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MERRITT HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
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Check in from UBCM By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Merritt Mayor Susan Roline, Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart and city councillors Mike Goetz, Dave Baker, Harry Kroeker and Kurt Christopherson are in Vancouver this week at the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference. The conference got started on Monday and the group from city hall met with a few ministers to discuss various projects. Coun. Mike Goetz said they met with Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson on Monday to discuss the city’s desire to purchase 100 acres of land behind the bench area that the city has been looking into for about a year. Goetz said the city would like to bring in more technological-related industries into town. Not wanting to locate those industries in an industrial area, the city is looking to purchase the land behind the bench area for future development.
“Our request is a fairly simple one, we’re just looking to purchase some land,” Goetz said. “We’re not asking for a gift or anything like that.” The cost of the land is based on market value, Merritt Mayor Susan Roline said. Once the province gives them the approval to purchase, the city would need to get three appraisals of land and the average cost would determine the value, she said. Roline said they also talked about the Gateway 286 project with Thomson, mentioning the city’s already invested over $2 million in infrastructure to service the area and are eager to see the project move forward as that investment is deteriorating. Roline also attended the fourth meeting of the BC Mayors Caucus, which brought together 124 mayors from around the province. “Our largest attendance yet,” Roline said.
ALL SHOOK UP Elvis tribute artist Jeff Bodner had the audience all shook up at the Civic Centre on Saturday night for the annual Crime Stoppers fundraiser. The 1950s and ’60s-themed event featured gourmet hamburgers, a milkshake bar, vintage cars, a silent auction, oodles of poodle skirts, and decorations to match. Emily Wessel/Herald
See ‘Pipeline’ Page 4
UBCM to vote on city-driven resolutions today By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Representatives from Merritt are sponsoring a couple of resolutions at the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference in Vancouver this week, which could help eliminate a hurdle in the Gateway 286 project. “We’re looking up at the [Gateway] 286 project, and there’s land up there that we want to use that is still governed by the ALR [Agricultural Land Reserve],” Coun. Mike Goetz said. It is also more commonly referred to as the ALC (Agricultural Land Commission) and its goal is to ensure agricul-
tural land is maintained for agricultural purposes, he said. The resolution would call on the provincial government to establish a process to recognize that drawbacks to local governments outweigh the potential benefits of retaining certain lands deemed unsuitable to reserve for agriculture. The resolution involves the Agricultural Land Commission Act and Agricultural Land Reserve Regulations and aims to change the regulations pertaining to these lands. Another Merritt-sponsored resolution pertaining to ALC lands would simplify the process and time it takes to gain approval and
remove those lands from the ALC. Goetz said their resolution would make the acquisition of agricultural lands for non-agricultural purposes easier. Both Merritt-sponsored resolutions will be voted on today. He said the land involved in the Gateway 286 project is nonfarmable. “There really is no agricultural concern up there because nothing grows up there except tumbleweed,” Goetz said, adding in all his years in Merritt he’s never seen anything but weeds growing there. Goetz said due to the large number of resolutions, multiple resolutions will often be rolled into one “block” and voted on
together. Given the non-contentious nature of their resolution, Goetz said he can’t see it failing to pass. “And it’s not just Gateway 286. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to make that process more available and easier for everybody in the province and that’s why we brought it forward,” Goetz said. Merritt Mayor Susan Roline said this resolution will also help future growth with other lands that fit this description. Goetz and Roline said they’ve received a lot of support on the resolution from other communities that have run into these types of situations. “It’s not hard to figure out that
this kind of thing holds communities back for years,” Goetz said. A simpler application process would cut down on the time it takes to go through a process to get the land off the ALC, which can take years, Goetz said. Though this resolution won’t solve all the problems associated with Gateway 286, it will knock down at least one hurdle in Merritt. “You get a process where you say ‘OK, this is unusable land, we’ll just automatically take it out of ALR and it becomes Crown land, which is much easier to move into a project than ALR land,’” Goetz said.
See ‘Resolution could’ Page 5
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