Taxing Woodfibre LNG
District of Squamish council voted at the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday to work towards completing a tax agreement with Woodfibre LNG.
The provincial government has asked local governments to work with LNG proponents to work out taxation for the life of the project to “provide certainty to proponents,” according to district staff. This is a different way for a municipality to reach a taxation amount for an industry within its boundaries. Usually taxation for industry is based on the BC Assessment and an industrial mill rate set by council.
For the Pacific Northwest LNG project, in Port Edward near Prince Rupert on the coast, a tax agreement for $3.2 million per year was reached along with an investment by the company in the municipality’s infrastructure, according to a district report to council.
Next, a negotiating team will be comprised, then council will determine negotiation parameters, then the negotiating team will start negotiating and report back to update council.
Council decided to comprise the district negotiating team of District of Squamish staff, along with an expert who can offer advice.
Woof off-leash
Off-leash dog parks could soon be coming to Squamish. Council approved in principle six off-leash park locations at its committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday. The areas are: The dike area behind the dog pound, the Valleycliffe Dike, the BC Hydro right- of-way; Judd Slough Dike, Seventh Avenue corridor and Eaglewind Park.
The locations were chosen with Responsible Dog Owners’ Group of Squamish.
The estimated total cost for the parks for both start up and maintenance is $86,024, according to district staff.
There will be a public information session on the first three locations to gather feedback.
Gondola is popular
People have made their way to the Sea to Sky Gondola in record numbers, according to the gondola’s general manager Kirby Brown. Brown was at the District of Squamish corporate services standing committee on Tuesday morning to discuss the district extending the gondola’s five-year license extension of the parking area at Darrell Bay. That extension has yet to be granted.
During Brown’s presentation he said that in 2016 the gondola will likely have seen a total of 400,000 visitors. This August was the busiest month with 72,000 visitors. In 2015 the Gondola had 350,000 visitors, Brown said.
During the discussion, Brown also indicated he would be open to discussing spearheading a shuttle to the gondola for locals.
Cheekye Fan dike questions
There were more questions than answers at the committee of the whole Tuesday afternoon. Who will pay if there’s a Cheekye Fan landslide, with or without the proposed debris flow barrier, was one of the many meaty questions raised. In 2005, diking changed from a provincial to a municipal responsibility. Representing the provincial government around the council table was Dirk Nyland, chief engineer.
The municipality is the Squamish diking authority, but another question raised was if the Squamish Nation could also be a diking authority for the barrier. The Nation is a partner with local developer Michael Hutchison on the proposed Cheekye Fan housing community. The partners have proposed building the barrier at their own cost. Nyland said that only treaty nations can be an authority, but the Squamish Nation is not a treaty nation. Nothing like the proposed dike is seen anywhere else in B.C. according to Nyland. The delegation could not answer all questions; those will be referred back to the province, according to Nyland. “It is an ongoing conversation with the province,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman.
