With liquefied natural gas development on the minds of many in the province, the number of businesses and developers turning to Port Edward was a topic of discussion during the Nov. 5 council meeting.
"We have never seen this kind of interest in Port Edward ... we have interest from people wanting to build things, people in the logistics industry and people who just want to invest in the community," said Councillor Knut Bjorndal, noting the current level of activity surpasses that of the Fairview Terminal opening.
"There was nobody coming to us in 2005 when the container terminal was announced to say they wanted to do things like buy and fix up the trailer court, so it is enlightening to see this level of interest in Port Edward."
Highlighting the interest in the community was a meeting held on Nov. 4 to meet and thank companies who are turning their eyes to Port Edward. While names of the companies are not being released at this time, those in attendance at the meeting were said to go beyond community relations representatives and, in some cases, included CEOs and COOs of major companies.
"It was a great meeting," said Mayor Dave MacDonald.
So far this year, Port Edward has sold land to the PTI Group, who plan to develop worker housing for the Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal on Lelu Island, and Alberta energy giant AltaGas, who have publicly discussed their desire to ship propane and develop a floating LNG terminal on the North Coast, while plans are also in place for the sale of the existing mobile home park. The District of Port Edward was also singled out by B.C. Premier Christy Clark in her speech to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.