Townsite Neighbourhood Review

Thank you for your question and comment. Yes, the Sustainable Official Community Plan currently identifies some of the land in the Townsite Neighbourhood Review area as "Employment Centre". Employment Centre is intended to accommodate a variety of employment generating uses, such as business park, wholesaling, warehousing, service industry, light industry, and light manufacturing. However, this engagement process may result in proposals to change that Employment Centre land use designation to something else. In terms of access, no access routes have been decided, but using the existing logging road/haul road for public access to these lands is not a feasible option. Adding a new interchange from Highway 101 is an option and would be subject to approval from the province.

Regarding the Catalyst lands and buildings, this idea has been raised by a few people so far – work with Catalyst (particularly during tax revitalization time) to keep acquiring more of the mill lands and particularly those unused mill buildings for adaptive reuse. I’ll certainly bring this idea forward to the options & directions stage, because like you note it has implications for land in the study area.

PRREDS commissioned a Stage 2 Preliminary Site Investigation. From what I understand, this study located contamination along the waterfront, particularly on the lands north of Second Beach and water-side of the Consolidated Waste Water Treatment Plant. I’m not aware of any studies regarding the upland areas in the study area.

Great question. The road network can certainly inform the plan, but we don’t have to stick with it if the community would like to see a different approach.

Thank you for your question. Yes, this Official Community Plan neighbourhood review process is building on top of the Parks and Trails Master Plan. Planning staff will need to still dedicate trails so that they are protected.

Thank you for your question. Our Engineering team have made a ParticipatePR page with lots of information and reports, which you can find here: https://participatepr.ca/wastewater-treatment-plant

In short, a 2018 staff report summarizes some of the technical findings from studies about the location of the piping along Willingdon Beach Trail. You can see the report here, and here is a quote from the report:

An Environmental Impact study has been completed which indicates that the installation of the force main along the Willingdon Beach Trail alignment can be accomplished with very little impact to the environment and without causing any material change to the trail. An archeological review has also been completed with no issues identified. The Archeologist has uncovered many interesting archeological finds in the project area and will be presenting them in a report later this year.

Residents have raised concerns about protecting the Willingdon Beach Trail, making sure the trail is not destroyed and that the trees, and in particular the tree roots, along the trial are protected and preserved. This has been taken into consideration by the project team.

The Willingdon Beach Trail was constructed many years ago as a rail system to move logs to the mill site. This swath of land is essentially free of trees and relatively free of roots. Since it is not an active roadway, it is possible to install the 450 mm (18 inch) diameter pipeline in a relatively shallow trench (+/- 0.5 m of cover), with minimal disturbance to trees and root systems.

A professional arborist is working closely with the city and engineers to develop construction methods that would strictly limit disturbance to the tree roots. The arborist has identified 15 trees along the route that may have some portion of their root systems extending into the trail. A ground penetrating radar unit has been used to provide 3D images of these root systems. Trenchless technologies for pipeline installation such as directional drilling as well as manual excavation are being considered for these sections of the trail.

The intention for the trail is to leave it in as good or better condition than when the project started. Staff are reviewing different ways of enhancing the trail with pubic amenities such as a better walking surface, benches, viewing platforms, different forms of lighting, as well as First Nations and Pulp Mill educational viewing areas.

If you have more questions about the Consolidated Wastewater Treatment Plant, please head over to the CWWTP project page!

Thank you for your question. That land is currently designated as Employment Centre and Waterfront Commercial/Industrial in the Sustainable Official Community Plan (the blue area within the study boundary). We're looking for your ideas about whether this land use designation still makes sense today!

Here's some information about what the Sustainable Official Community Plan (SOCP) currently says about Employment Centre and Waterfront Commercial/Industrial land use designations.

• The Employment Centre designation includes service commercial, light industrial and institutional uses that will generate employment opportunities, create ‘clean industry’ with high performance characteristics and provide related services. This designation does not include heavy industry or predominately retail commercial uses. 
• The Waterfront Commercial/Industrial designation is applied to commercial or industrial uses below the natural boundary such as the BC Ferries terminal, barge terminal, harbours, marinas, and mill site marine facilities. Employment lands are subject to Development Permit Area 7 form and character requirements.

• SOCP Policy 4.13.1(d) states, “Maximize opportunities afforded by the waterfront for marine-related uses and create a Marine Business Park on the waterfront lands in Townsite.” 
• SOCP Policy 4.13.2 (e) The City will work with the Powell River Regional Economic Development Society, Catalyst Paper, Tla'amin Nation and other agencies, as applicable, to achieve a healthy, diverse, successful mix of uses on the Employment Lands in Townsite with waterfront access.

Tell us what you'd like to see on these lands using the Maps tab or the Ideas tab, or you can email or call me directly. One idea we've heard so far is a boat ramp and marina. Other ideas include a waterfront promenade and public amenities like washrooms and gathering areas to support a park at First Beach. 

City staff do not know what the plans are for the proposed composting facility - it would be best to contact qathet Regional District for more information. That said, Tla'amin Nation owns land to the north of the study area - the parcel pointed out with an arrow on this map, and to the north of the blue Waterfront Commercial/Industrial parcel.