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VOL. 25 NO. 36
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Santa’s back in the frame SANTA CLAUS has reemerged as a bidder for the city-owed former Co-op property on Greig Ave. Despite being rebuffed several years ago, when the Co-op building was still standing, a new proposal from the North Pole toy baron has come to light. Stamped “Confidential. No peaking. I’m checking it twice. Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice,” the proposal was an addendum to a report released by a city committee struck to outline possible uses for the property. A copy of the addendum was leaked to local media, despite the best efforts to keep it hidden. Part of the reluctance to officially releasing it, sources deep inside city hall reveal, is how citizens would react to the selling of a piece of prime Terrace real estate to a state-controlled foreign entity – Santa Claus himself. As it is, Santa already ran into trouble with his first attempt to buy the Co-op property over plans to use the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Elf Worker Program. That was when the Co-op
building was still standing and Santa had plans to refurbish the structure and use it as a subsidiary toy workshop location. The newest proposal has resulted in intense debate within city council with the more business-minded councillors arguing that Terrace, dependent as it is on investment from outside its borders, is in no position to pick and choose exactly who would be welcome and who would not. Other council members are skeptical of the idea, worried about the implications of having a large section of land sold off to a foreign entity. Santa’s newest proposal is one crafted, according to the document, to have a maximum positive impact. In simple terms, Santa wants to develop a green energy testing complex on the Co-op lands. An outline with the addendum cites the large, flat surface of the Co-op land as being an ideal location for testing solar panels. “If we can generate solar power in Terrace, then we can generate it anywhere,” indicated a scientist quoted
in the addendum. And given the windy nature of Terrace and area, the large undeveloped plot of land, now flat as a pancake, would be a perfect testing ground for wind-driven turbines. Most intriguing of all, according to the addendum, is the possibility of shale oil and gas existing just below the Co-op property surface. “Could a pipeline fit in with this proposal?” a handwritten note in a margin queried. The addendum indicated, however, that Santa would only proceed with extraction if it was absolutely 100 per cent guaranteed to never cause a problem. So confident of approval are officials that the addendum even mentioned a name for the development – the Santa Sands. The Santa Claus green energy testing complex is also regarded as a way to soothe public concerns over a sale to a foreign entity. And in a postscript, the addendum says there’s every chance the energy testing complex could be nominated for a green award presented each year by the local business association.
Demolition appealed THREE LITTLE Ave. property owners served with demolition orders in early December want the City of Terrace to back down. Lloyd Wittkowski, owner of 4440 Little Ave., George Vogel, who manages his mother’s estate at 4450 Little Ave. and Wayne Kirby who owns 4520 Little Ave. have filed to appeal a Nov. 26 council decision which ordered structures on their property be torn down within 60 days, after which the city has power to demolish and bill them for it. The owners were formally served notice by the city Dec. 4 and had 14 days to request
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
reconsideration from council. The city’s next step will be to schedule hearings for the properties. “We won’t have the first one until some time in January,” said the city’s director of development services David Block. After the meeting, council will have a few options on how to proceed after hearing information, he continued. Those options include changing an order to involve different remedies or by extending the timeline, upholding an initial 60-day order from the day of notice, or taking back the order all together.
STAFF PHOTO
■ All ears MACKENZIE WALKER took on the role of a teddy bear in Ecole Mountainview’s production of “A Gingerbread Christmas” which took to the stage of the REM Lee Theatre Dec. 13. A busy two weeks of school-based Christmas concerts, plays, fairs, bazaars and assorted other productions ends this Friday as classes are let out for the holidays. There’s more about Christmas in the second section of today’s Terrace Standard, including comments from exchange students and a recipe that’s sure to calm any last-minute Christmas preparation nerves.
Bravery
Forging on
Peewee power
The Governor General of Canada has honoured five locals for bravey \COMMUNITY A17
Even though a tourismdriving tax is no longer here, a society works on \NEWS A4
The Terrace Peewee Pizza Hut Rep team get a huge win in Kelowna \SPORTS A27