Grain terminal coming to North Vancouver first to be built in decades

A grain export company has announced it will begin construction on the first new export terminal to open in Metro Vancouver in more than 40 years.

G3 Terminal Vancouver is to be built in the City of North Vancouver's Lynnterm Terminal on Brooksbank Avenue, the company said in a statement.

The proponent, U.S.-Saudi-owned G3 Holdings, says it can handle up to 180,000 metric tonnes of wheat, soybeans, canola, peas, corn and "some specialty by-products."

The operation once completed, will hold a 64-metre tall grain storage facility with 48 silos, a grain-cleaning facility and a large train loop that will allow up to three 134-car trains to simultaneously unload.

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"We plan to transform the movement of grain through the West Coast, providing Canadian farmers with competitive pricing and reliable delivery opportunities," G3 Canada Ltd. CEO Karl Gerrand said in a statement.

G3 says the project will create 175 construction jobs and 50 to 60 full-time jobs once completed.

Some residents opposed

But a group of residents say the project, which will built on the other side of a road and railway tracks from homes and businesses, should be located further away and doesn't belong on the North Vancouver harbour.

Stop G3 spokeswoman Holly Cole says the facility is too big and will produce too much noise and pollution from both vehicle exhaust and the handling of grain.

"We're just saying, why are you building this . . . terminal across the street from where all these people live?" Cole said.

"There has to be a better way of the port communicating and living in harmony with the community and the people of North Vancouver particularly.

"It's just not happening."

Cole says the consultation process was inadequate and rushed and didn't give residents enough opportunity to give substantive feedback. She would have preferred if the group had held more open houses.

Project could provide city $1M yearly: mayor

But City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto says the project is a win for the city.

It is expected to provide about $1 million per year in tax revenue, could provide local jobs and will help the national economy, Mussatto said. 

"I think the local community raised some very important issues that needed to be dealt with … it helped us identify things that needed to be addressed," he said.

Mussatto said he feels measures taken by G3 will minimize pollution, but since Port Metro Vancouver is federal land, he said, municipal regulations largely don't apply.

That does little to reassure Cole.

"I know Mayor Mussatto doesn't live anywhere near the port," she said. "The mayor's obviously got his opinions, but if you read the 735 comments on our petition, those people also have opinions, and they're all 'no.'

"They don't want any more health concerns in this community."

G3 says construction of the facility will begin in March 2017, "subject to final notifications." The facility is expected to open in 2020.