The Regional District of Central Kootenay says it could not have notified Pacific Insight any sooner about plans to move the Nelson transfer station next to the company’s headquarters.
Environmental services manager Uli Wolf defends the process used in arriving at the proposed site, explaining negotiations for the 22-acre parcel had to be conducted privately until they could agree on a price.
“The day we signed the agreement with the property owner for a potential purchase, we told Pacific Insight,” he says. “That was as fast as we could reasonably release the information.”
However, Tom Mamic, the company’s director of finance, calls that “nonsense,” arguing they could and should have been brought into the picture much sooner.
“We sign non-disclosure agreements with the biggest companies in the world like Ford and GM,” he says. “When the regional district says ‘We can’t trust you guys,’ we totally disagree. They didn’t take the concerns of the biggest party impacted into account.”
Wolf stresses the agreement is not a done deal — they have an option to buy at a guaranteed price, subject to public feedback. However, Mamic fears it’s a foregone conclusion.
“We would like to think the public process will allow them to accept input and modify their decision accordingly, but I think the reality is the decision has already been made,” he says. “We don’t see a lot of opportunity to have [the location] changed.”
Pacific Insight has a variety of concerns, including additional traffic that will be generated past their door and the effect being next to a transfer station may have on their image.
“There are a number of negative conditions associated with the transfer station. Those are being felt on the waterfront right now and they’re being transferred to us,” Mamic says.
But Wolf responds that the new transfer station will not look like the old: “It is a new, clean facility. It has limited activity on site. There’s absolutely no disposal. Everything is contained.”
He adds it will not be visible from Pacific Insight’s property, and while there will be an impact on traffic, “we need to understand it is a public road and there is a major highway in front of Pacific Insight.”
Wolf says the site was selected after an extensive process of seeking and evaluating potential properties. Moving the transfer station off the waterfront was identified as a priority in the regional district’s resource recovery plan, completed last year.
“We looked at expanding at [the existing] site but are limited because of occupied railway land not available to us other than in a relatively expensive lease,” Wolf says.
Regional director Ramona Faust, whose area includes Pacific Insight and the proposed new transfer station, says she regrets the company couldn’t have been notified sooner.
“I feel very badly,” she says. “They certainly are very important to Area E and the regional district as a whole. I don’t want them to take it as a slight. It’s the way the process unfolds of looking at land.”
Faust feels the proposed location “is a good site,” but there hasn’t been an opportunity to work through the company’s fears.
“It’s going to be a much improved transfer station with current standards in mind. There are a lot of options, so discussion needs to take place,” she says.
A public meeting is planned for Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the regional district office in Nelson.
Staff will compile feedback into a report for the board, which will make the final decision. The move, including property acquisition, is expected to cost $3.3 million.