The last remaining physical proof of Skeena Cellulose and its ill-fated successor, the Terrace Lumber Company, is being demolished.
Billabong Road and Bridge Maintenance started tearing up the graffiti-covered concrete footings in the old chip and hog fuel area of the old mill site last week.
“It’s just a matter of cleaning up all the old concrete that’s on that site,” said Garry Roth of NSD Development Corp, which owns 52.5 acres of the property that used to house the community’s largest industrial employer.
The sawmill was built by Skeena Cellulose in 1988 and was a hub of activity until the company slid into bankruptcy protection in early 1997, beginning a decade of economic uncertainty.
Eventually purchased by locally-owned the Terrace Lumber Company, the mill closed for good and was dismantled in 2007, leaving the former active property empty save for the graffiti-covered concrete remnants.
The property ended up in the hands of the city because of unpaid property taxes and NSD paid $1.18 million in 2009 for five plots of land, some of which run from Kenney to the Sande Overpass and from Keith Ave. to the south and the CN tracks to the north.
NSD has since leased land by the Sande Overpass to Timber Baron Contracting Ltd. to use as its log sort yard.
“We hope, in the end, that all 40 acres will be developed,” Roth said, adding that the work will be done in phases. Treed parcels on Keith Ave. will have some clearing and levelling work done as well.
Roth wouldn’t say anything more about future plans, but said developing the properties and subdividing for resale is an option. The company hasn’t actively marketed the land, but there has been some interest, he said.
