The first phase of a potential three phases of housing devleopment in the Alder Avenue area is set to get underway in Port Edward in May
The District of Port Edward is ready to see some shovels hit the ground, with District officials announcing on Wednesday that the Alder Avenue Subdivision will be moving forward, with 11 new single family homes to be developed in the community.
To see the project move ahead, the District has selected Pacific Aurora Construction Management as the developer for the first phase of the 11 homes.
“The Alder Avenue development promotes Council’s vision for Port Edward to be a growing and vibrant community. Housing development has been one of our major focus areas and the purchase and development of the Alder Avenue property was an important part of moving forward with our vision. We were impressed by the proposal submitted by Pacific Aurora Construction Management Limited and believe their homes will enhance Port Edward and attract new families. This is the first new subdivision in Port Edward in over forty years,” -- Knut Bjorndal, Mayor, District of Port Edward
Kevin Stunder the principal with Aurora Pacific has been busy in the Prince Rupert area with a number of housing plans underway, his firm is also the developer of a parcel of land on Drake Crescent, just off of Prince Rupert Boulevard, though not much more than early site prep has taken place at that location.
For the moment it would appear the firms attention will be focused on Port Edward and Stunder had this to say about the Alder Avenue plans.
"We are excited to begin a partnership with the District of Port Edward for the creation of new homes. We look forward to starting the first homes early this fall, and will soon release some plans," -- Kevin Stunder, Principal PACML.
As part of Wednesday's announcement, the District offered its thanks to Northern Development Initiative Trust for their assistance in previous work on the site in question.
"Mayor and Council would also like to extend sincere thanks to Northern Development Initiative Trust for their generous contribution to the remedial site works for the property which involves environmental studies and disposing of hog fuel from the mill, used as fill in years past. We appreciate the support and partnership to facilitate new housing development."
Pacific Aurora Construction is expected to start work on the Alder Avenue site in May.
The City's Cow Bay Marina made for a short note at Monday's Prince Rupert City Council session, as City Councillor Barry Cunningham made an inquiry of the Chief Financial Officer as to how the facility has fared coming out of COVID, along with how the upcoming season is looking.
In reply, the CFO provided a short snapshot of the financial picture for the facility, as well as to note that with travel restrictions now removed for Canadian ports, the upcoming summer season is looking positive.
"The projected income for the marina is about 9,000 dollars. And it is not based entirely on what the last couple of years have been, however the last few years the marina actually has done very good. It pivoted out of itinerary traffic and moved rather into temporary, I believe it was charter moorage.
But now that the restrictions are off to international travel, the marina is back to itinerant traffic which is what the grant funds were received for and therefore that is what the marina has to be utilized for.
And we understand from the marina manager that all signs are that the marina will be completely subscribed for the entire summer, so it is not a drain on the city operations at all, and is rather a contributor to the organization as well as the economy, because generally when the itinerant traffic comes into town there is over one million dollars spent in this community" --City of Prince Rupert CFO Corinne Bomben
As Ms. Bomen noted the facility has come through COVID as berth for a variety of vessels and uses and quick trip to the waterfront this week saw the Cow Bay Marina the host for the Coast Guard Vessel Gordon Reid, as well as a number of fishing vessels, Charter and pleasure craft.
Towards that positive summer ahead, the facility itself is currently seeking applications for summer help, with two positions available for the four month season ahead. The job posting was placed with the Make Prince Rupert Home portal and relayed by Community Futures of the Pacific Northwest.
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The City has yet to provide the video archive of their April 25th Council session to its You Tube archive page, once they have done so, we will provide the video to go along with the above commentary from the Council members.
The City of Prince Rupert will join the growing list of communities across Canada to observe the Moose Hide Campaign Day the month.
The project is an initiative to come together to take stand against violence towards women and children, the program a practical step for a collective path of reconciliation.
The request for the city's participation came as a late addition to the Monday Night Council Agenda and when it came time for consideration, Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller provided some background for the Council members.
"The Moose Hide campaign began as an Indigenous led British Columbia reconciliation movement that called upon all Canadian to stand together to end violence against women and children. It has since grown into a nationwide movement of Indigenous and Non Indigenous Canadians, from communities, First Nations, Governments, Schools, Colleges and Universities, Police Forces and many other organizations across Canada. All committed to taking action to end this violence.
Council was quick to approve the motion to declare May 12th as Moose Hide Campaign Day in Prince Rupert, with Councillor Barry Cunningham speaking in favour of the initiative as one that was an important point and something that needs to be addressed.
The City will be providing more information on the campaign on their Social Media page, while Moosehide Pins have been ordered for all of the council members
The City has yet to provide the video archive of their April 25th Council session to its You Tube archive page, once they have done so, we will provide the video to go along with the above commentary from the Council members.
Update: The City has updated their Video archive, adding the Monday Council session to their YouTube selection as of late Friday afternoon. The discussion on the Moose Hide Campaign Day themes can be viewed at the one hour and eleven minute mark.
More notes on the rest of the Monday session can be reviewed from our Council timeline.
Prince Rupert's east side has seen a bump in float plane activity over the last few days, that as passengers looking to transit between the city and Haida Gwaii take up the offer of charter flights to help address the current BC Ferries Sailing cancellations.
As we outlined earlier this week, the Service out of Prince Rupert both to Haida Gwaii and south bound to the Central Coast and Port Hardy had been suspended as of Sunday.
With the Ferry Corporation subsequently confirming later in the week that the service interruption was due to a large number of COVID cases reported among its staff members.
The cancellations of so many of the sailings of the week made for some busy times for North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, who's office has been receiving many calls and emails related to the situation. One temporary solution to move stranded passengers was an airlift of sorts which began midweek, with BC Ferries making note of the options through their social media feed.
Today's information flow from the Ferry Corporation advising that the Northern Adventure continues to provide cargo and limited essential passenger travel only sailings, with TAP medical customers receiving priority, on the following schedule:
As well since yesterday, BC Ferries has been arranging for charter flights from the Seal Cove Airport to Skidegate.
As for the status of a return to full service for the Northern Adventure, the Service Notice for today advises that Regular scheduled service in the north will resume Friday, April 29 starting with the 11:00 am sailing from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy.
A relaunch that will leave residents of Haida Gwaii waiting a few additional days for their first full regular sailing schedule to resume.
The city's Mayor and six councillors saw some welcome engagement from the public gallery at City Hall on Monday evening, as a number of residents took advantage of the monthly Committee of the Whole community engagement period to raise a number of items of interest, or concern to the council members.
The process one which is available each month, suffered somewhat of a suspension during the COVID period as Council members gathered remotely and through Zoom over much of last the last two years, a process which seemed to dissuade the public from participating.
And while the Council members returned to the City Hall Chamber in February, it has taken a bit of time it seems for the public to re-engage with their elected officials, with Monday marking the first real session of expansive commentary for the year.
On the night, four residents came forward to speak, with a variety of topics of note for the Council members to take in.
The first, Chris Gamble is a property owner in the city who was seeking clarification of the city's bylaws related to modular homes. City Manager Rob Buchan provided some guidance for the resident to move his application process ahead.
A second resident, Larry Golden, who is a familiar face for the Councillors from past presentations, was seeking guidance of staff towards finding elements of Civic Bylaw items through the city website. Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller noted she would investigate the status and confirm the online information on Tuesday.
A third participant, who did not state her name during her presentation, raised concerns about weeds, grass and other unsightly elements of the civic curb and sidewalk and rock wall infrastructure in side street areas outside of the city's downtown core area.
"I've just come to ask a question. What does the city plan on doing regarding our infrastructure our weeds, curbs, sidewalks and rock walls for the next year and forever"
Director of Operations Richard Pucci observed that there is money in the budget for condition assessments to prioritize any kind of work that is required ahead.
"We do have monies in our budget, we are looking at doing some wall investigations for retaining walls this year. However as everyone knows, there are many walls in the community some in different states, so we are working on getting a tally on those together and finding our their priority sequence. Also we are completing a fairly extensive asset condition assessment, so that we can prioritize our investment into our assets which would include roads, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, drainage, etcetera" -- Operations Director Richard Pucci
In a follow up comment the resident asked if any thought had been given to a tax break for residents to take action towards cleaning up areas of their own neighbourhood.
"Has it ever been proposed that the homeowner cleaned his curb and got some kind of a tax deduction ... I've walked on sidewalks where I've had to phone the city and say I had to walk on the road because it's so overgrown and they would come and clean it, all they do is weed eat it, it grows back a month later.
What I guess I'm trying to get at is there anything that we can do, so that it doesn't do that, doesn't wreck our curbs our sidewalks and we're paying money to fix our infrastructure, I'm talking about side streets, I'm not talking about Second Avenue or Third Avenue "
The Operations Manager did not have any knowledge of such a recommendation and from that the City Manager observed how some municipalities have passed bylaws to have property owners maintain their own boulevard areas and noted he believes that the city has that element in its own bylaw, adding he would confirm if that option is in place for Council to consider.
"This is a difficult challenge when there's limited resources that Council has through taxation, to do work. Council is always contingent of the problem in raising taxes to increase service. So I think what is being referred to as an increase of service to expand maintenance along the roadways and the boulevards.
One thing that some municipalities do is, they pass a bylaw and I think that we may have a similar one here, that puts the onus and responsibility of property owners to look after their own boulevards. If there's grass that means cutting the grass and so forth. So that's one approach that municipalities do in order to keep the burden of taxes down is to put the onus on the property owner, we can confirm whether or not that is in our bylaw, but I think that it is" -- City Manager Rob Buchan
In a concluding comment, the resident noted of the city's current focus on attention to the main streets of the downtown area and a request that they distribute that work force in a wider coverage area.
Further noting for Council that many long time residents who have left town have observed as to how sad it is to see the direction that Prince Rupert is going in its repair of infrastructure and how she would like to see it get better.
The City Manager's overview and possible civic measure of enforcing bylaw measures, calls to mind the discussion of last year over the prospect of a Local Services Taxation Plan an expansive discussion at the time that generated a fair bit of controversy and in the end did not seem to gain much traction .
A similar suggestion that city residents may take on more of the burden of community maintenance one that is likely to generate similar interest and feedback it would seem.
The fourth and final resident to speak on the evening was Jennifer Nelson who provided for an extensive review of her concerns over air pollution in the region and what she believes is an ongoing aerial spraying program taking place in the area, a program taking place without any information provided to residents of the City.
Her presentation to Council was one of a follow up of a correspondence she had forwarded to Council members, which expanded on her notes and provided photos of some of the elements of note from her observations.
As a natural harvester she highlighted how that impacts on the ability to harvest from local vegetation.
"I've been noticing a lot of increased air pollution in and around our city, I am a First Nations natural harvester so I am always out in nature and I'm always harvesting seasonally. There's a few things that have really come to light lately, in the past year I've really tried to make a point of taking pictures of when I notice the air pollution of what I'm about to talk about. And it comes in the way of the chemical pollutants that are left behind from all the air traffic in our area. I don't know why there is this increase of air traffic in our area. I'm not talking about float planes I'm talking about the commercial flights are supposed to be way up there, because every city has a protected air space"
She spoke expansively on the impact of that increased air traffic in the skies over Prince Rupert and the damage provided by any kind of aerial spraying program, she also noted of her frustrations in having her concerns addressed by local RCMP officials along with the MLA's office, as well as the challenges found navigating a number of other government offices.
"We're getting something put down on us and this is not right, my Questions for the RCMP and to all of you is to please take note of this. It's the air we breathe, I'm not doing this just for me, I'm doing this because I care about this world right now. I care about the animals, I absolutely care about continuing to harvest food and medicines from our forests because that's our rights and its out there free for the taking"
To conclude her overview she brought the issue closer to home for the Council members
"So I'm asking for the city's awareness, this is our home, these streets, our air, our water, they are crucial. And why do you think people are leaving here in a mass exodus. Pretty soon nobody is going to have a job here, there's going to be no taxpayers, you know And there's some of us that really still care about where they live"
Council thanked her for her presentation, though none of the members offered any advice as to a course she may wish to follow towards her concerns.
The City has yet to provide the video archive of their April 25th Council session to its You Tube archive page, once they have done so, we will provide the video to go along with the above commentary from the Council members.
The Public Participation of the Committee of the Whole can be viewed from the five minute mark.
More notes on the rest of the Monday session can be reviewed from our Council timeline.
For those that may wish to participate in the City's Committee of the Whole process, the public engagement opportunity is normally part of the last council meeting of each month, some background towards that participation forum is available here.
Those that follow the Legislature commentary of Skeena MLA Ellis Ross by now have taken note of his strong advocacy for the energy industry, part of that from his time as Chief Councillor for the Haisla Nation and more recently as Liberal MLA.
The topic of oil and gas development and terminal development, one that is never too far from a good speech or two in the Chamber.
Mr. Ross took to that theme on Tuesday morning, taking advantage of the statements period of the morning session to share an update on the success of Prince Rupert's AltaGas Terminal, the MLA making note of the impact on the industry that the relatively new shipping terminal at Ridley Island has had on the global supply chain.
"AltaGas exclusively ships from their Ridley Island propane export terminal located in Prince Rupert and Ferndale Terminal in Washington state. Using very large gas carriers, AltaGas provides the most efficient, safest and lowest-carbon transportation vessels, connecting North American producers to premium LPG prices in Asia and providing energy security.
The west coast exports have around 60 percent base case time savings over the U.S. Gulf Coast and approximately 45 percent base case time savings over the Arabian Gulf. This is a huge advantage when there is congestion at key maritime checkpoints.
The exports from Prince Rupert and Ferndale compromise of approximately 14 percent of Japan's total imports of propane and approximately 15 percent of South Korea's total LPG imports."
In his notes for the Legislature, the Skeena MLA notes he has not yet visited the AltaGa site, something he plans to take care of in the weeks ahead, it makes for an opportunity for him to also learn more about some of the other projects in place or in the planning stages of the Northwest gateway out of Prince Rupert.
Mr. Ross's full statement for the Legislature can be reviewed below:
The existing Airport Ferry Dock at Fairview Bay on the city's west side. on Monday night Council approved construction of a new dock to be located near the CN Station at waterfront park
City Councillors have taken one more step towards additional waterfront development this week, with the Council members approving a contract for construction of a new Airport Ferry Dock to be located adjacent to the currently under renovation CN Building as part of a redevelopment of the area designated Rupert's Landing in 2019.
The Airport Ferry dock project which was part of the Rupert 2030 Vision plan presentation of 2019, was the topic of note for Richard Pucci, Director of Operations and Intergovernmental Affair on Monday.
He provided a report for Council (which you can read here) as well as to note of the path ahead towards awarding the contract for construction of the project.
"Over the past month staff has made significant progress on this project with our project partners the Kitkatla First Nation, Province of British Columbia and CN.
This project was publicly announced during the 2030 Redesign Rupert Vision campaign and has been a priority project for staff ever since.
Staff is confident that we are now ready and in a position to proceed with construction of this long awaited project. This project will see the city constructing a new ferry berth for our city's Airport Ferry, additionally the Kitkatla Nation will construct a new breakwater asset to house their new ferry, eco tourism opportunities and economic commercial opportunities.
This project also intends to incorporate some small enhancements to the existing Rotary Waterfront Park, staff notes that this report is supported through Councils Strategic Plan for project development and has no impact on the annual budget as this project is fully supported by Grant Funds" -- City of Prince Rupert Operations Director Richard Pucci
The Council members had no questions for the Operations Director, whether related to the project or the contract award to develop it.
No timeline was provided by the Operations Director as to when construction may start and when the completion date for the work is anticipated.
Following some clarification on the process, the Council members then moved forward to approve the contract award to CT Northern Contractors Alliance Limited Partnership, for construction of the ferry dock.
The City has yet to provide the video archive of their April 25th Council session to its You Tube archive page, once they have done so, we will provide the video to go along with the above commentary from the Council members.
Update: The City added the Video of the Monday Council session to their You Tube archive late Friday afternoon.
Mr. Pucci's report can he viewed starting at the forty three minute mark.
More notes on the rest of the Monday session can be reviewed from our Council timeline.
