Recent History – 2000
June 9, 2000
TUMBLER RIDGE — The District of Tumbler Ridge will take ownership of nearly 1,000 homes in the community with the intent of putting them up for sale.
The District will become the owner of 621 houses and 256 apartment units currently owned by Quintette Coal and 95 homes and townhouses currently owned by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The acquisition is tied to the permanent closure of the Quintette Coal Mine, on August 31, two years ahead of schedule.
“This initiative will give people the opportunity to purchase B.C.’s most affordable homes and live in a safe community offering full amenities,” said Mayor Clay Iles in a news release issued Thursday evening.
“These new people coming to Tumbler Ridge will help create a new economy for this area where many of the existing residents intend to remain.”
A.J. Galbraith and Associates, a Vancouver-based real estate marketing company, has been contacted to handle the sales.
The price of the single family homes and apartment units, which are about 15 years old, will be determined later this month. The sale could begin as early as July 1.
Occupants of the Quintette rental properties will continue to rent homes in Tumbler Ridge at current rates.
A.J. Galbraith and Associates has completed about 130 projects in North America, including selling hundreds of homes on decommissioned military bases in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and Masset, B.C.
Last year the company sold 141 homes formerly belonging to employees of the Gold River Pulp Mill, which closed leaving the village with no major industry.
“People will always go where there is affordable housing,” Al Galbraith said in the news release. “The community of Tumbler Ridge offers recreational opportunities and will attract retirees, people who work outside the area and families looking to start a new life in a small community.
A variety of diversification opportunities are being investigated by the Tumbler Ridge Revitalization Task Force, jointly sponsored by the District of Tumbler Ridge and the B.C. Ministry of Community Development.
The community, located in the northern Rocky Mountains northeast of Prince George, features a $10 million indoor recreation centre and sits on some of Western Canada’s most productive natural gas reserves. It is a haven for outdoors enthusiasts with hiking and fishing in summer along with cross country skiing and hundreds of kilometres of snowmobile trails in the winter.