To sell/buy/rent or not to sell/buy/rent that is the question
Lots of questions in the last two weeks. I thank you and beg your indulgence. I am not directly answering any questions till the end of August. Currently I am cruising in Desolation Sound with limited access to the `net of the airwaves` kind. I do have access to my `net of the fishing` kind and yes ...there are still salmon in `them thar` waters.
I have picked a few more commonly asked questions in this issue:
The British Columbia land rush continued to gain momentum Thursday after oil and gas companies forked out a record $610 million for oil and gas land in the northeast part of the province.
Government officials were ecstatic with the result, which brings the province`s year-to-date tally past $1.5 billion. By contrast, stalwart Alberta has taken in only $640 million from land sales for the entire year while Saskatchewan has raised about $605 million.
"This month`s phenomenal sale once again demonstrates British Columbia is a premier jurisdiction for oil and gas investment," said B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld.
The courts are expected to rule in Vancouver today on a contentious wood fibre contract that Canfor Corp. has with Pope and Talbot`s Mackenzie pulp mill.
The wood fibre agreement is considered critical by the receiver to reaching a sale of the pulp mill in Mackenzie, 175 kilometres north of Prince George.
Canfor has been saying the agreement has been broken, while the receiver, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has said it will be difficult to execute a sale without a wood fibre agreement.
Canada and the U.S. will face traffic gridlock and massive delays at the border during the 2010 Winter Games unless both countries move quickly to reduce barriers, the head of a cross-border government-funded advocacy group said yesterday.
But with only 18 months to go before the Olympics, time is quickly running out on attempts to get the two countries to take measures to expedite travellers crossing B.C.`s land border with Washington state.
"We`re really worried about that border," said Matt Morrison, the executive director of the Pacific North West Economic Region. "I am anxious that we are down to a year and a half and we still don`t have anybody focusing on this problem."
Logging spikes when lands removed from licences: study
Logging rates increase dramatically on private lands taken out of tree farm licences, says a report released yesterday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Hot on the heels of an auditor general`s report which blasted former forests minister Rich Coleman for allowing Western Forest Products to remove 28,000 hectares of private land from tree farm licences on Vancouver Island, the CCPA report says logging rates and land sales spike immediately after such decisions.
When private lands are included in TFLs they are subject to more stringent logging rules.
A Vancouver developer wants to buy Victoria`s historic downtown Janion Hotel building and the nearby Northern Junk properties.
David Leung, a spokesman for Westbank Corporation, yesterday confirmed rumours that the company has been in talks with owner Clara Kramer on the vacant waterfront properties.
Leung said that talks with the owner haven`t blossomed into any deal because there are no clear signals from the city on what would be allowed, "making it difficult to set a price."
A developer is going back to the drawing board a fourth time after Victoria city council rejected a proposal for an 17-storey condominium on the Crystal Court Motel site in the tourist district.
David Leung, a spokesman for Westbank Corporation, offered to return to the council before the end of summer with a new proposal that would take into consideration council`s concerns that the project not interfere with views from the Inner Harbour or overwhelm the historic Fairmont Empress hotel and legislature building.
Leung said later the company wants to get the proposal to a public hearing before a new council is elected in November which could be less sympathetic to development proposals.
VANCOUVER -- British Columbia ended the last fiscal year with a $2.9 billion surplus on higher tax revenues and profits from its provincial corporations, according to figures released yesterday.
The province also said it set a record of $610 million in bonus bids on oil and natural gas rights sales in July, bringing the total for the current fiscal year to over $1.3 billion.
Provincial revenues were $39.9 billion in the fiscal year ended on March 31, $2.4 billion higher than projected and up three per cent from the previous year, according to its audited financial statement.
Concerns about cars, traffic congestion, preserving heritage-type buildings and making the area more pedestrian and bicycle friendly will be included in a staff report to council for the so-called Granville Loops policy plan.
Residents repeatedly raised those concerns to city planner Richard Johnson and other city staff at an open house to inform area residents of the city`s ambitious plans for development at the north end and under the Granville Street Bridge.
"I`m disappointed they`re going to demolish all those potential heritage buildings underneath the Granville Bridge," area resident Glen Phillips told Johnson at the Best Western Downtown Vancouver. "And it`s too bad they`re tearing down the Cecil Hotel; there`s a lot of history there."
I know you thought television was the Medium of Truth, but actually there are a few secrets we keep from you on a show like Take It Outside, with its 22-minute, humdrum-to-glam backyard makeovers. Here`s one: it`s diabolically tricky to design and build an outdoor space that conforms to local bylaws and zoning regulations.
Residential districts have a complicated set of rules that dictate how, what, where, and how much you can build on your property. Their intent is good: to preserve the look of your neighbourhood, to increase property values, and to maintain community "integrity." Unfortunately, though, like lofty discussions of postmodernism, these guidelines are rightly terrifying to the layman. Even the pros and fetishists find them forbidding.
Exciting future ahead for building with a long past
One of Prince Rupert`s oldest heritage buildings will finally be getting the restoration it deserves once the city has officially sold it this summer.
Following a process that began nearly two years ago, FER Building Solutions is planning to revitalize the old CN building on the waterfront following its purchase of the building from the City of Prince Rupert.
The company is a group made up of five architects and engineers who do restorations of buildings and properties across the globe, from Venice and Rome, Italy to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
People who attended an open house this week were generally supportive of the proposed rezoning of two parcels of land in Whistler that are owned by the Lil`wat and Squamish first nations, though some questions were raised about the impact of more housing north of the Village. The proposed developments include a residential subdivision located upland from the new Rainbow neighbourhood, and a gas station and light industrial development near Function Junction. The two parcels are part of the land the nations acquired in last year`s Legacy Lands Agreement.
POUCE COUPE – Pouce Coupe Park upgrades have passed one of their biggest tests. Canada Day saw thousands come to the park and access problems seem to have been resolved, at least to the satisfaction of the mayor. "It worked well," said Mayor Barb Smith. "I thought they moved us along pretty well."
She was referring to the increased width of the current access point. Previously, traffic had to alternate for entrance and exit from the park because the access was one-way. On days like Canada Day, that caused congestion and long waits for motorists.
DAWSON CREEK – Pouce Coupe councillors are concerned that the community`s newly built elementary school will need to be closed - almost as soon as it was opened.
"If the school gets closed down it is a big issue with our council," said Mayor Barb Smith. "I spoke with (MLA) Blair Lekstrom and he has advised us to request a meeting with elected board members of the school district." One meeting requested by council has already taken place, but the outcome was, as most councillors indicated, "a waste of time".
What Pouce Coupe wanted from that meeting was to discuss with the school district what could be done to deal with declining enrollment before the situation required such a drastic solution. However, councillors said, the meeting resulted in a different outcome.
The opening of one Abbotsford trail came with the promise of more Thursday, as the province announced more than $950,000 in funding to help keep the community healthy.
The $952,003 funding announcement came during the grand opening of the first section of Discovery Trail, which, when it is completed, will be a paved 35.5-kilometre, all-season corridor spanning the whole of Abbotsford.
"We should really be proud of what is happening here," said Abbotsford-Mt. Lehman MLA Mike de Jong. "The best is yet to come."
City of Coquitlam staff discussed options for two distinct planning areas within the city`s core July 7, a move that would see the establishment of a City Centre area plan based around the Evergreen Line.
Planning department staffers Ryan Perry and Lynn Guilbault led a brief presentation outlining the shift, which would create separate planning areas for Southwest Coquitlam and the City Centre.
"We`re looking to separate those two planning areas, recognizing that the southwest and the city centre areas are two very specific areas with their own planning needs and their own characteristics," Perry said.
Fighting a house fire is hard enough without the added challenge of trying to bust into a heavily barricaded marijuana grow operation. That`s the situation firefighters at the Maple Ridge Fire Department found themselves in on Tuesday evening at a house fire in 12400 block of 232 Avenue.
"It was very, very difficult for firefighters to obtain access to the house. The doors and windows were fortified," said fire chief Dane Spence.
For example, wooden walls had been built in front of the windows.
The human impact of the lack of transit in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows was heard loud and clear by TransLink staff on Monday evening when about 70 residents came to Maple Ridge municipal hall to tell their personal transportation horror stories.
TransLink was not planning to hold a meeting in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows to consult on Transport 2040, its 30-year transit strategy - the closest planned meeting was in Coquitlam - but one was organized at short notice.
Sheri Plewes, TransLink vice-president for planning and capital management, said the meeting was the best attended and "liveliest" of the consultation meetings that have been held.
Karen MacDonald and her two sons have lived without a sink, shower or bathtub in their apartment on 222 Street in Maple Ridge since Mother`s Day.
Their bathroom also has no door and there are nails protruding from the floor and walls. The bathroom, hallway and part of one of her son`s bedrooms has just a bare concrete floor since the carpet was removed. For weeks the drywall around the bathroom was ripped out leaving only wooden beams and zero privacy for anyone sitting on the toilet. An orange tarp was the only thing preventing people from seeing into the bathroom.
