At Castlegar's City Council meeting on Monday, Mayor Lawrence Chernoff announced that a major corporation was looking at building a large operations centre in Castlegar.
FortisBC has proposed building a $16 million West Kootenay Operations Centre in Ootischenia.
As per BCUC (BC Utilities Commission) regulations, a public open house will be held in Castlegar on August 29.
Chernoff announced the public meeting and said council was pleased that Fortis is proposing the new operations centre be built in Castlegar.
"They stepped forward saying they were going to have this public meeting," said Chernoff. "We're still negotiating with them. This is a regulatory thing they have to follow. Fortis has to get permission from BCUC first to even look at a building. We've been negotiating for a long time. We continue to negotiate with them."
The new centre is expected to bring in approximately 160 to 180 jobs and continue to diversify and grow the City's economic base. The $16 million project will also add to the City's tax base.
"You look at the spinoffs here," said Chernoff. "You're going to get a building that generates taxes. You'll get all these new people coming into Castlegar and spending money here. Fortis as a corporation is investing in the community. To me that may lead to other things because Fortis is a leader in utilities."
The property that FortisBC is looking at for the operations centre is in Ootischenia and was originally acquired as a site for the proposed future West Kootenay Regional Hospital.
"We've had this land for long time," said Chernoff. "They were looking at pieces of property all over. It came out that this was the best place suited for their operations. We've studied other locations so we can build a regional hospital when the time comes."