City council is asking the province to reject a sand and gavel pit application on Westside Rd.
The proposal was put forward by Terus Construction, who currently has a gravel pit in the area. The application is to expand their pit into the surrounding Crown Land.
City staff recommended rejecting the proposal as the land has been set aside for a technology park and part of the area has been identified as very environmentally sensitive in the Official Community Plan.
However, Tyson Craiggs, aggregate resource and land manager for Terus said it would be a shame to let the “high quality” gravel resource go to waste.
“The fact is we can work together with the city staff and come up with a compatible end-use plan that works for the city’s long term development plans as well maximize the aggregate resources available and may provide a revenue stream to them as well,” he said. “Through a soil removal fee.”
He said this location reminds him of the Campbell Heights development in Surrey that used to be an agricultural, forested area with a number of gravel pits and is now a large industrial park.
Terus Construction applied for a similar project in 2019, which the city did not support and was denied by the province. The license for their current gravel pit ends in 2023.
At the moment city staff are doing feasibility studies for the land and have received funding through the Rural Dividend Fund to develop and implement the technology park.
“The City of Revelstoke is one of if not the hottest real estate market in the country and aggregate is needed to continue to grow,” Craiggs said. “We need to work together to make sure this is looked after and not work against each other.”
Council voted unanimously, asking the province to reject the application.
The project is across the road from another controversial gravel pit project near the Jordan River.
READ MORE: City of Revelstoke applying to withdraw Jordan River from Crown Land
READ MORE: ‘This river is a treasure’-Revelstoke resident opposes gravel pit proposal near Jordan River
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