The city of Port Alberni’s controversial lease of the former plywood lots A and B to the Port Alberni Port Authority will expire as of Oct. 31.
The city had leased the two lots to the port authority last year with a clause that industrial or marine commercial enterprise must occur on the site before July 1, 2015. The original, pre-approved proposal was to have Canadian Alberni Engineering begin ship building operations there.
In July 2015, after the one-year term was up and no industrial or commercial activity had taken place, Couns. Chris Alemany and Sharie Minions made a motion to give PAPA its 90-day notice for the lots. The motion was defeated and notice was ultimately given to the port authority at the Sept. 14 meeting of city council.
While PAPA had up to 90 days to terminate the lease, they chose to do so early.
“There are irons in the fire and when we’re ready to reveal and discuss in greater depth the city will certainly do that,” said Mayor Mike Ruttan following the announcement.
“We’re working hard on it and hopefully we’ll have something to share within the next 3-4 weeks.”
Ruttan said he could not comment on whether or not the ideas floating around were recreational or industrial in nature.
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