Residents concerned over PCT growth plan

 

 
 
 
 
Pacific Coast Terminals is planning a $125-million expansion of its Port Moody facility so it can handle new material. Some residents of nearby Gore Street areworried a plannedpotash storage warehouse will affect their view of the inlet.
 

Pacific Coast Terminals is planning a $125-million expansion of its Port Moody facility so it can handle new material. Some residents of nearby Gore Street areworried a plannedpotash storage warehouse will affect their view of the inlet.

Photograph by: file photo , NOW

As Pacific Coast Terminals continues to work on expansion plans, residents in one Port Moody neighbourhood are crying foul over the size of one aspect of the operation.

More specifically, a group of homeowners living on Gore Street is troubled by a plan to build a 30-metre-tall potash storage warehouse at the site.

Dan McDonald is one of those residents. Besides losing a view of the inlet, he's worried what the new warehouse will do, not only to his own property value, but values across Port Moody.

McDonald argued the expansion would impact the city's entire skyline.

"My concern would be I don't believe they [PCT] have educated the people as to what this building truly will be and how it's going to affect everyone in Port Moody," he told The NOW.

McDonald is not alone among people living on his street.

Sean Slusarchuk also lives on Gore and has been talking to neighbours.

He said he bought his home six years ago with the understanding he would be close to the sulphur piles, but the trade-off was the view.

Slusarchuk said the warehouse would put an end to the view, and he wants PCT to halt its plans.

"Their [PCT's] concerns are not ours, that's what it comes down to," Slusarchuk said, adding he understands the need for jobs, but suggested he can't afford to chip in a portion of the value of his house to make that happen.

Both he and McDonald argued the company hasn't done enough to educate the public on its expansion plans.

Slusarchuk also contends the project renderings on the company's website are misleading.

In July, PCT announced plans to expand its operation and is currently in talks with a couple of potential customers in Western Canada to start handling potash and food-grade canola oil at its Port Moody terminal.

PCT is potentially looking at handling 2.8 million tons of potash and another 750,000 tons of canola oil annually. The terminal currently handles shipments of sulphur and ethylene glycol.

The company estimated spending $125 mil-lion to expand its current operation to handle the new material.

That expansion would also include the construction of a new rail-car dumper and conveying system to handle the potash, and three additional storage tanks for the canola oil.

The company would be looking to add 90 full-time jobs once the expansion was completely up and running.

Donna Woroschuk also lives on Gore, but her home is located a little higher up than those of Slusarchuk and McDonald.

Though she stands to lose some of her view of the inlet, she appears resigned to the expansion.

While Woroschuk suggested the proposed warehouse would be a "blight" on the neighbourhood, she understands the need for PCT to grow and "keep up with the world."

"I don't think anything we say or do will make much of a difference," she said, adding she's already started to lose her view because of trees.

Woroschuk also wondered what residents living on the other side of the inlet think about the plan.

But officials with PCT are defending the expansion and the company's efforts to educate the public.

Diana Dilworth, community relations coordinator for PCT, said the company appreciates there are residents who have concerns and it is doing its best to answer questions.

She said the photo renderings on the website are realistic and are actual pictures from both the Ioco and Gore sides of the inlet.

"We are being absolutely as transparent as we possibly can," she said, noting the company has heard from about a dozen residents with questions since making the expansion plans public.

Dilworth said the company is ramping up its engagement in the fall, sending out an update through its Channels newsletter and a planned open house.

PCT was planning to have the public open house in October, but due to negotiations with its partners, a date hasn't been confirmed.

But before shipments of either material can come through the port, PCT still needs to go through an approval process, which is under jurisdiction of the federal government.

If approved, PCT expects to start receiving shipments of the oil by the end 2013, and the potash by 2015.

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Pacific Coast Terminals is planning a $125-million expansion of its Port Moody facility so it can handle new material. Some residents of nearby Gore Street areworried a plannedpotash storage warehouse will affect their view of the inlet.
 

Pacific Coast Terminals is planning a $125-million expansion of its Port Moody facility so it can handle new material. Some residents of nearby Gore Street areworried a plannedpotash storage warehouse will affect their view of the inlet.

Photograph by: file photo , NOW

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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