Logging trucks will be coming down 4th Avenue this winter — 130 loads — but they will be paying for the privilege. City CAO Scott Sommerville says that a price of $56 per load has been agreed upon. That amount will be reviewed before being incorporated into a bylaw.
Kimberley City Council had a lengthy discussion at their last regular meeting about logging trucks coming down 4th Avenue. At the end of the discussion, staff was given a mandate by Council to hammer out a deal with BC Timber Sales, who have two cut-blocks on the market in the Mark Creek watershed.
Council was worried about what the trucks would do to the surface of 4th Avenue, one of the major routes in Kimberley. With budgets tight and many of Kimberley’s streets requiring attention, there was little appetite for what BC Timber Sales was initially offering, which was monitoring road conditions, abiding by load restrictions, safety briefings with the licensee and providing signage for safety.
Council at the very least wanted a deposit against possible damage, but some, such as Darryl Oakley argued that wasn’t good enough. He said in all likelihood the deposit would already be returned before damage was even discovered after the spring thaw.
BC Timber Sales had argued that 4th Avenue had a long history with industrial traffic with the Sullivan Mine, but it was pointed out to them by Council that Cominco was paying over a million dollars in taxes at the time.