to the area of home occupations and how it may relate to the recent approval of the Urban agriculture temporary use permit approved earlier in the evening.

"It does seem to me that, as we move forward, if we determine from the project that occurs on Second Avenue that this is a thing that we're going to expand upon in the community; we do need I think to develop a more detailed and nuanced bylaw language around what urban agriculture is what it isn't. What's unique here compared to what a bylaw like that might look like in another city, in another climate. So I would like to  see us kind of bridge the gap between the temporary use  permit project and our bylaws and the language that we start to develop around the concept of urban agriculture.

Mr. Adey also took note of the findings on parking from the survey and asked how an active transportation plan may fit into the process of change that the council is going through.

In response Rob Buchan outlined that the active transportation plan and others have been taken on in early fashion to address pressing needs, but how the Active Transportation would be considered an important next step or soon to come next step.

Councillor Cunningham followed up with an observation on the areas of parking and alternate transportation, noting that he didn't know that increasing alternate transportation would help downtown parking or not.

"People in Prince Rupert it's a small town, alternate transportation would just be walking compared to driving downtown ... when you walk down Third Avenue at eight o'clock in the morning and see the number of cars already parked there as people are starting work and things like that, alternate transportation might help but at the same time increased parking would help too  "

Councillor Blair Mirau also spoke to the level of response and found optimism in the level of participation, noting of past engagements from previous council initiatives.

"Just going back a subject or two, I want to agree again with Councillor Adey, I was actually a little bit heartened to see the feedback, just keeping in mind you know we've got hundreds of responses for Vision 2030, hundreds of responses for the Official Community Plan and now almost  200 on the Zoning Bylaw. 

And from my perspective those things get less and less interesting, or less and less more public consumption. 

Where Vision 2030 is something that I think  engages the whole community and gives us permission to think  really big and long term. Official Community Plan  you might be thinking ten years in the future some concrete plans and  zoning bylaw is you know a little bit more minutia of detail.  So I think that it's expected that we're seeing slightly less engagement. 

But on the whole what I'd say is less than the number of responses is I'm actually more heartened to see the level of broad based support for the majority of changes that we're proposing here. And that's consistent with what we've seen with the very high levels of support for Vision 2030 and how to incorporate those planning principles and ideas into the Official Community Plan. 

So as far as I'm concerned you now that's heartening to me to see the direction we're going"

You can review the full discussion on the Survey from the City's Video Archive starting at the one hour twenty four minute mark.

You can review the full document from the City's Agenda Package starting at page 20.

Further notes on Monday's Council session can be explored from our Council Timeline Feature.

Further background on the city's planning themes can be reviewed here, while our archive of past Council Discussion topics can be found here.

CityWest to receive more than 10 million dollars for Connecting British Columbia project

More than 2,800 Coastal First Nation households will soon have reliable internet connectivity following an announcement from the British Columbia government that awards more than 10 million dollars in funding to Prince Rupert based CityWest for another internet connection project.

With the funding, the Northwest Communication company is now set to enhance the internet opportunities for a number of coastal communities and those within the territories of the Haida Nation, Nuxalk Nation, Ehattesaht First Nation and Klahoose First Nation.

CityWest CEO Stefan Wolosyzn noted how the program will offer opportunity for more underserved remote communities to hook into the Connected Coast project, the 45.4 million dollar investment that will bring fibre-optic connection to a wide swath of coastal communities on the North and Central Coasts, Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island.

“We’re thrilled to be part of this opportunity to expand into some significantly underserved areas of the province, many of which will be hooked into our new undersea fibre Connected Coast project. We have heard from community leaders about how connectivity is critical to foster growth in the digital economy and navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Strathcona Regional District and communities have worked tirelessly with us to improve connectivity for people on the coast.”

Among some of the communities to benefit from the advancements in internet connectivity are the Village of Queen Charlotte, Skidegate, Masset, Bella Coola, 4 Mile, Granite Bay, Bold Point, Open Bay, Mansons Landing, Whaletown, Seaford, Tork, Zeballos and Ehatis.

Lisa Beare, the Minister for Citizens services also shared enthusiasm for today's announcement noting how the project will offer a range of benefits to residents of the coastal communities.

“We’re rolling up our sleeves and joining with communities, First Nations and service providers to usher in a new age of connectivity along B.C.’s stunning coastline. Improvements to internet access will begin to arrive this year, unlocking opportunities for people, families and workplaces in coastal areas. Connectivity brings the world to our doorsteps. Together, we can ensure people in coastal communities have the internet access they need.”

You can review all the details to today's announcement here.

More notes from the BC Legislature can be explored here.

Items of interest from CityWest can be reviewed here.