BC Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

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Young professionals eye stabilizing cottage market

Echoing the trend observed in Canadian cities this year, the country`s recreational property market is returning to a more normal state, with price increases moderating when compared to the frenetic pace experienced in 2007. In almost all of the nation`s summer hotspots, prices have continued to rise in 2008, but at a considerably slower rate than in the previous year.

This moderating trend bodes well for cottage seekers - particularly the young professionals who make up the single largest group of those planning or considering a cottage purchase (19 per cent), according to the 2008 Royal LePage Recreational Property Report.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...85-fb76980e4899

 

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Selling your home begins in the kitchen

The home seller understands the way to any potential homebuyers` heart is through the kitchen. Over the years, the kitchen has shed its once humble beginnings as a place to simply prepare and serve meals, to more of a place where friends can socialize over a glass of wine or where children can do their homework. With the kitchen becoming one of the most multi-dimensional and functional rooms in the house, kitchen renovations have attracted the attention of many who are looking to increase their home`s resale value or would simply just like to enjoy the improvements to their home.

Nevertheless, many sellers would rather not deal with the expense and length of the project before they sell their home. But for many, kitchen renovation can mean top return for the prospective home sellers. According to the Appraisal Institute of Canada, kitchen renovations represent a 75 per cent - 100 per cent return on investment, which is the second highest return in the home next to bathroom renovations.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...44-ad12175bcb4e

 

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Few transit options for industrial park workers

After focusing for many years on serving urban centres, TransLink says it now faces a huge challenge -- getting Metro Vancouver residents who work in business parks outside those centres to their far-flung jobs.

The problem, according to TransLink`s long-term planning document, Transport 2040, is that the region`s business parks are growing four times faster than urban centres, and they`re springing up in places where "people don`t live, eat or shop."

"They tend to try and locate where there`s land not terribly expensive and they can sprawl out," TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said. "Fundamentally, what we`re seeing is business parks or industrial parks popping up far away from transit networks."

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/bu...04-f2d867c249e3

 

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Skilled trades shortage critical, labour report shows

There is a lack of skilled and professional labour in trades and engineering across industry sectors highlighting a need for further research and planning to recruit and retain these workers in Prince George, a labour market report shows.
The report was produced by the city`s economic development agency, Initiatives Prince George, and the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.
While there is also a continuing need in others areas like retail, filling these key skilled and professional positions is viewed as critical to diversifying the city`s economy, Initiatives Prince George president and CEO Tim McEwan said Thursday.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2008080...port-shows.html

 

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Langford mayor joins call for tougher cell-tower regulation

Langford Mayor Stew Young is taking up the cause of residents frustrated by the controversial siting of transmission towers in their neighbourhoods.

But tower critics say his plans are a long shot at best.

Young is proposing to change the municipality`s zoning bylaw to allow transmission towers only to be located in commercial areas.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...af-03db23e382cc

 

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Vancouver tent city proposal shot down

VANCOUVER -- It didn`t take long for critics to pull the pegs out from Vancouver parks commissioner Spencer Herbert`s idea of a tent city for homeless people.

Herbert said that if shelter space can`t be expanded right away, Vancouver should consider a tent city.

"When did it become acceptable that we have 1,000 people sleeping in our parks and in our doorways?" Herbert said.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...4a-f3e7e549ec11

 

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Commercial construction keeps building on the boil

Greater Victoria`s building permits hit their highest level so far this year by jumping almost 30 per cent in June, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

However, year-to-date figures are trailing last year and the once-booming residential construction sector is slowing, said Greg Baynton, Southern Vancouver Island Construction Association president.

The local construction industry is watching to see the impact of slower provincial economies, particularly in Alberta, where many residents have signed up for new condominium units in Greater Victoria, Baynton said.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonis...86-f70a386a0e07

 

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World Trade University only serves up degrees of embarrassment

VICTORIA - On the eve of the last election, the B.C. Liberals put their own judgment and the province`s prestige behind a project that has turned out to be a supreme embarrassment.

The so-called World Trade University caught the governing party at a receptive time.

Four years into their first term, they wanted to show results in the drive to put us on the map, economically speaking.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...aa-a274e389b3c0

 

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Doubled Cache Creek landfill planned

METRO VANCOUVER - Belkorp Environmental Services will launch an attempt today to nearly double the size of its Cache Creek landfill and extend its lifespan by up to 40 years, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

The landfill, where Metro Vancouver buries much of its garbage, has been set to close in 2010 when it reaches capacity.

Metro Vancouver decided in January to turn away from landfills. It has been planning to export garbage temporarily to a Washington state landfill after Cache Creek closes while it builds six waste-to-energy plants to incinerate its waste within the region`s boundaries.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...aa-a0fdfe936877

 

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City buys land on Kingsway with eye to social housing

VANCOUVER - The city has purchased an old auto shop at 1700 Kingsway with an eye to developing it into 70 social housing units, Mayor Sam Sullivan announced Thursday.

The site, bought for $1.3 million, doesn`t yet have a construction start-date attached to it, he said. The city will have to secure funding partnerships with either the private sector or the federal and provincial governments before the building, which will include social services and retail outlets, will be developed.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/we...9e-cb6dec501f48

 

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Bridge closure to last many weeks

It is going to cost the City of Prince Rupert $300,000 to fix the Hays Creek bridge on Sixth Avenue, - a bridge that will certainly need to be fixed again in the longer term.

At a city council meeting on July 28, councillors voted unanimously to go ahead with the maintenance work on the bridge, meaning the structure will be closed for the next seven weeks.

General manager of engineering and public works, Bob Thompson, told the Daily News he expected the bridge will need fixing again, "in six or seven years."

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/princerup...aa-045894d0efdb

 

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Hot springs access road restored

Whistler – The most-asked question at the Pemberton Visitor Info Centre will now have an affirmative answer, as the long-closed road to the Meager Creek Hot Springs finally opened on Friday (Aug. 1).Shirley Henry, secretary-treasurer of the Pemberton and District Chamber of Commerce, said visitor centre staff has faced an avalanche of questions about how to get to the hot springs since the forest service road was closed in 2003."We are ecstatic that we can now say it`s open," Henry said.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20...-1/whistlernews

 

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Community centre almost ready for use

Whistler – Though Pembertonians were allowed to see their brand-new community centre during the Canada Day grand opening, they`ve had to wait a little longer to actually use it.


The facility wasn`t quite finished by July 1, as some minor safety measures had yet to be completed and final inspections and paperwork were required before the centre could be opened for full use. Paul Edgington, chief administrative officer of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD), said that was known before the Canada Day ceremony, but people wanted to party there.


"People wanted to celebrate at that site," he said, so administrators went ahead with the July 1 festivities with the understanding that it wasn`t quite time for the centre to be opened for full-time use yet.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20...-1/whistlernews

 

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Sasquatch Highway idea comes to the fore — again

Whistler – An improved gravel road through the Lillooet Lake/Harrison Lake corridor would serve as a viable alternative in the event of a closure of Highway 99 such as the one that shut down the main route to Whistler and Pemberton for four days last week, a First Nations leader said.


Gerard Peters (Eppa), lead treaty negotiator for the In-SHUCK-CH Nation, on Friday (Aug. 1) reiterated his call for the provincial and federal governments to take action to improve the Lillooet and Harrison West forest service roads (FSR) so that the route — often called the Sasquatch Highway idea — can handle much larger volumes of traffic than it does now.


Peters, whose people have made demands for an upgraded road through their territory a key issue at the treaty negotiating table, said he would accept an improved gravel road — costing an estimated $25 to $40 million — as a first step toward full highway status for the road linking Pemberton and Mount Currie with Harrison Mills in the northern Fraser Valley.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20...6/1030/whistler

 

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Clean up roads - August 6, 2008

So many roads, so little time could be the swan-song of the Ministry of Transportation. Despite the region`s capacity to generate ridiculous amounts of money for the province, and despite assertions by the provincial government that they are pumping more money into Northeast roads than there ever before, it seems like they can`t quite keep up.

Existing roads need upgrades to accommodate increased traffic, and dribs and drabs doesn`t work. Existing roads also need to be maintained.

Turning over maintenance to self-regulating contractors has been self-defeating. More and more is spent with returns that don`t satisfy residents.

http://www.northeastnews.ca/index.php?opti...86&Itemid=1

 

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Link between FSJ and Chetwynd unlikely

DAWSON CREEK - The still non-existent Site C dam provided the District of Chetwynd and the Peace River Regional District with the opportunity to promote a shorter route between Chetwynd and Fort St. John.

"We have served notice on BC Hydro that in their consultation process, we wish them to address the issue of connecting roads should the dam be built and, a bridge be constructed across the river," said Mayor Evan Saugstad.

A bridge across the Peace River has always been part of the Site C proposal, but, BC Hydro spokesperson Dave Conway made it clear that the bridge was never intended to be open to the public.

A public road system that connects Chetwynd, Site C and Fort St. John would have many benefits, explained Saugstad, not the least of which is reduced travel time, safer routes, a reduced carbon footprint and, if Site C is built, stop revenue from flowing to Fort St. John that now goes to Chetwynd.

http://www.northeastnews.ca/index.php?opti...3&Itemid=48

 

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North Pine connected

FORT ST. JOHN - Residents in the rural areas around Fort St. John will be benefiting from a recent Peace River Regional District (PRRD) decision.

The regional district decided to renew the statutory right of way with two residents of North Pine who have a TV tower on their land. The tower re-broadcasts signals to several sites in the area, allowing residents access to basic channels such as CBC and CTV.

In addition to the use of the tower with that television benefit, the PRRD has entered into an agreement with the Peace Region Internet Society (PRIS) to increase broadband signal in the area - a form of high-speed internet that contrasts the slower dial-up.

http://www.northeastnews.ca/index.php?opti...84&Itemid=1

 

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Provincial funding opens doors for communities

REGION - Money was flying around the region last week as the province announced over $827,000 in funding for Northeast communities. Chetwynd, Fort St. John and Hudson`s Hope all received funds from the province`s LocalMotion program with Fort Nelson and Pouce Coupe receiving Towns For Tomorrow funding.

http://www.northeastnews.ca/index.php?opti...0&Itemid=48

 

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New rules limit correspondence to council

Members of the public will now have to wait two months before they can address Mission council on the same subject.

City council passed the recommendation to amend policy COU.19 Public Communication With Council Tuesday.

The amendment states any public request to include correspondence on a city agenda that refers to a previous matter considered by council will not be looked at for at least two months after the first submission, but a request from a council member to place a previous topic on the agenda is "always in order."

http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news...00-38b94949e027

 

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Gatineau bids adieu to Burnaby as sister city

Burnaby appears to have been snubbed by its sister city of Gatineau, Que.

In a letter to Mayor Derek Corrigan, staff in Gatineau`s mayor`s office say the city can`t keep up a relationship with Burnaby for now.

Corrigan had written to Gatineau Mayor Marc Bureau in June, asking him to confirm that the two cities will remain sisters.

http://www.canada.com/burnabynow/news/stor...b1-73ca050d9f25