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, “OPENING SOON!!!" * Drop off service 8-6 -L & D LAUNDROMAT * Outside smoking room * Delivery * Eating Area Showers ® Open 7-11 ¢ Snack Bar * Clean & Affordable s Located On Kalum Minutes From Downtown, s Terrace Art Gallery . — presents The VISSERMAN-TIMMERMAN EXHIBITION 3 Days Only at The Terrace Art Gallery May 9-11, 1997 Opening Night Reception on Friday, May 9 at 7 p.m. Friday evening in the Terrace Art Gallery, An exhibition of recent watercclour paintings by Bill Visserman and landscape photographs by VI Timmerman. 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- ows, and house and household repairs. Phone now for a volunteer to do this free service. CALL SONJA aft the Terrace Volunteer Bureau 638-1330 small emergency SALESMAN. done STEVE! OF THE MONTH Steve Butler Ted Hicks, Sales Manager, s pleased to announce that STEVE BUTLER, through his customer satisfaction and sales achievements, has been named SALESMAN OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL We know that his many friends and loyal customers join us in extending congratulations. 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