THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018 Vol. 75, No. 4
Serving Fort St. John, B.C. and Surrounding Communities
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alaskahighwaynews.ca
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councillor has capital ambitions
patsy cline cast impresses
locals are champs at long track
NEWS A3
ARTS A14
SPORTS B1
Highway 29 realignments reconsidered
‘i Would rather be a god... ‘
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Adam Kirschner, also known as Noble Son, returned home with his new album Joy In Violence on Jan. 19, taking to the stage for an evening of music at the Lido Theatre that included Lorissa Scriven, Ryan Sebastiano, and Naomi Shore.
‘Something’s gone sideways’
Council wants legal advice on Condill demo matt preprost
Defence has disclosure in Napoleon case
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A jigsaw puzzle. An onion. No matter which way city staff or demolition contractors tried to cut the Condill Hotel to explain a 180 per cent hike in demolition costs Monday, Fort St. John councillors seemed to agree on two things — that contractors should have known the 75-year-old building was complex and ought to have bid more appropriately, and that its environmental consultants ought to have done a better assessment of the derelict building in the first place so contractors could submit more accurate bids on their work. At Monday’s meeting, council stopped short of approving a $650,000 increase to the project’s overall budget, directing staff instead to seek a legal opinion on the hazardous material assessments done ahead of the hotel’s planned demolition, now one month behind schedule and counting. “We hired a consultant to do a job to tell us where this is going to wind up. They, according to what I’m reading, did not do that for us,” said Coun. Trevor Bolin. Bolin, who was the hotel’s listing agent and earned a commission on its $870,000 sale to the city last year, led an at-times tense question and answer period at the meeting Monday. “The contractor is a
matt preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
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Barry Barnes of NAPP Enterprises before Fort St. John city council on Jan. 22, 2018, to explain a 180 per cent hike in demolition costs for the Condill Hotel.
bystander to what the actual issue is,” he said. At issue is the amount of extra asbestos containing materials that have been found as demolition has progressed, particularly the amount of plaster uncovered in hidden layers of hotel’s walls and ceilings. NAPP Enterprises was expected to have the building abated and torn down by Dec. 15 at a cost of $457,480. However, the extra asbestos materials—nearly three times what was expected—have driven up demolition costs an extra $823,501, with the work delayed by at least 14 weeks as the continued discoveries continue to halt work for further inspections. “I agree, it is substantial,”
NAPP President Barry Barnes told councillors. The extra contamination has led to three scope changes worth a combined $186,884 so far, which were previously approved using the project’s contingency, according to a city report. A fourth change in scope comprised of six separate change orders totalling $636,827 is currently before the city. “We found areas in that property where there is 16 layers of flooring, areas that have three layers, areas that have 12,” said Barnes. “You take the onion and peel it back to the core. There’s only one way to do that and unfortunately it costs a lot of money.”
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BC Hydro is studying two alternative routes for realigning Highway 29 at Bear Flat and Cache Creek, but they’re not the routes impacted farmers want to see. The NDP government tasked the Crown utility to redesign the alignment to avoid an Indigenous burial site and sweat lodge, and other cultural areas when it committed to continuing construction of the $10.7-billion Site C dam in December. BC Hydro began meeting with First Nations and landowners this month to get their feedback on two alternative routes for the highway being considered — both of which move the alignment further north to avoid the cultural sites, but will need a longer bridge than the 200-metre span first proposed to cross Cache Creek. “We’ve been meeting with Indigenous groups and property owners to share information and begin seeking feedback on the potential alternate realignment options,” BC Hydro spokesperson Mora Scott said. See HIGHWAY 29 on A4
Residential • Commercial • Industrial Roads • Driveways • Parking Lots
See CONDILL on A5
The defence lawyer for Leon Wokeley has received the Crown’s evidence in its murder case against him, but how soon he may apply for bail or make a plea remains to be seen. Wokeley appeared briefly in a Fort St. John courtroom by video Wednesday, Jan. 17, where his matter was adjourned to Feb. 21. His lawyer, Georges Rivard, said he had received a hard drive and thousands of pages of disclosure — a copy of all evidence prosecutors have to support their charges — late Tuesday afternoon. More time was needed time to review the files before deciding the next steps forward, Rivard told the court. “The matter would be best served if the matter is given more time,” Rivard said. Wokeley, 42, is with charged with murder, arson, and indignity to human remains in connection with Pamela Napoleon’s death in 2014. See NAPOLEON on A3
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