For the mayor being misquoted, I emailed the Town of Lake Cowichan and they said the pellet plant wasn't within their municipal boundaries, but that of the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD). I responded to that email asking about the Mayor's comment about permits being issued within 30 days which implied the project was within their jurisdiction. Their response was that the Mayor was misquoted. I also looked at the town's community plan that was just approved and there is only one site that is zoned as industrial.
I then emailed the CVRD and asked them about the pellet plant. They confirmed a pellet plant going in and gave me the name of the guy in charge of permitting, but wouldn't tell me anything more unless they knew what my relationship was to the project. I told them I was a shareholder. I didn't get any further response. I then emailed the guy in charge on Thursday asking if permits had been applied for and he said not yet.
Anyway, all of these discussions led me to the conclusion that there is a pellet plant being discussed going into the region, but it isn't within the town limits that the Mayor has authority for, but permits haven't been applied for. The inconsistencies in the story have me concerned, but the bottom line is there is a pellet plant. I'm a Civil Engineer, so if they just acquired the site and hadn't done any site design prior to escrow closing, they still have grading plans to prepare along with design of dry and wet utilities. This can probably explain why permits haven't been applied for, but their schedule sounds a little ambitious. Being from California though, I'm accustomed to a lot more bureaucracy and environmental restrictions that cause delays so the requirements in BC may be much different than those that I deal with. We do have a year round construction season, so design could be done during the winter with construction starting in the spring. Far cry from the October 1st groundbreaking previously mentioned.
Phillip
