Prince George, B.C. – The industrial land strategy being developed by the Regional District of Fraser Fort George, could be ready soon.

 

The General Manager of Community and Development Services for the Regional District says the next step is a meeting with stakeholders “That will be more about process” says Tom MacEachen. He says   of the properties identified for industrial development, some are “more ready than others.”

 

MacEachen says the Hart North site is one that has been identified by the Integrated Land Management Bureau for some time “That site could be made market ready fairly  quickly, but what fairly quickly actually means is not certain.”

 

He says the initiative by the Integrated Land Management Bureau to work with the Northern Development Initiative to make Crown lands more readily available to local government is very exciting. “I think that might be the avenue we look at for bringing these Crown lands to market ready status much quicker.”

 

The phrase “market ready” may not be what you expect in the Regional District term of reference. MacEachen says industrial land within the Regional District typically would not have water and sewer supplied to it, “It would be the industry, typically heavy industry, would be responsible for their own on site disposal as well as acquiring water from a nearby stream or river or groundwater. So when it comes to developing rural –regional district land in electoral areas, typically you’re talking about road and rail accessibility. Some of these sites already have, for example Hart North, it is quite accessible by those modes of transportation already.”