Greater Victoria`s unemployment rate remained at three per cent last month -- the lowest in Canada -- but the local residential construction sector is getting a breather from a persistent labour crunch.
"There are more people available out there. The trades are looking for work now," said Bob Gill, of Pacific Concepts Development Ltd., and first vice-president of the Canadian Home Builders` Association in Victoria.
If the ramp costs more, Beharrell said, the parties should engage in "Tribunal-assisted mediation" to resolve the dispute. If mediation fails, Beharrell said, she could make further orders.
Holowaychuk suffers from "a number of conditions, including congestive heart failure, degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis," Beharrell noted in the report.
The building code did not require wheelchair access to residential buildings until 1979.
The Peninsula Recreation Commission voted unanimously in favour of moving ahead with new plans for the region`s highest waterslide, chairman Tim Chad said yesterday.
"It was a brief meeting and all were in favour of the new plan," Chad said. "We`re proceeding on the design that we were forced to do because of how the lawyers for the municipality and the Dean Park residents said the height calculation had to be done."
The waterslide is the drawing card of the $11-million renovation to the Panorama Recreation Centre in North Saanich, and its height has caused considerable controversy on the Saanich Peninsula.
The group working to rebuild Vancouver Island`s long-neglected railway corridor says support for its efforts to get federal and provincial help for the $103.8-million project is growing across the Island.
Mary Ashley, a spokeswoman for the Island Corridor Foundation, the non-profit society that owns and manages the 290-kilometre rail corridor, said 2,100 people have signed up so far in the goal to raise 4,000 signatures of support in the campaign that will be handed to senior government.
As well, she said more than 60 key supporters, which include businesses, municipal councils, chambers of commerce, tourism and economic development organizations from across the Island, have also joined the campaign.
Has cyberspace killed the traditional town square?
Along the meandering narrow streets of the English city of York, red brick, stone and stucco-clad buildings lined up tightly. I kept looking up, amazed at how close the structure`s tops were to each other. The roads` pattern, typical of Medieval walled cities, had a chaotic order leading to the town`s centre.
I made my way in a crowd that grew thicker as I approached the centre. From Aloward Road I turned to St. Andrewgate which took me into Church and Market Streets where St. Sampson`s and King`s Squares touch each other to form an open space.
The Douglas fir forests of southern Vancouver Island are being logged at a faster rate than they were as recently as five years ago, according to a report on private-land logging by resource researcher Ben Parfitt.
The report examines for the first time the harvesting rates on the swath of private forestland on the Island`s eastern slopes from Sooke to Campbell River. It shows that 2007 logging rates are up more than 20 per cent over 2003, when much of the private land was in government-regulated tree-farm licences.
The report, titled Restoring the Public Good on Private Forestlands, comes at a time when public interest in private forest lands is at an all-time high. On Vancouver Island, more than 600,000 hectares -- one-sixth of the Island -- is owned by three major forest companies, an anomaly in a province where 94 per cent of the land is publicly owned.
A high Canadian dollar, uncertainty over a looming U.S. actors` strike, the lingering effects of the U.S. writers` strike and a drop in Canadian television shows has created a vacuum in film and television production in British Columbia this summer.
While things aren`t as bad as they were in 2004 -- a year of prolonged downturn that drove many industry workers to other forms of employment -- production has dropped from this same period last year.
This is particularly apparent in the number of television series in production. Last year at this time, there were 18 series shooting in the province. This year that total is 10.
Vancouver new-home prices dropping as market softens
Prices for new homes in Vancouver dipped slightly between April and May but still remain higher than a year ago, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The latest housing price index report showed the national rate of price growth for new homes -- at 4.1 per cent -- had shrunk to its lowest level since 2002, largely because of softening markets in the west.
In Vancouver, new home prices rose 2.7 per cent in May from the same month a year ago. Yet this is a far cry from May last year, when new home prices jumped 8.8 per cent from the same month in the previous year, said Statistics Canada analyst Neil Killips.
The resale market has its challenges, but prices still rise
For years, industry-watchers have waited for the buoyant Vancouver-area real estate market to trip over a curb. Since 2001, there has been nothing but good news. As a former editor, I can tell you that good news piled onto good news is a boring storyline for the media to follow month after month.
Recently, real estate skinned a knee, and everyone scrambled over each other to dial 911. But did the market really take a nasty tumble?
The reality reflects a Mark Twain quote: "The report of my death is greatly exaggerated."
SFU`s UniverCity embraces sustainability in a real way
Atop Burnaby Mountain, where the Simon Fraser University campus once sat isolated from the rest of the world, one of North America`s most sustainable new communities has taken shape as a perfect model for what a complete community should be.
UniverCity is a compact, walkable community, sensitively set within the mountain`s natural landscape. The community is not, by any means, an eco-village featuring demonstration green building experiments or a place that tries to appeal to the small group of eco-pioneers in search of off-the-grid living on top of a mountain.
Instead, it is a place that embraces the concept of sustainability in a real way, where incremental improvements are achieved in ecological performance and healthy living through thoughtful planning and proven new green technology.
The University of B.C. may be home to leading-edge minds, but it`s also quickly becoming the site of something else --leading-edge homes.
Now taking shape on the stunning Point Grey campus is the master-planned University Town, a collection of residential neighbourhoods constructed according to state-of-the-art sustainable design.
"This province, under the mandate of our premier, is becoming one of the most sustainable places on the planet," notes Eric Andreasen, vice-president of sales and marketing for the Adera development company, which is now introducing University Town`s newest residential addition, a 98-unit apartment project called Pacific.
So what is University Town - and why? The University Town website explains.
Currently, says the site, UBC has a population of 11,000 when school is in session. By 2021, however, the year of the anticipated build-out of University Town, the population is projected to top 28,000, inclusive of students.
"Daily, says the site, "about 50,000 people arrive at the university. At 4:30 p.m. each weekday they flood away, leaving a few thousand student residents behind on a deserted campus. Providing housing and amenities like shops and parks on campus for more of our community will create a more vibrant and sustainable community and reduce the number of car commuters."
The Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure was in Prince Rupert yesterday to announce provincial funding for the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry dock.
Kevin Falcon said that the government would contribute $350,000 to the emergency renovation.
"We are committed to investing in local ports to help ensure more reliable service and create economic and tourism opportunities for the surrounding regions," said Falcon.
Pemberton-area residents were in quite an uproar over a proposal to expand the Village`s boundaries at the public Village of Pemberton (VOP) meeting on Tuesday (July 8).
The meeting, conducted by John Steil of Stantec Consulting, gave Pemberton residents an overview of the process involved with expanding Pemberton`s boundaries. Steil, who has been hired by Council to lead the boundary expansion effort, whisked the full house of attendees through the 10-stage process that is laid out in the Local Government Act.
The latest results of Whistler`s ongoing monitoring of community sustainability show that most people who live here are satisfied with Whistler as a place to live — despite the fact that almost 10 per cent more people than the previous year report their cost of living is higher than their income. Council received the highlights of the 2007 Whistler 2020 monitoring report and scorecard at Monday`s (July 7) regular meeting. While results show that the resort is doing well financially, and the personal median income is increasing, more permanent and seasonal residents reported incomes below the cost of living.
The crystal clear waters of Meighan Creek have sparked a battle about transparency between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the district. While the mayor says DFO has given little reason for refusing to approve a new road to the Highlands, some environmental advocates say the district is downplaying what it knows about the decision. "The road is going to kill the creek," said Squamish Streamkeeper Jack Cooley. In June, council passed a motion to send a delegation to Ottawa to discuss DFO issues. Sutherland said he and an administrative staff member plan to meet with a federal minister responsible for DFO decisions.
The proponents of the proposed all-seasons resort Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS) have released a regional impact study reinforcing their claim the development would provide quality jobs – but critics say the numbers don`t hold weight. The study shows the median operational salary of the ski and golf resort would be $42,206 annually. The study shows even better wages involved in creating the site, which would also include over 22,000 bed units, with construction workers` annual salaries estimated at $65,024. "The construction and development of Garibaldi at Squamish and operations of a world-class all-season resort creates world-class careers," said GAS president Mike Esler. "Many people assume that ski resorts create only low-paying, front-line jobs since they are most visible to guests. This is simply not true."
DAWSON CREEK – The Alaska Highway between Dawson Creek and Fort St. John does not have the volume to justify the investment needed to twin that road, says transportation and highways minister Kevin Falcon.
Acorridor study indicates the optimal choice is to create passing lane opportunities and to that end, ground was broken on the first passing lane along that stretch of road last Thursday.
"We are going to be investing on this spot (Mile 6) $3 million to construct almost a two-kilometre northbound truck-climbing lane," Falcon said. "This will keep the slower moving trucks over on the right side of the road, allowing the traffic to pass through and I think that will alleviate a lot of the frustration people have."
While no other locations have been chosen, Falcon said they see this as the first passing lane and will continue to work to identify other possible spots.
In this year`s coming civic election, the residents in the unincorporated area of Sumas Mountain will be voting for a city mayor and council for the first time.
And as of December, their area will be serviced by the Abbotsford Police and Abbotsford Fire Rescue Services, and they`ll get their trash picked up by Abbotsford city crews.
That`s because the mountain, or most of it, will become part of the City of Abbotsford this fall.
Alfie Williams is worried his neighbour`s "monster house" is going to hog their shared driveway.
Williams, who lives on Burnaby Mountain, said his neighbour, Gurjit Basra, should build his own driveway for the 10,000-square-foot house he plans to build next door.
The lot is currently zoned for a 4,700-square-foot house.
