Looking For Help in the “Big Picture Planning”

The Prince George based, Opinion 250 website has fixed its gaze towards the west to see how the other Prince is preparing for the “boom” to come.

In the report they basically repeat the list of projects planned for the city over the next two years or so, and wonder aloud if we are ready for the challenges of increased growth and the inevitable growing pains that come with it.

There’s not much new in any of this, though the mayor does express concern about getting caught up in a “tidal wave and being behind the eight ball an not able to catch up.” AS well as looking for assistance it those Big Picture things beyond our resources and control.

It makes for an interesting look at how developments planned for here are being perceived not only out of town but at city hall as well.

Is Rupert Ready For the Boom?
By 250 News
Monday, November 27, 2006 04:01 AM

By all accounts, Prince Rupert is sitting on the edge of a boom. With the development of the new shipping Port, the City’s population of just under 14,000 is expected to climb. CN Rail President Hunter Harrison is quoted as saying “We think Prince Rupert will hit, and hit big.”

The National Post named the coastal city as the number one city ready to boom. The July article quoted Port Authority President Don Krusel as saying the new facility, that will open in the fall of next year, is expected to surpass its Vancouver counterpart by 2010 “Everything that we do at the port authority has a big and very profound impact on the community,"

Terminal One is expected to create 250 jobs on site, Phase Two has the expectation of creating up to 700 more jobs.

Then there’s the work by CN, the rail company’s own promotional video talks about major CN expansion in the area.

According to the Economic Development Corporation of Prince Rupert, the Container terminal isn’t the only project in the works, although its construction cost of nearly $700 million dollars for the two phases make it the most expensive.

Here are a couple of other projects listed by the EDC for Prince Rupert:

Project
Description
Time
Value

Ridley Terminals
Wood ellet/sulphur shipping
2007-2008
$11,000,000

Westpac, LNG terminal
Liquid natural gas terminal
2010
$350,000,000

Royop, shopping complex
25 acre shopping complex
2007
$30,000,000

Gaming Centre
Gaming, Entertainment, Conference Centre, Condos and Marina
2006-2007
$13,000,000

Katabatic Power, Wind Farm
14 Wind Turbines on Mount Hays
2008
$50,000,000

Sun Wave Forest Products
Pulp mill/industrial park
2006-2010
$150,000,000

But can Prince Rupert handle the boom?

Prince Rupert’s Mayor Herb Pond has concerns.

“The reality is, we are dealing with a major shift in the North West demographic” Pond told the Northern Health Authority Board. “I am concerned that with the planning that is being done, that all the agencies involved are not prepared for the wave that is about to crash on the northwest.”

Pond says the troubles experienced by the booming oil patch communities in the north east part of B.C. are lessons from which the northwest can learn and develop a plan to “do it better.”

Pond isn’t just talking about health care, “We know the resources are not up to the challenge.” He says there needs to be some plan to deal with infrastructure, that the airport has challenges with both location and capacity, and there are issues with communications technology “These are issues that are beyond our capacities to deal with” says Pond, “We need help on the big picture planning.”

While he knows there are changes in the wind, Pond worries the changes may be bigger than anticipated “I am concerned we will move into this tidal wave already behind the 8 ball and constantly trying to catch up.”

Northern Health Chair Jeff Burghardt understands the Mayor’s call but says there is still time to grow with the Port development “There area lot of things that will happen, but I think we need to remember that the initial phase of this container terminal is about a shuttle train service that runs from Prince Rupert to Chicago.”

Burghardt says it will take a number of years before the local-regional opportunities develop “Initially this is about getting containers from China as quickly as possible into the heartland of America, secondly, it is about localized and regional economic development and those opportunities I don’t think will materialize in the first 18 to 24 months of this operation.”

Burghardt says everyone in the north will need to be involved in the dialogue about how this container port will impact the local and regional economies “All of us who are residents in the north will have to be careful how we respond to it, that we aren’t too slow, but that we also aren’t too fast.”

Posted on Monday, November 27, 2006 04:01 AM in News by 250 News