Dear Editor,
Last week’s hazmat container fire in Vancouver Harbour and the container ship grounding in the Fraser River last January are examples of what we can look forward to should the proposed Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation’s proposed project come to fruition.
Imagine the chaos if the Riverport sports entertainment complex and adjacent waterfront condominiums were engulfed in the heat and acrid smoke of a jet fuel fire.
The gridlock on No. 6 Road and Steveston Highway at peak theatre times is an example of how difficult it would be to evacuate the area and how difficult it would be for first responders to access the area in the event of an emergency.
How can the project move forward without a very significant upgrade of the roadway infrastructure to and from Riverport and a new fire hall in the area with the specialized equipment needed to fight a jet fuel fire?
So the questions become: Who pays for the roadway improvements? Who pays for the new fire hall? Will it be the City of Richmond? Will Richmond taxpayers end up subsidizing a project most do not want?
The document which explains the minister’s reason for approving the proposed project states that the project will generate $500,000 a year in property taxes, “a portion of which will go toward supporting fire protection services.” There is no mention of roadway improvements.
I don’t understand the silence on this topic. At a minimum, there should be a publicly available analysis by the City of Richmond that either verifies or refutes the numbers and the assertion in the decision document.
Frank Suto
Richmond
