S TANDARD TERRACE
1.30
$
$1.24 PLUS 6¢ GST
VOL. 26 NO. 36
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Apartment hunters beware By ANNA KILLEN IT'S HARDER to find an apartment or townhouse to rent in Terrace than it is anywhere else in the province. That's the word from a report released by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation Dec. 12, which shows Terrace has the lowest vacancy rate in the province among communities with a population over 10,000. As of October, the vacancy rate for apartments in Terrace was the
lowest in B.C. at zero per cent, down from 3.4 per cent last October. There were 396 apartment units in Terrace total, four less than October 2012's 400 apartment units, according to the report. The vacancy rate for townhouses was up from last year – at 1.4 per cent that's double what it was last year. Only Squamish, with a vacancy rate of zero, and Kamloops with a vacancy rate of 1.3, have a lower townhouse vacancy rate. The vacancy rate increased despite there being less townhouse
units – 146 this year compared with 149 in 2012. That makes Terrace's overall vacancy rate 0.4 per cent – the lowest in B.C., with 542 units total, putting it behind Squamish, Parksville, and Vancouver. The CMHC rental market survey data for Terrace doesn't include secondary rentals, such as basement suites, houses, or rooms rented by owners who also live in the house. Only purpose built rentals with three or more units are included in the survey. But numbers from the City of
Terrace suggest there are at least 190 secondary suites – that’s based on properties where the city charges extra or double utilities for the second dwelling unit, said director of development services David Block. Block says the CMHC’s numbers represent the reality in Terrace right now, and reflect what the city has been hearing anecdotally for some time. “We’ve heard several stories of people losing employees because they weren’t able to find
them a place to rent,” Block said. “We know it’s a tough market out there.” The city has been in talks with a number of developers for the city-owned Kenney St. property, and there are a handful of smaller projects in the works, including low-income units for seniors, that should eventually ease some of the rental strain, he confirmed, noting the CMHC data will give confidence to developers that people will buy units.
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City eyes tax drop By JOSH MASSEY
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ The Scholar’s Lute MEI-LING WANG plays the Qin, or guchin, for parents and students at Veritas School’s Christmas Band Concert in the school gym Dec. 11. It’s a Chinese instrument described as a seven-string fretless zither and is often called “The Scholar’s Lute.” Wang, who also plays saxophone in the Grade 7 Veritas band, moved here from China with her family this past March.
FUTURE SALES of industrial park land will go toward lowering both business and residential taxes, city council decided Nov. 10 at its fourth budget preparation meeting of the year. Confident that city land sales will continue (this year saw two memoranda of understanding and one land sale finalized at the Skeena Industrial Development Park), mayor Dave Pernarowski said he wants to use money that comes in from industrial related activity to bring taxes down in the future. “Over the past 10 or 12 years with forestry collapsing and the industrial tax base disappearing, we've put a high reliance on the business and residential tax base,” said Pernarowski. Terrace depends on its residential and commercial tax base to a greater degree than other municipalities to finance operations. Pernarowski introduced a policy that, if adopted as he suggested, would see at least half of the light and heavy industrial tax base used to reduce business and residential tax rates. But council decided it was too early to put an exact percentage of any planned tax relief, preferring instead to determine the value of any tax relief during budget time starting in 2014, with reductions in tax starting in 2015. Councillor Stacey Tyers said that “we should lower [taxes] in a balanced way,” and councillor Bruce Bidgood said that at this point he is “reticent to put a value on” what the reduction would be because the policy is based largely on speculation of sales of industrial park lands to developers.
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Time for change
Cleaned up?
Kla How Ya
New executive director enjoys challenge of a different job \COMMUNITY A21
Activity in George Little Park is a lot calmer than it was several years ago \NEWS A5
Terrace figure skaters win gold, silver, and bronze at annual Kitimat meet \SPORTS A24