Banding together
CORNET PLAYER Laura Biagioni was just one of the Terrace Community Band members out

Saturday washing vehicles to raise money for the group's trip to Music Fest ’91 in Vancouver this.
month.’ ‘The band last took part in the competition in 1988 when it travelled to Calgary.

bk ‘— People living
near a proposed 48-unit apart-
mefit building on Kenney St.
have told council not to rezone
the:property because they don’ t
want it built,

Tribruck Investment wants to
build the complex at 3221 Ken-
ney, ‘adjacent tothe school
district ‘offices and. opposite
Lazelle Ave. : The- property is
now zoned R2, single and two-
family . residential and the
developer has asked the
designation be changed to R3 or
high density.

‘Approximately 20. residents

armed with. a 66-signature peti-

tion appeared at council's April

22 meeting ta demand it block

the proposal.”

Expressing “grave concerns’”

- for the safety of his three young

children, 4900 block Lazelle
homeowner. Alley ‘Tomanoacy
said he was there “*to Fight for

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Tomanocy said there was
already too much traffic and
too many speeders on his street,
ditches along its edges left oniy
anarrow shoulder and the street
lighting . was. poor. Suggesting
the apartment. development

‘could bring as many as another

100 vehicles into, the area, he
said that would only worsen the
situation,

Pointing out there were va-
cant R3-zoned sites on Scott

_and Loen .Aves, and on the

south side of the city, he added,
“situate a. building like this
somewhere else."

‘Echoing those concerns,
neighbour George Chinn said

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_ Rezoning plan opposed ..

Kenney St, was already’ a main
route to the downtown area for
people living up ‘on the bench
and that traffic would in-
evitably increase as that area
was further developed.

While agreeing the city need-
ed more housing, he said it did
not need more traffic bottle-
necks, “We've got one already
and we don’t need it to get
worse,” he added, .

Alderman “Darryl Laurent
asked if residents knew that.the
4900 block of Lazelle is already
zoned R3.

That meant, he said, a
developer could buy lots and
build an apartment such as the
one proposed by Tribruck. °

HE NORTHWEST co

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Vil
fears expressed _

. TERRACE: —.The northwest’s

wilderness could soon be sold or

leased to the highest bidder.

That was the spectre raised at
a public meeting here last week
on the ‘proposed creation of a
provincial policy on commercial
backcountry recreation.

The province wants to cash in

on ihe growth. of businesses

specializing ‘in. adventure
tourism activities like helli-

hiking and heli-skiing-— a -
- specialty branch of tourism with

annual revenues expected to
reach as much as $500 million

* by the year 2000. :

The policy, proposals would
see businesses bid for semi-
exclusive rights to a certain
area, They would be either sold
or leased land for remote
lodges, bridges, and possibly
trail networks, Victoria would
receive either a flat rate or a
percentage of revenues.

Local hikers, snowmobilers, .
guides and outfitters told
government officials holding
the meeting they feared being

. excluded from areas they’ve

been using for years.

“*]'d hate to see the volunteer
organizations _ the
snowmobile clubs and the. ski
clubs — get pushed out,’’ said
Kitimat Cross-country Ski Club
member Jerry Bloomer. ‘‘I

don’t want to see Club Med .

become Club B.C.”

Bloomer also spoke out
against the highest-bidder-wins
concept for parcelling out
business rights to the backcoun-
try. “The big guy’s going to win
every time — and 1 don’t want.
to see that,” he said,

That was echoed by
numerous other peaple at the
meeting, saying foreign’ in-
vestors could snap up vast tracts
of B.C.’s wilderness.

“You open this area up and
let’s see who ends up owning it
when it comes to a bidding
war,” said Jerry Turner, of J &
J Stables. ‘‘When foreign in-
vestors start coming in, there” 8

iP Lee eer!

Darryl Laurent

Council decided to postpone
a decision on the rezoning until
a traffic count in the area is
done and a report is written.

Mayor Jack. Talstra, who
lives immediately north of the
subject property, did not attend
the meeting.

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Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 1, 1991 ~ Page 43 -

lerness sale .

Provincial policy pro-
posals would see
businesses bid for semi-
exclusive rights to cer-
tain wilderness areas. .

going to be an awful lot of
bucks in there and the little guy
isn’t going to win very often.”

Turner, who operates a pack-
horse tour operation in the
Seven Sislers area, fears he
could be pushed out under the
ew policy by foreign investors
with deeper pockets.

“These people should be
restricted to being British Col-
umbians, just like trappers and
guide-outfitters,” added Bob
Lacey, of Rosswood. ‘‘It
belongs to British Columbians
and it should be British Colum-
bians that operate it. Are we g0-

. ing to sell off the heritage of our

B.C. resources for a couple of
bucks so our grandchildren
won’t have any places to go to
hike and fish?”’

But Greg Metres * "executive
director of the Narth by: Nor-
thwest Tourism Association,
said Canadians are famous for

not recognizing the value of

their own natural resources and
promoting them abroad.

_.“If I were a-European in-
vestor, I would be clamouring,
to get over here and show the
Canadians how to make a buck
at it and you don’t even have
to mow it down every 80
years.”

He said B.C. must take ad-
vantage of its potential f: ».cam-
mercial backcountry touriwm —
which he predicted could
become a backbone of the. pro-
vincial econe” >

“We're nui: ratching
the surface of aiiavking the
market overseas,” Meredith ad-
ded. “But our potential. over
there is absolutely huge.”’

He said if Canadians don’t
act, foreign investment may be
necessary for northwesterners
to enjoy the economic advan-
tages of larger scale adventure
tourism.

Company eyes”
trail network

TERRACE — An American en-
trepreneur planning a major
wilderness resort near the Severn
Sisters area says the dangers of
liability could force him to bar
the public from its trail net-
work.

Titus Nelson, of Tukwila,
Wash., says his company’s vi-
sion for a four-season
wilderness hiking and skiing
resort will be a ‘‘money
pipeline’. for the northwest
economy; bringing in up to $10
million a year. “It's going to
add- significantly to the local
economy,’’ Nelson said.

Nelson and his partner Art
Bates, of White Rock are major
tshareholders’: ins Seven Sisters
‘Ventures! Ine. ;which would set
up the adventure tourism resort
_in the Fiddler Range.

They plan to build an
41,000-square-foot lodge near
Doreen, two foot bridges span-
ning the Skeena, four remote
lodges, eight remote heli-cabins,
26 cable bridges and 55 miles of
trails in the mountainous region
across the Skeena River from
the Seven Sisters.

Nelson and Bates say they
want to maintain as much
public access to the area as
possible without creating liabili-
ty problems.

That may require locks barr-
ing access to the bridges, Nelson
said,

fered to local people wanting
access to the trail network, if
they sign a liability waiver, he

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A “golden key’" might be of- .

Nelson said his plans involve
an entirely new trail system, -1-
ding any existing trails woulan’!
be affected by the development.

He said the company is
pushing hard to gel tenure to
the areas they will use as quickly
as possible.

Nelson said they could be
starting construction as early as
this summer if they got tille to
the land,

“We can slart whenever we
get through this unbelievable
governmental maze — then we
get tenure,’’ he said. ‘The
money is starting to sit on the
table.”’

They want control over about
100 acres of remote lodge sites,
cabin sites, bridge sites and
trails.

so you

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