A8 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 7, 1997

Flat land a bonus for development

Airport key to city future

THE AIRPORT represents
tremendous potential for the
development of land in
town, say city officials,

The city is in the process
of setting up an airport
authority to take over the
operation of the airport from
the federal government,

For years it was consider-
ed a Scary proposition, since
the feds routinely lost in the
area of $800,000 a year on
the service’s operating
costs.

That’s all changed and the
cily mindset today is that
the airport will be less a
millstone and more a huge
opportunity.

Changed rules will allow
the airport to operate
without the full airport
firefighting scrvice which
cost nearly $500,000 a year
in the past. .

That plus other changes

are expected to put the oper-
ation on a break even basis.

The opportunity lies in ad-
ding a couple thousand
acres of perfect light indus-
trial land to the city’s devel-
opment pool.

Details of how that will
work are still being sorted
out with the province. It
wants a cut of the revenues
that would come from de-
velopment there.

But city officials agree it’s
a perfect sile in particular
for warehousing and ship-
ping facilities that in some
cases continue to clog up
prime commercial land
closer to downtown.

City economic develop-
ment officer Ken Veldman
says the city hasn't even
gained control of the airport
yet and already is receiving
expressions of interest from
interested developers.

He's not surprised by the
carly interest,

‘It’s a tract of land that’s
five minutes from
downtown, it’s right beside
the highway, it’s in close
proximity to the railway,
right next to the airport,’’
says Veldman. ‘‘It’s flat
gravel-based land, with ac-
cess to three-phase power.
All the existing infrastruc-
ture is in place up there.’’

‘For all intents and pur-
poses it’s raw right tow,
And that’s very attractive
given the land economics
going on right now in the
city,”’

“That’s where the light
industrial land of the future
is going to develop,’’ be
said.

Moving light industrial
uses out of downtown
toward the airport has major
planning benefits for the

Ken Veldman
city.

Veldman says the city is
trying to keep its commer-
cial core as compact as pos-
sible and avoid getting
spread out.

Infilling of existing light
industrial uses will help that
process,

Growth not necessarily tied

to large scale industrial activity

THE CONVENTIONAL
wisdom is that industrial
and sawmill jobs are what
drive the economy and
they’re what count.

Retail and service jobs are
virtually meaningless by
comparison.

But city councillor David
Hull says the growth of Ter-
jace in recent years is proof
of the fallacy of that theory.

The city has grown
dramatically as a commer-
cial centre of the northwest,
but has seen virtually no
change in the number of
highly paid sawmill or
heavy industry jobs.

Hull says a different mind-
set is required to understand
the dynamic and take ad-
vantage of it.

He says he thinks of retail
workers in terms of
‘sawmill equivalents’.

‘tA& retail worker may not
make as much as a sawmill

worker, but if you take two .
of them they bring the samé ©

amount to town,’’ Hull said.
For every four Westfair or
Canadian Tire employees
who get hired you’ve got
two sawmill workers.”’

“Tf you get enough saw-
mill worker equivalents it
adds up to the same thing
and it cushions us to the
economic uncertainties of
our primary industry o
forestry.’’ ;

Prince George, he noted,
hasn’t had a new mill in the
last 20 years, but has grown
as a supply and service
centre.

City economic develop-
ment officer Ken Veldman
says that although heavy in-
dustry jobs are very well
paid and highly skilled, a
healthy labour market re-
quires a wide range of dif-
ferent jobs.

“Retail in general pays a
lot less than say a mill job,
but there’s a lot of people in
‘town looking for employ~
ment on that less-skilled

level and it provides an op-
portunity for those people,”’
Veldman said. ‘In a healthy
labour market you want op-
portunities right across the
board with regard to skill,”

The two biggest new retail
operations on the horizon
right now — Real Canadian
Wholesale Club and Cana-
dian Tire — are expected to
provide jobs. for more than
100 retail employees once
they’re up and running,

The effect on the city’s
economy from those jobs is
the same as almost half a
sawmill,

And Veldman says growth
of retail operations bring
with them opportunities
beyond just the retail jobs.

“If you’re a plumber or
air conditioning man you're
going to be doing work with
these guys as they continue
their operations,”’ he says,
“Everything kind of spins
off,” wo

‘Overall, a Veldman

David Hull

estimates heavy industry
jobs in Terrace have if any-
thing declined during this
decade, Meanwhile the
retail and service sector has
surged to make Terrace the
undisputed commercial
centre of the northwest,

“That service industry is
where we’re going to con-
tinue to. get,our, growth,”
Veldman predicts,

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7:30

TERRACE HOSPICE SOCIETY
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Election of Board of Directors

All interested persons welcome

May 13, 1997

Skeena Health Unit Auditorium
1997/98 HHembership

available at the door or by
contacting the Hospice Office at

635-4811

p.m.

Dues $5.00

TERRACE
VOLUNTEER
BUREAU

IT’S SPRING!!!

SENIORS AND PERSONS WiTH DISABILITIES

ON A EIMITED INCOME

¢ Helping Handyman Program
; - our volunteers will do sprin

yard clean-up, outside :wind-
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house and household repairs.
Phone now for a volunteer to
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CALL SONJA aft the Terrace Volunteer Bureau
638-1330

small emergency

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