Owners of a closed sa国际传媒 sawmill have been given more time to prepare a report on the condition of the waterfront industrial property.
Tolko Industries now has until Feb. 20, 2022 to complete a detailed site investigation of its property in the downtown north end.
The report was to have been finished earlier this year but the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy this week grated an extension.
Tolko says such extensions are common, particularly with "large and complex" sites such as the closed mill, which operated for more than 80 years before being shut down in early 2020.
Tolko has hired an independent firm to conduct the site study.
"The third party team conducting the site study have used provincial protocols to confirm that the site is not a high risk to the environment or human health," Bob Fleet, a Tolko vice-president, said in a Friday release from the company.
"While detailed analysis is ongoing, we are pleased with the overall condition of the site given the history of industrial operations," Fleet said.
Demolition of buildings at the former sawmill is ongoing, as authorized by the provincial government and the City of sa国际传媒.
However, a stipulation is that the underlying soil cannot be disturbed, or the foundations of buildings removed, until completion of the detailed site investigation.
The demolition schedule calls for the large plywood plan to come down this summer and fall. Smaller buildings are expected to remain at the site until the end of the year.
Tolko announced the closure of the sa国际传媒 mill in November 2019. The company blamed market conditions, the cost of logs, and the effect of government policies.
sa国际传媒 180 workers lost their jobs. Dozens more had laid off earlier in what was then described as a temporary curtailment of operations.
