The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 27, 1999 - AS | CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD “ . ne ) } oe . me we eet f i ts yA ", Nassncett ye ‘New Ice Arena yes I eee penal neal benacanal Y Le Io == emeae ) Oe _ Fulure , J 2 Pricing the ecteation! son Expansion ee me OT < rn. ba iy Ts jon a] 7 . La rT FO esc mee aie fra! | att Public Entrance Multiplex The Nov. 20 referendum will test voters’ faith that more -. money will be found — and less tax dollars will be used. Seale Depot” | Bel _ a coy TE amine a vy een | By JEFF NAGEL HOW MUCH will it cost? That is the $7.6 million dollar question. And it’s also the one voters probably won’t know the answer to when they go to the polls to decide the fate of Terrace’s proposed mul- tiplex on Nov. 20. The campaign to sell the complex hits high gear this week with the distribution to area households of a brochure detailing the proposal and its costs, ; The biggest challenge facing multiplex pro- ponents will be persuading local taxpayers that they likely won’t have to shoulder the full $7.6 million projected cost’~ even though that’s the number that will be on the ballot. “The figure in the referendum is a worst: case scenario,” city parks and recreation su- petintendent Steve Scott said Friday. “If we have to borrow all the money — the entire $7.6 million — this is what it’s going to cost you.” “But the plan is to raise as much money as possible from other sources,” he added. 1f the entire amount was borrowed -and: the °- annual'costs ‘split 70-30 between the’ city: and rural areas Terrace’s cost each year lo service the debt would be $507,593 for 20 years at current interest rales, That would work out to about $42.46 extra per year on the annual property taxes of a $100,000 house in Terrace, $63.69 extra for a $150,000 home. But Scott says a multi-pronged strategy is planned to find other contribulions to the pro- ject - each of which would reduce the ul- timate bite to the taxpayer. There will be considerable time to find ex- tra money, ; Although voters will be asked to approve borrowing of up to $7.6 million, the actual number likely won’t be known until near the end of construction. The city will pay for it through short-term borrowing to that point, and then will take out the long-term debt, probably in 2001. One of the most intriguing avenues for grants and other support is the National Hock- ey League. Scott says the NHL in the U.S. runs a pro- gram that helps communities build arenas to develop hockey programs. "We are told they will in fact be going ahead with that type of program in Canada, They will be announcing the program and how it works this fall,” he said. “We're prepared - ag soon as it’s an- nounced we'll be making application to the program,” Scott added. “We think it will sup- port at least the arena portion of the project.” Scott said the city will also look, seriously al corporate sponsorships. “We will look at national corporations like like the Coca-Colas of the world, Pepsis and - whoever else we can work with in terms of making some kind of contribution to the project,” he said. “If that means including some corporation’s name on a room or a por- tion of the project, then we’re definitely pre- pared to Jook at that as well.” They're also going alter other levels of gov- ernment, with hopes that a new federal in- frastructure program may be announced in the. new year. : There are hopes Local aboriginal groups: may also decide lo contribute. And the Rick and Paul King Foundation, ° which spearheaded the second sheet of ice _ drive in 1995, will raise money locally. One other way for locals to reduce the over- all taxpayers’ cost of the multiplex is to buy | City annual debt service cost 4,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 Years 1999 to 2015 | Without Multiplex With Multiplex a : eee |e GRAPH shows the Cily of Terrace's cost each year. of making the payments on the fs city's long-term debt. The first major drop in the city debt happens at the end of 2006 when the debt for construction of the RCMP building is paid off. The debt drops again in 2010 when the aquatic centre is paid off and in 2015 current long-term debt drops to zero when the library expansion is paid off. The light grey bars show how much the multiplex would add if the city asked to authorize on Noy, 20. were to borrow the entire $7.6 million voters are being community bonds. - That’s an idea that will be explained in de- tail at mulliplex information sessions Nov. 3 and 4th by officials from the Municipal Finance Authority. The idea is that local people can buy com- munity bonds issued for the multiplex. The in- terest rate offered to investors will be competi- tive, bul the program also results in reduced borrowing ‘costs to the city — about one per cent less than it would normally pay. It’s also an eligible investment for self-directed RSPs. A key decision the city has already made on how the multiplex will be built also affects the ability to use volunteer labour. Rather than going out to tender on the whole project and selecting a low bidder, the city will hire people to design and manage - ‘construction, “Instead of having a general contractor, the city becomes its own general contractor and farms oul all of the work through subtrades,” ‘Scott explained. SC Known as the construction management op- tion, it’s expected to make it easier to break up the project into smaller chunks that will then go out for bids. me Offering a number of small contracts, rather than one big one; should increase the chances of local construction firms getting the work. And wilh the city directly overseeing the pro- ject, it should also make it easier to solicit in- kind donations from suppliers, contractors and local sawmills. , _ > Although it seems certain the amount to be borrowed will be reduced somewhat ‘from the $7.6 million: maximum, the final amount is slill anybody's guess. ~And councillor David Hull — who fought but failed to cap the borrowing at $6 million and now less incentive to find extra money. “People will say ‘Sure they're going to iry to find another couple million dollars elsewhere’,” he said, . leave the rest to be found elsewhere ~ says the suspicion in voters’ minds will be that there’s - The other fear out there is that some kind of cost overrun could happen despite two inde- pendent cost estimates that have pegged the project between $7.5 million and $7.6 million, including a 10 per cent contingency. “The concern is the money,” Hull says, _“That’s the only thing [’ve heard. I haven't heard any legitimate concerns about the idea or the designs or anything like that,” But fear of the costs has gone as far as talk about an organized No campaign, he added. The concern has some validity, he said. “It takes our civic debt and in one swoop . doubles il,” he said The cily’s unused borrowing power ~ effec- tively its credit limit - is $20.9 million. The project would likely chew up about a third of that. , If the referendum passes, Huil says, he hopes council — rather than immediately mov- ing to hite architects and spend money — in- Stead takes a “sobering pause” and. makes onc more attempt to ease the blow to the taxpayer before starting construction. If-nobody was willing to risk any debt, Hull added, mest people wouldn't have houses or cars and society as a whole would be missing everything from schools and hospitals to roads and ferries. “You can’t run around in crazed frothing fear of debt,” Hull said. “But it should be re- spected and you should go into it with your eyes open.” GETTING MORE INFO DETAILS of the multiplex proposal and plans are available on a web site that’s been set up. Il’s at www.osg.net/multiplex On the web site is a place to send questions about the project. Answers to those questions ate also being posted on the sile. _ Also coming up are two open houses where people can come and ask questions about the project. ’ The: first one is Wednesday, Nov. 3-at 7 p.m. at Ihe Thornhill Community Centre, . The second one is in Terrace Thursday Nov, 4 al 7 p.m. at the Coast Inn of the West. Vernon also grapples with multiplex vote much more modest arena com- TERRACE isn’t the only munici- pality about to go to referendum for construction of a multiplex. Vernon voters are being asked .to approve a $15-million new are- ‘na in Novernber as well. That project envisions an NHL size ice rink expandable to inter- - national size, with 3,000 seats, expandable to 4,000. It’s to be a home for the. Ver- non Vipers junior hockey team, and as with Terrace it'll also. host concerts and trade shows. Vernon has an old small arena, similar ta Terrace’s, and a small recreational sheet of ice, however surrounding communilics also have arenas close by. . - The new Verncn arena is to be built entirely at taxpayer expense — talks with a private developer were tried bricfly but fell apart. The average homeowner in Vernon will have to pay close lo $70 extra a year on the properly taxes for the arena if the referen- dum passes. That compares to about. $60 extra for a $150,000 home in Ter- race if $7 million is borrowed for. the multiplex here.. . Terrace’s multiplex calls for a ponent, with less seating than Vernon, but also includes a dou- ble gymnasium, meeting rooms and a community kitchen, among other facilities. - An arena isn't all Vernon vot- ers are belng asked to approve. ‘Also going to referendum is 4 proposal: to build’ a $9 million community theatre. The Mail Bag It’s curtain time for the woods Dear Sir: After attending the Forestry Policy Review work- shop recently, | feel compelled to make the fol- lowing comments: _Tt appears that the status quo is firmly in place. That is to say that the individuals and various or- ganizations that hold the balance of power in the province of B.C, are intent on maintaining their po- sitions: until the curtain (of timber cul) comes down’ What I meaa by curtain is the day, month, year. when all the timber that is economically viable to harvest is exhausted, a For example, here in the Terrace-Kilimal area there exists a curious situation. TFL 41, licensed to -West Fraser, encompasses an area which is not exactly interior or coast but a combination of both. The ‘interior portion (or road accessible) is 90 per cent gone, leaving the cut of the immediate future to. come from the coast - or what the company West Fraser refers to as offshore. -. The curtain day for stands on the coast, access- _ ible to Jarge timber companies with their inherent " cosl Structures, is now at hand. By their own ad- mission they can log only the very best, read “exportable” trees to sell into the global market, The portion of the tree that qualifies for this mar- ket is certainly not more than 80 per cent, with the olher 20 per cent being left in bush or burnt in the trim pile. The number of trees that will meet the export de- mand is very small and must be of very high value _as the logging operators cannot harvest these trees without taking the lower quality. They are then in ~ the position of having to subsidize the cust of log- ging the lower or domestic component. The stands of timber containing a high enough percentage of top quality trees able to carry such an operation are close to extinction, remaining principally in the riparian zones identified as criti- cal to fish and wildlife habitat along with recrea- tion and eco-sensitivities, The major licensee West Fraser Timber, along with their contractors is determined to wring the last drop out of the situation, The other big players and licensees Interfor, Western Forest Products and Doman Industries‘can be seen in the same dim light, Tam using the curtain metaphor because I be- - lieve that il will ultimately rise again but the scen- ery will be changed. Hopefully, the curtain won't be down a long time and when it rises, our forests and forest industry will be something we can all live with and enjoy, . Don Bruce, Terrace, B.C, frecetved via email) ced ERE , pop intolerance... _. In our schools. . An open letter to; Sharon Beedle, Acting Superintendent Coast Mountains School District Tam appalled by your comments regarding the When I opened The Terrace Standard and read about the incident I wasn’t surprised. [f you knew how bad racism in your schools is you would not be shocked at all by this incident. But the administrators at Skeena were shocked and ' they had every right to be, This is the 20th century, We are living in a so- called “accepling society” and we should be 1 shocked by remarks (or name-calling) of this na- lure. We should try to deter them and affirmative “action is the best way. You also mentioned that anti-racism is taught in your schools. And I can tell you that growing up in this school district did not teach me that everyone is the same despite our skin colour. I learned this . in other ways, Why is our school district so harsh on racism when you just close your eyes and yawn at other similar issues like the tolerance of homosexuals in our schools? Skin colour doesn’t make someone worthy of verbal torture and 1 don’t think that sox- : ual preference doesn't either. There have been many times when I have been caught in conversations with people (mainly young _™en) who were bashing young men in our school, Caledonia, who are gay. “That guy ... he’s a fag,. that’s so gross,” “If that fag talks to me, I’m going to kick his ass,” I sce these comments as wrong and unfair and 1 attempt to defend these “faggots” but whenever j do, people accuse me of being a lesbian. Is this a healthy environment for your kids to be learning in? Do you not care, is this why you're not doing anything about it, or are you just hiding from the truth, Diandra Oliver, Terrace, B.C. Her water woes began in July Dear Sir: As an oldtimer on Braun’s Island since 1965, I’ve drank wel! water here for over 34 years. The doctors don’t even have a file on me at the clinic, so it would seem that for the 34 years be- fore July 1999, our water must have been drinkable enough lo keep me and my family in excellent health, ; But now | can’t drink it. Well tests show my well to be safe one day, unsafe on another. My well hasn't changed, | can’t say that the wealher ic any more different than it has been in other years. Foods have not affected the quality of my water. The only thing that is different Is the sewage spill on July 5, 1999, I wish the city would take a closer look at their treatment plan, because 1 wonder if that’s the source of our contaminated water. Please. Tina Brouwer, Terrace, BC. racist attack at Skeena Junior Secondary School. been Wane, soa