Gne thing at a time

Repap wood deal part of gov't
Strategy to stabilize the pulp
industry\NEWS PAGE A11

Busting loose

Blast of a bash

Anew CD highlights a variety of -
‘northwest musical
talent\COMMUNITY B1.

WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 18, 1996

By JEFF NAGEL
THE DRAMATIC growth of Terrace in
the Jast few years has nearly made the
city’s three-year-old Official Community
Plan obsolete,

The pace of development has far out-
stripped what had been projected in 1993
when the Official Community Plan
(OCP) was adopted.

OCPs are used to determine what kind
of development should go where and
provide a detailed blueprint of how
municipalities should look in the years
ahead,

They work fine during aormal growth
periods but recent economic growth has
skewed the entire time frame of the plan.

City officiais say we're now at the
level of residential development they
hadn’t expected to reach until the year
2004,

The OCP had anticipated 209 new
residential units would be built by the
end of the 1991-1996 five-year period.

Well, 1996 is not yet finished and city
planner David Trawin says we've gat
nearly 500 more residential units. That
consists of about 357 single-family units,
29 duplex units and around 100 multi-
family units.

The plan had expected about 220 more
units to be built from 1996 to 2001, And
at an addilional rate of 25 units per year,
the anticipated model of development

wouldn’t reach the 500 units already
built until 2003 or -2004, Trawin says,
“Iv’s not like we built these 500 units

We built 500 units and the
vacancy rate has stayed.the
same, says city planner
David Trawin. So

and the vacancy rate went way up,’” he
says. “We built these 500 units and the
vacancy rate has remained constant.”

Crunching Demo derby ends
another season at Terrace
Speedway\SPORTS B8

The same goes for the housing market,
he added. The building surge hasn’t put
any discernable downward pressure on
real estale prices,

“The OCP was based upon previous
growth,” Trawin says. “Basically the
growth started right exactly the same
time as the OCP came out.”

Trawin says the city can’t Simply as-
sume the current influx of people Spur-
ring development will continue for the
next 10 years or so,

But it docs mean adjustments to the
way the city handles rezonings, and the
caulious use of the OCP in guiding those
decisions. :

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VOL. 9 NO. 23

Growth blows away city plan |

and shouldn't be followed,’' he says.
“It’s that the time frame of the plan has
been accelerated.” ;

City officials anticipate there’s still
enough land earmarked in the OCP for
eventual residential use to satisfy
demand for the next 10 years. *

But Trawin said not rezoning that land
could result in a supply shortage and
drive lot prices up.

“If current growth rates continue, the
OCP will have to be redone in another
year or two,’’ Trawin says.

If Thornhill/Terrace amalgamation or
restructuring goes through, he said, it
would make the most sense io redraft the
OCP at the same time.

SPONSORS OF a new kind
of housing in Terrace are
confident they’ll soon have
the financing for the project.

Members of the Dr.
R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foun-
dation say they’ve received
favourable signals from the
Canadian Mortgage and
Housing Corporation
(CMHC) for a seniors sup-
portive housing project to be
built adjacent to the Ter-
raceview Lodge extended
care facility,

If all goes according to
plan, CMHC will provide
the foundation with a loan
guarantee for construction
money by using the land as
securily,

“We're hoping that’s the
way il’s going to be,’’ said
Wayne Braid, chairman of
the foundation’s building
committee last week.

A boost to the financing
plan was news last week
that the site has passed the
first hurdle of studies to
determine that there are no
environmental problems.

Supportive housing is
defined as accommodation
for people who, while they
are able to live by them-
selves, may need occasional
assistance,

Placing the project next to
Terraceview . Lodge is
regarded as an excellent op-
portunity to have that kind
"Of assistance close at hand,

Supportive housing resi-

‘ dents. could, for instance,

Mi Emergency, emergency

GROANS AND SCREAMS of make-balieve victims punctuated the movements of. occupational first-aid.
attendants at the Forwest Wood Specialties mill here Saturday, where first-aid crews had gathered from
across northern B.C, and as far as Blue Ridge, Alberta, The annual competition is aimed at recognizing
excellance and making West Fraser workers even more effective in the event of an emergency. Each
mill’s team faced @ scenario that involved a collision of two forklifts and four injured workers,

‘choose to have meals at Ter-
Taceview,
And, 4 spouse of a person
_ in Terraceview may be able
to live right next door.
- This ‘isn’t the first tine
supportive housing has been
~ the focus of a sustained ef-
‘fort,

Bylaw to crackdown on ille

THE CITY is preparing for a crackdown
on owners of illegal suites built in the
last five years.

A bylaw introduced by council last
week tightens up the Icpal definition of
secondary sultes contained in the city
zoning bylaw.

The change is being made on advice
from the city’s lawyers to fortify the
definition to ensure any action the city
takes will hold up in court,

The bylaw is expected to pass at the
city’s Sept. 23 meeting,

The city policy on secondary suites is
that they’re not allowed in an R1 single
family residential zone, and that when
they’re built in an allowed zone, they
must conform to building code require-

mets,

That policy only applies to suites built
since Jan. 1, 1991. Older suites are
“grandfathered” in and aren't affected,

But city officials have encountered
outright defiance from some’ builders
who have put up houses with suites in
contravention of the rules in the last five
years,

City councillor David Hull said owners
of newly built homes with occupied il-
legal suites can expect to face stiff sanc-
tions unless they comply with the rules,

‘We've tried the gentle approach for
about a year,”’ he said, ‘But that hasn't

worked,”’
Owners of new shites in R1 zones —

where they're not allowed under any cir-

Efforts stalled in the early

“It's not like the plan isn’t any good

1990s when attempts for
direct government financing
failed.

This time financing will
come through a bank or
other financial institution,
making the project a stand-

-aldne, user-pay proposition.”

The land in question was
dedicated for such a housing
facility years ago.

Braid and other founda-
tion members are meeting
with interested people next
week to examine possible
building designs.

The initial plan is to con-
struct 40 supportive housing
units.

“There’s no question
there’s a need for this kind
of housing in Terrace,”' said
Braid in adding he’s already
taking phone calls from
people who want their
hames on an occupancy list

One side benefit to the
project is that it might
reduce the pressure on Ter-
raceview Lodge.

That’s because there is
often no option for people
who need occasional care
other than to be placed in
Terraceview at a grealer ex-
pense than otherwise should
be the case, ;

Dr. R.E.M. Lee Hospital

§ Senior housing
takes leap ahead

Wayne Braid

Foundation chairman
Marilyn Davies says she’s
happy with the progress on
the project and response of
interested people.

And she’s looking forward
to next weck’s meeting of
interested parties,

“We don’t want to go out
and say ‘this is what you
need’, We want to say “what
do you need,’”’ said Davies.

Initial indications are that
all units will be on ground
floor and be approximately
600 square feel in size.

There will be provisions
made for peaple using
wheelchairs and for those
with Limited mobility.

City seeks new deal

CITY COUNCILLORS are in Penticton all this week to
lobby provincial governnient ministers on key issues,

The main goal is to meet with municipal affairs minister
Dan Miller and convince him that a better Terrace.
Thornhill restructure package is needed.

They'll also be pushing Miller for a more reasonable deal
lo transfer Crown land surrounding the airport tothe city.

That land is viewed as a potentinl light industrial site that
would provide a tax base to help penerate moncy to operate

and maintain the airport.

Councillors also want close consideration given (o summer
ferry service from Prince Rupert to Vancouver Island,

Mayor Jack Talstra and councillors Yal George, Rich
McDaniel, David FEull and Gordon Hull are all there.

gal suites

cumstances — will have tu stop renting
out the suites. If they don’t the city can
ultimately pull the occupancy permit and
cut off city services like water’ and
sewer, and direct other ‘utilities to do
likewise. oe
Suites in R2 zones that were. built since
Jan. 1, 1992 and ‘don't meet code will
have to renovate to mect code. The
ultimate measure against those owners

would be a court order that the suite not

be occupied. Ce Me
Hull said it’s an issuc. of: fairness to

other builders who have been complying

with the rules.

And he said it’s also about being fait to.

people who have bought houses in, Ri
zones expecting a single-family residen-

tal lifestyle, without the congestion that
comes with secondary suites.

Hull said it’s not that much more cost-
ly when building a new home to make
sure a suite meels code,

“There’s no more than a dozen indi-
viduals who have just defiantly gone out
and thumbed their noses at the law and
built these illegal structures,” Hull said,
“Well, if you don’t enforce the bylaws,
it’s anarchy,”

“At some point we have to have ac-
lion. But the city has to be careful that its
course of action is legal’?

The bylaw amendment introduced by
council defines a ‘dwelling’? or ‘‘dwell-
ing unit’? as a ‘“‘self-containcd set of
rooms for the residential accomodation

of # family living together as a single
houschold and containing only one set of
cooking facilities,”

A secondary suite will be defined as a
“second and subordinate dwelling unit
within a single detached dwelling where
permitted by this bylaw,”!

The new bylaw also states thal:

M@ Only one secondary suite is
permitted on a parcel of land,

@ Maximum floor area of a secondary
suite shail not excecd 80 square metres
or 40 per cent of the total floor arca of
the building. ;

M Secondary suites won't be allowed
on propertics smaller than 500 square
metres or having a width of less than 15
melres,