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Regional district considering 911 service

Regional district directors will be debating whether 911 emergency telephone service is worth $95,000 a year when they meet Friday in Prince Rupert.
Administrator Janet Beil said the regional district is considering a proposal from the Fort Fraser regional district, which has offered to expand its Prince George-based 911 service to Skeena-Queen Charlotte. The cost would be around $474,000 over a five-year period, Ms Beil said.
This cost would be borne by the regional district taxpayers outside of Prince Rupert, which already has its own 911 service, she said. If the service were in place, it would mean that islanders could simply dial 911 if they needed emergency fire, police or ambulance services.
Ms Beil said she is investigating the proposal further and will make a report to the directors tomorrow.
In other regional district news:
• At the May 1 meeting, held in Prince George, directors gave third reading to a bylaw which will rezone Paul Melney's property just outside Port Clements to heavy industrial. Ms Beil said directors have set several conditions, including requiring Mr. Melney to build a fence around the site and complete an environmental report, before they will give the bylaw final approval.
• Directors decided not to approve a zoning bylaw which would have allowed a strata development on a large lot in Tlell. The owners had proposed dividing the lot into some small lots - less than the minimum size of 1.5 hectares - with a large jointly-owned area.
"It did not meet lot size requirements," Ms Beil said. "Directors were not willing to set a precedent."
• Directors did approve a bylaw which will require all restaurants in Queen Charlotte to have grease traps. Ms Beil said cleaning grease out of the community's sewage system has been costing $7,000 to $10,000 a year.