Lot 444 goes to Public Hearing and Special Council Rezoning Session tonight

Residents have one more chance to outline their thoughts on the topic of the City's proposed rezoning plans for Lot 444, the stretch of land along Tuck Inlet across from Seal Cove, an area that the City is looking to rezone as part of  a process to allow for an LNG Terminal at that location.

As we have outlined in the past, Exxon/Mobil has started with their exploratory examination of the potential development site of Tuck Inlet for their fairly comprehensive LNG project, which if constructed would provide jobs for the community and revenue for the City of Prince Rupert.

Towards that proposal, on November 25th, the City recently held a public information session at the Highliner Inn on the topic.

As we noted yesterday, that session evolved in a fashion that wasn't quite what Councillor Thorkelson and a few others from the past City Council might have expected.

Still, the information was made available for review, and to go with that evening's public session, the City also provided for a fairly extensive Report from City Manager Robert Long.

A document which featured an accompanying study from Dr. Barb Faggetter, the oceanographer hired by the City's Legacy Corporation to conduct an environmental overview of the proposed site.

You can review more background from last weeks Public session from our item of last week.

For tonight, the process which has been an ongoing file with Council for a number of months now, will provide for a Public Hearing, where those in the community with concerns, questions or observations on the zoning proposal can make them known to City Council.

Tonight's Public Hearing takes place at 7 PM at the Highliner Inn on First Avenue West.

Following that Hearing, Council members will then convene a Special Session of City Council at 9 PM to review the zoning proposals for Lot 444, and then if they are inclined that way, provide the zoning bylaw plan a third reading this evening.

Following which, according to the part 135 of the Community Charter, the process would then require one more session of Council to adopt and take the project on to the next phase of development.

Depending on the timeline that they have in mind (and any agreements with Exxon/Mobil that may be in place through the Legacy Corporation), that might mean one more special session of Council will be required on the topic, as the next regular Council meeting is not scheduled until mid January of 2015.

Should Council give the nod to the zoning revisions, the next phase of review for the proposal would involve the Development Permit Process and with that, will come an extensive Environmental Review attached to the proposed Exxon/Mobil project.

Making for more opportunities where the public will be able to offer up commentary and make observations regarding the large scale industrial proposal for the City's eastern reaches.

You can review the City's documentation regarding tonight's twin sessions, with these items from the City's Website.

For more background on the Lot 444 issues and the proposed development on Tuck Inlet see our archive page here.

Further information related to Discussions at City Council sessions can be found on our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review