The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has given conditional approval to G3’s application to build a massive grain terminal on the North Vancouver waterfront.
The port announced the approval on Friday morning along with 74 permit conditions G3 must abide by “to ensure the project does not result in significant adverse environmental effects, including impacts to the surrounding community, stakeholders and Aboriginal groups.”
Among those conditions, G3 must file plans related to lighting, fuel spill response, archeology, environmental management during construction, marine mammal monitoring, and construction traffic management. Construction will be limited from Monday to Friday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Should the project go ahead, it will consist of 48 14-storey grain silos, a 264-foot tall work building, and a rail loop capable of holding three trains of up to 150 cars each, at the foot of Brooksbank Avenue.
Brett Malkoske, vice-president of business development for G3, said he is confident his company can meet the port’s conditions.
“We are really happy with this major milestone in the process,” he said. “We do hope to make a final investment decision shortly.”
The exact cost of the new facility hasn’t been finalized but Malkoske said it is “north of $500 million” and the company expects to employ 50 workers upon completion.
A citizens’ group had collected more than 700 signatures for a petition raising concerns about the project’s grain dust and noise, as well as rail and shipping traffic. Those concerns should be addressed though the port’s permitting process, Malkoske said.
“The port is a very professional outfit. We have the utmost respect for the technical folks on their staff. We’ve spent a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of money making sure that ... impact on the community is minimized. We want to be a good neighbour,” he said.
Peter Xotta, vice-president of planning and operations for the port, expressed a similar sentiment. One of the 74 conditions is additional communication with the surrounding community on mitigation efforts, he said.
“We believe that the 74 conditions are those which will, to the extent necessary and possible, address the vast majority of all of those legitimate issues,” he said. “As we said to the (Stop) G3 folks, we understand that living adjacent to industrial activity can generate some issues. We’re working as hard as we can to address those issues.”
