TERRACE
1.34
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S TANDARD
$1.20 PLUS 14¢ HST
VOL. 25 NO. 17
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Rent prices rise as vacancy drops By Samantha Garvey RESIDENTIAL RENTAL availability in Terrace this summer is about half what it was one year ago. According to the Spring 2012 Rental Market Survey conducted by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the apartment vacancy rate in Terrace has dropped, to 3.6 per cent in April 2012 compared to 6.9 per cent in April 2011. This drop marks a change in the over-
all rental market picture in Terrace, with increasing demand for rentals meaning a transition into a landlord’s market – and according to a local real estate agent, the least vacancies in more than a decade. This change can be attributed to increasing economic activity in the area, said Paul Fabri, a senior market analyst with CMHC, which surveys apartments and townhouses in complexes of three or more. “It reflects, I think, generally speaking, an uptick in resource products industries,”
he said, adding more jobs or better jobs are increasing demand. “That results in demand for various types of accommodation, whether it be rental or home owner,” he said. “As a result, there has been some very modest upwards pressure on rent.” From April 2011 until April 2012, rental units surveyed by CMHC in Terrace have seen average rent prices increase by 2.3 per cent, said Fabri. “We’ve seen upward movement in the 2
to 3 bedroom units,” he said, adding one and two bedroom units look relatively stable. But apartment and townhouse complexes far from complete the local rental-unit basket. Homes, duplex units, and other types of rentals have also seen a turn as well. According to Erika Langer, local Royal LePage owner and property manager, this is the least vacancy she has seen since she began in her position 14 years ago.
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City council will be going digital By Lauren Benn TERRACE’S CITY council will be digitizing its meetings after agreeing to purchase computerized hand-held tablets for elected officials and some staff. The city has budgeted $10,000 for nine touch-screen computers and for software to accommodate them, which will enable information usually distributed to council and staff by paper to be accessed digitally instead. The city’s rationale behind the tablet purchase is that having information available at the touch of a screen will create efficiencies and also save paper. Paper savings are estimated to clock in around 10,000 pages per year, according to city staff. “The tablets will also include a new communications system for council,” said city officials. “We anticipate staff time will be saved with the new communications system.” Money to pay for the tablets will come from an amount of cash left over from a Local Governance Workshop hosted by the city after November 2011’s municipal elections, said staff. The city collected money in registration fees from northwestern local governments that attended and about $14,000 from industry sponsors, totalling $50,000. But as the total event cost came in at $35,000, this created a $15,000 surplus from which the tablet expense will be drawn from, said staff. Councillor James Cordeiro said
he voted in favour of the tablets because it wasn’t coming directly from taxpayer money and would create efficiencies. “Technically speaking, it’s not tax dollars going towards it,” said Cordeiro, adding that while the tablets won’t save money, overall, time efficiencies will make up that cost. “It’s cost neutral,” he said. “I think there’s certainly a savings for our time.” Cordeiro added that he foresees being better able to respond to community questions and concerns by being able to research on the spot using a tablet. “What makes sense to me is being able to have access to all of these city documents as opposed to carting around a wheelbarrow of paper,” he said. Mayor Dave Pernarowski agrees it is a good idea, and that the time savings are worth the expense. “If you factor in time and money it’s a net savings,” said Pernarowski. “If there wasn’t a business case to do it, it wouldn’t be done.” Pernarowski said he has experience using tablets for meetings. “It’s something that I use at other board meetings and I think it’s very effective,” he said. “A lot of cities a lot smaller than Terrace had moved to this,” added councillor Bruce Bidgood, noting he brought up the idea initially. “We get absolutely inundated with information,” he said.
LAUREN BENN PHOTO
■ To smile KIRA MORVEN smiles for the camera while watching the Riverboat Days parade in the sun last Saturday, August 4. For more about the parade, turn to page A16.
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Giving back
Fire saviors
Bike race
Group travels to the Ukraine to meet children from a poorer region \COMMUNITY A17
Neighbourhood plays a crucial role in saving a man from a house fire \NEWS A13
The end-of-year Skeena River Challenge is happening this weekend \SPORTS A27