A proposed start-up company called Seasonwood visited the Fort St. James council at the last meeting.
The company is proposing a $6 million venture to produce thermally modified wood. The product is an environmentally friendly option to chemically treated lumber and cedar.
Thermally modified wood has been produced in Finland and used all across Europe for about 10 years, but the Vanderhoof-based company would like to produce the value-added product here in Canada using the local beetle-killed lumber.
The visitors presented their product to council and said they are looking for a home for their venture, and were visiting Fort St. James to see what the area had in terms of incentives for business in terms of taxes, what industrial land might be available and what kind of support the council and district would be willing to put forward.
Council responded by pointing out the district’s heavy industrial tax exemption which would not charge tax on any improvements made in the first year, then gradually implementing taxation over five years.
The mayor invited the men back to visit the district to discuss details on available industrial land and other local opportunities.
Fort St. James was the first community visited by the company, which will be examining potential options in northern B.C. with the hopes of raising the capital and beginning to build as soon as September.
Conifex has expressed interest in supplying the lumber for the operation, and this is part of the reason the company came to the Fort first, being close to the material.