Let's hope Port Metro Vancouver doesn't view a consultant's report quite the same way.
I had to chuckle when I heard Delta was spending up to $45,000 of our tax dollars to study the feasibility of an inland port in a bid to minimize the impacts of container expansion on this community. There's definitely merit in civic efforts to prevent prime agricultural land from falling into the port's clutches, but the idea of hiring a consultant to further that cause seems curious given what came out of municipal hall just a few weeks ago.
When municipal leaders were questioned about the significant costs incurred to process the Southlands development application, including more than $130,000 spent on three consultants' reports, we were told Delta had to pick up the tab to ensure transparency and independence.
I fail to see why Century Group couldn't have provided funding for the studies, or at least chipped in to help cover the bill, and then allowed Delta to choose the consultants in order to maintain that desired independence, but that's for another day. I understand there's a need for neutrality in order that findings are beyond reproach, which brings me back to the inland port study about to get underway.
I'm not trying to besmirch the consultant's reputation, but you can bet if Delta is spending $45,000 to advance the idea of port activities taking place away from the water, the study's conclusion is going to support such a stance.
And what is Port Metro Vancouver to make of those findings? Surely the port authority is going to look at the study through the same cynical glasses Delta would have been wearing had Century been the one to pay for and provide the consultants' reports on the Southlands.
The fact Port Metro Vancouver doesn't appear terribly keen on the idea of an inland port only makes matters worse. It's had ample opportunity, including previous Delta overtures, to embrace the notion, but instead has mused about the need to create an industrial land reserve.
I give Delta marks for trying because no one outside of Ashcroft, where an expanded inland terminal is being proposed, is going to push the port to look for alternatives to what's being contemplated for Roberts Bank, which will undoubtedly have greater and greater impacts on this community.
However, I find it hard to believe port executives will view the study Delta is commissioning as anything more than a partisan attempt to alter preordained plans.
