Visions of Kitimat

New free housing website for Kitimat!!!

visionary67 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:33:36 +0000

This is a great new free website to help RTA modernization workers locate housing in town. For Rent and For Sale By Owner – free of charge.

Check it out www.kitimathousing.com

Seaside boardwalk through Minnette Bay?

visionary67 — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:01:08 +0000

I think the time has come that Kitimat embrace our coastal living. Minnette Bay could easily be transformed into a significant tourist resort and a place for the community to connect with each other. A loop like board walk would be the must suitble, starting on the mud flats area running through the forested area, connecting up to the Kitamaat Village road then looping back to the mud flats. It would create a great place for evening walks or jogs. The shoreline area in the centre of Minette Bay could see a large development tieing into the boardwalk. It could entertain tourist shops, similiar to those in Prince Rupert’s cow bay, a few coffee shops and maybe even a small hotel. A large portion of Minnette Bay is Haisla Reserve land, so the Haisla would have to be consulted. The Haisla could help develop tourist attractions in the bay, and could operate them as well. The development of Minnette Bay would be great attraction for Kitimat, and it could even mean several dozen jobs for the community.

Just a thought,

Mark

Together we can achieve success!

visionary67 — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:59:38 +0000

Kitimat’s downtown core is alive and well. Sure there are vacant buildings and stores closing, but there are also business’ deciding to re-invest. A perfect example is the new UAP Napa Auto parts supply, they have recently opened a new facility in the service centre. This will provide them will a higher traffic flow and a much larger location. I invite everyone to go check out the new location across from Snow Valley Ford. I would like to take a moment to invite anyone to partake in a some business discussion about Kitimat, please feel free to any of the articles, I can handle critisizm. No idea is to small nor too big. If you know anyone who would be interested in viewing the site please forward them the link. Second of all if anyone is interested in forming a group to build an theatre/arts/cultural centre in Kitimat, contact me. I’m currently looking for someone to act as a organizer/faciltator.

Mark

Bulk Port, and beyond.

visionary67 — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 01:38:48 +0000

The Kitimat Bulk Port continues to gain momentum with the recent interst of auto manufacturers. The booming Asian countries place Kitimat in good location to reap the benefits. If we all get on board and support the bulk port it could easily become a reality. The project has already gained the attention of CN rail and the Provincial government. Both CN and the Provice have contributed substantial amounts of money to date. My question is why stop at a bulk port? It was once said that Kitimat would be the ideal location for the countries first privately owned container port. An idea that went on to our neighbors in Prince Rupert. But who is not say that Kitimat couldn’t support container ship traffic. I can’t count how many reports I’ve read saying how the Prince Rupert container port is not thinking big enough, the Phase 2 portion will be able to accomadate 2.2 million containers a year, the equivalent of what one of China’s many ports ship in a month. As North America continues to import from our Asia pacific neigbors, the demand for containers will increase. The Kitimat bulk port is a great idea that needs to take shape. But i dont think the “Kitimat Bulk Port Soceity” is thinking big enough. The Kitimat port easily accomodate the bulk port portion as well as a container handling facilty. The Society should map out a phase 2 or phase 3 to accomodate container traffic. The Kitimat Port Society could easy design a ferry terminal to coincide with the bulk port development, the benefits to the city would be enormous. First off we must encourage the city to get on board this project, second of all we must convince the Port Society to think bigger. We could have a bulk port and container port, and a bonus ferry terminal as well.

If you haven’t already checked out the Kitimat Bulk Port site, do so;

http://kitamaatport.com/

Just a thought,

Mark

New agreement could mean great things for Kitimat!

visionary67 — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:25:03 +0000

I couldn’t have put together a better list myself. A recent group, not represeting the city or Alcan have put together a list of things that they would like to see city and Alcan accomplish together. I have been along time supporter of modernization, however less jobs only leads to a downward spiral effect. Therefore, both Alcan and the city should be coming up with a game plan to offset these job losses. The agreement would work as a “compensation” as a sort, however I don’t feel this is a handout. Alcan built Kitimat and retains some responsibilty, but the city now has grown up and its time to take it upon ourselves to find alternatives to Alcan. Im glad to see that the two parties are working together like they did for many decades. In hard times, it’s commendable that both sides are putting aside their pride and taking the next step.

I leave you with the Northern Sentinel Article;

Apr 18 2007

“People not representing either Alcan or the city who attended the close door meeting on April 4 (Sentinel, April 11) have developed a strategy that they believe will unite the two sides.Local business owner Tony Deni and Alcan retiree Richard McLaren acted as facilitators during the meeting in which Alcan Primary Metal president Michel Jacques met with city officials for the first time, said Deni.

Deni told the Sentinel that he had presented an eight point strategy.

“We’re hoping it will be a framework for council,” Deni explained. “But we’re not elected officials so it’s up to them.”

The first three points involve communication with the city and are the initial steps to redeveloping the fractured relationship, he said.

That list begins with “Alcan facilitating dialogue with senior levels of government.” Adding other parties to the talks, Deni suggested “Alcan facilitate dialogue with the Haisla in order to bring about a negotiated land claim outcome.”

And the final communication-based point is that “the make-up of the Kitamaat Port Development Society be changed to facilitate the full participation and decision making on the part of the city.”

The next three initiatives are centred around economic development.

Deni said these initiatives lead off with “Alcan partners with the city in developing energy-producing projects in the Kitimat area and that all potential upstream and downstream aluminum industries be fully explored.”

The next would see “road ownership south of the railroad track be changed to allow for access for the public to tidewater.”

The remaining economic development initiative is “that some of Alcan’s remaining lands in municipal boundaries other than industrial-zoned land adjacent to the smelter be gifted to the city.”

Deni pointed out these initiatives would “add value to the community” while trying to attract potential investors to the community.

The final two points fall more along the lines of benevolent gestures, Deni said.

The first requests “Alcan make a sizeable donation towards completion of the new swimming pool.”

The gesture would befit a new relationship between the city and Alcan, Deni explained.

The second gesture would unite the two sides in aiding the school district’s goal of returning the 5-day school week to the region.

Deni added that although these points make an excellent framework, he is not an elected official and does not make the decisions on behalf of Kitimatians.

In response to these points mayor Rick Wozney told the Sentinel the city has been working towards a number of these initiatives already.

Both agree the communication initiatives would be big steps forward for the city.

“These discussions are good because we’re getting into the communications loop,” Wozney said.

Even points such as road ownership have been discussed in the past between city administration and Alcan, he added.

But one discussion Wozney added he really would like to be a part of is the talks between Alcan and BC Hydro on the development of the new power sales agreement.

“We’ve not been part of any of those discussions,” he said.

One goal that the city would like to achieve is to establish a firm guarantee from Alcan the new smelter will be built. “We’re trying to get these things in writing,” Wozney explained.

The mayor also added that although this is only the start, through negotiations and dialogue “maybe we’ll end this thing.”

Alcan’s Paul Henning was tied up in meetings and unavailable for comment by press time.

Sources close to the talks between the company and city say they have met again since CEO Michel Jacques’ visit to Kitimat and another meeting was scheduled for either yesterday or today.”

Is Kitimat ready for the oil and gas sector?

visionary67 — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:45:00 +0000

With demands for oil mounting, it’s not whether or not the pipelines will flow, but when they will flow is the question. Personally I don’t think we are prepared for the economic spin offs that could arise from this sector. Kitimat LNG will need high paid plant managers, accountants and other high paying officials. Does Kitimat have the high end homes and fine dining to support these type of officials? Coming from Calgary and other wealthy cities, these individuals will want more than a fixer up bungaloo. Kitimat’s downtown could benefit immensly if we can encourage these companys to open branch offices in the downtown core. These companys may even construct new office buildings if persuaded Kitimat is great place to invest. Along with offices will come secretary, Public relations, managers and more job spin offs. Now is the time to encourage these companies to plant deeper roots in the community, because once the boom is here prices will soar and offices and high end homes may become a pipe dream.

just a thought,

Mark

Development of Theatre, Arts and Cultural centre.

visionary67 — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 22:44:00 +0000

With the recent sale of Nechako Theatre and uncertainty of its future, I have began putting pen to paper, hoping Kitimat will be again to view movies on the big screen in the future. A problem facing the community of Kitimat, when a bussinessman wants to either retire or move on to a different venture, they have a hard time selling their business. So in return they either sell off to any other individual, regardless of their future plans for the future or simply shut down shop. We have seen this with North Coast Lawn and Garden, Action Sport and Cycle, the Scrap Metal salvage facility on Forest Ave and many more.

My solution is to creat a non-profit theatre, arts and cultural centre. The propsed facility would have twin theatres, a large art gallery, a cultural centre to display local haisla artifacts and aritifacts from other cultures in Kitimat. The twin theatres would play the regular Hollywood movies, plus other Independant Films and documentaries (something for all ages and interests), the art gallery could display and sell local art for commision and the cultural centre could help teach Kitimat’s youth about the Haisla culture and the importance of protecting the environment. Kitimat could see a yearly held film festival at the Arts and Cultural centre, and the art gallery would make a great tourist attraction. The best location for the facility would be somewhere in the downtown area, possibly adjacent to the Kiwanis village and connected to the mountainview square parking lot.

just a thought,

Mark

Could Methanex and Kitimat LNG partner up?

visionary67 — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:58:27 +0000

Kitimat LNG needs customers to supply natural gas, Methanex needs natural gas, put the two together and we could have some great potential. Methanex Kitimat operations ceased productions in Nov. 2005 due to the high cost of natural gas in North America. http://www.methanex.com/investor/newsreleases/2005/pressrelease083005.html

I remember reading the Methanex Kitimat facility, was economically/strategically located to provide methanol and ammonia to North American markets. However, rising natural gas costs caused the plant to shutdown. Methanex Kitimat is providing condensate terminal services to Encana and continueing to import methanol. Encana has the option to purchase the site.

http://www.methanex.com/investor/newsreleases/2005/pressrelease092005.html

Quote: “In addition, the agreement provides EnCana the option to buy from Methanex, and Methanex the option to sell to EnCana, the Kitimat site (excluding the methanol and ammonia facilities), within the five-year term of the agreement.”

Now as you can read from the exert, the possible sale to Encana does not include the methanol and ammonia facilities. Now this leaves me with the conclusion that the site could produce methanol/ammonia again someday. This leads to the question, could Kitimat LNG supply Methanex with cheap enough natural gas to run the Kitimat facility? This is a question that an expert would have to answer. However, the size of the Kitimat LNG facilty is significantly larger than domestic supply demands, allowing me to believe that they are seeking some sort of commercial facility to consume the remainder. If you compare the size of Kitimat LNG to WestPac’s proposed LNG terminal in Prince Rupert, there is a large difference. The Kitimat LNG facility most definitely monsters over WestPac’s terminal. Methanex has access to cheaper natural gas markets in South America, now if they could import natural gas from these markets, and regasify through Kitimat LNG they could possibly run the Kitimat Methanex facility. This idea may not be feasible what so ever, however it would be worth while investigating further. I’m gonna have a whole grochery list of things for the city council to investigate by the end of the month.

Just a thought,

Mark

Retired portion of Nechako centre would make great seniors centre.

visionary67 — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:18:15 +0000

Council has long since wanted to do something with the decrepit half of the Nechako Centre. I’ve began thinking of a few ideas, and heres what I came up with.

The back half of the Nechako Centre has treamendous potential, a building of this size yields some great oppurtunities. Although a new seniors centre has been established next to Riverlodge, that doesnt lend to say another centre would go unused. The upstairs of the old Nechacko Centre could be turned into some sort of “bachelor suite” seniors condos (I’ve never been upstairs, therefore can’t confirm if the old offices would be able to accomodate this). The old large shop easy, could be turned into a large seniors centre, with TV’s, pool tables, shuffle board and possibly carpet bowling. To the right of the shop easy, where Don Rocco’s restaurant is, could be turned into a coffee shop where both seniors and others could go to socialize (who knows maybe the seniors society could run coffee shop as a profit generating entity). As far as parking goes, the back half of the Nechao centre has an enormous amount of parking, and the old loading ramp of the shop easy could be converted to support private parking for the new condo owners. In the end, the city would no longer have an eyesore, but a vibrant place for seniors to use.

Now how would one go about doing this?

In terms carrying out the whole project, one could go about it two ways.

First off the city or seniors group could purchase the building, hire a contractor to perform the renovation, then sell/rent the condos to those looking for a maintenance free condo.

Secondly, the district or private individual could work with the owner of the centre, and acting as a broker could arrange for the renovations, sale of the condos and the leasing of the premises to the seniors group. Therefore the current centre owner would not have to take as much risk, nor do as much work.

Just a thought,

Mark

Could N.W.C.C Kitimat see a trades campus someday?

visionary67 — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 23:04:24 +0000

The city of Kitimat is home to the majority of Northwest B.C’s industries. However, there is no trades campus located in the city. Kitimat Valley Institute, the local industrial educator, focuses mainly on Power Engineering programs and oil and gas training. The growing gap between trades people retiring and being replaced is a growing concern. Although the N.W.C.C Terrace campus does have trades training, the capacity is not nearly enough. Kitimat was recently visited by a mobile trades classroom to raise awareness about the trades oportunities.

see link:

http://www.northernsentinel.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=16&cat=23&id=866267&more

This leads to my question, why not expand the N.W.C.C Kitimat campus to accomodate trades training? The city of Prince Rupert expanded their campus two years ago to allow for more trades related programs. Teaming up with local industries and the government, Prince Rupert was able to fund this endeavor. If Kitimat was to rally some support for a trades college, we could allocate the resources to make it happen. Kitimat has alot of proposed industrial projects coming online in the next 5 years that will reqired skilled tradesmen, If the city was to lobby the Provincial/Federal government and recieve some contributions from local industry the trades campus could become a reality. As far as competition with the Terrace/Rupert campuses, Kitimat could offer trades that the other campuses don’t offer. For instance there is currently no trades training for Pipefitters, Machinists, Ironworkes or Glazers in the Northwest. What about space to expand the Kitimat Campus? Kitimat’s Official Community Plan designates land for the colleges expansion if ever desired. What other facilities could enhance the Kitimat Campus? A 30+ student residence could enhance the campuses presence and lend to other economic spin offs in the community. And with being close to the new Kitimat Hospital, the college expansion could lead to some health care related programs. Just A thought, maybe it will happen someday!