A New Era for Port Alberni
From the swaggering boom town of the 1950s and 1960s, through the economic downturn of the 1980s and 1990s, comes the Port Alberni of the 21st Century. It’s no longer based entirely on the forest industry, and it’s earning a reputation as an affordable, comfortable place to live and raise a family, according to RE/MAX Realtor Dave Koszegi.
“The landscape I grew up in is very different from what you see today. When I was young, the goal was to work hard and buy a fast car so you could drive over the Hump to Nanaimo when you needed anything. People even went out of town to buy their groceries.” Port Alberni was a great place to earn a living. But despite the high personal incomes, it wasn’t a community with a lot of amenities. And while it was a close-knit community, it was more of an “us-against-the-world” mentality. “That all started to change in the early 1980s, even as the economy was in serious decline. The city started making a concerted effort to bring in the kind of amenities that make a community more livable.” At the same time, industry began to make efforts to clean up its act. It’s been a gradual process, but the results have been dramatic. “If you hadn’t been here for twenty or thirty years, you’d be in for a shock. Perhaps the biggest change was when they closed down the kraft mill in the early 1990s. Since then, we haven’t had that pulp-mill smell you associate with mill towns. It’s gone.”
The new-look Port Alberni has an ever-growing retail sector and a host of attractions for those looking to re-locate. “It’s incredible, the number of things this community offers. You can hop on a steam train and ride to a national heritage site. We have Sproat Lake, which has always been a magical place for me, and we have an amazing range of recreational opportunities right in our back yard. At one time, Port Alberni meant hunting and sport fishing. Now we’re becoming recognized as a world-class destination for adventure tourism. We’re one of the host cities for the BC Bike Race, which has become one of the four great singletrack endurance bike races on the planet.”
Port Alberni has developed a well-earned reputation as a city that can host a major event, whether it’s sporting or cultural. It’s the only city in the Province that has hosted all four of the BC Games: the Summer Games (1992), the Games for People With Disabilities (1995), Senior Games (1998) and Winter Games (2004). And when the Tall Ships Challenge Race visits the West Coast of North America every three years, Port Alberni has become a favourite destination for these magnificent sailing vessels and their crews.
This winter, Port Alberni will host the 2009 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which will pit five regional teams from across Canada against the best young hockey players from around the world.
“As a realtor, I have to be conversant in all the areas of interest to my clients. I have a personal interest in motorsports, and this is a great town for car enthusiasts. We have a number of car clubs, 4 X 4 racing, motocross, and every summer we host the Thunder in the Valley sanctioned drag racing meet. But I can also tell you that we have two golf clubs, and gardening clubs, and quilting clubs, and a fabulous recreational network for seniors called the Sunshine Club. And get this – you only have to be fifty to join.”
When you visit Port Alberni, some of the changes are pretty obvious, such as the new Pacific Rim Shopping Centre on the Johnston Road Corridor. Big-box retail has arrived and it’s growing. But things are also happening quietly on the south side of town. Instead of clearing swathes of new property for big new stores, we’re seeing a gradual infill re-development, especially along Lower Third Avenue, coinciding with the city’s Uptown Revitalization initiative.
“There’s a resurgence happening that’s based on the waterfront. Sometimes I have to remind people that’s an ocean down there at the foot of Argyle, not a river.”
He likens Harbour Quay to its counterpart in Vancouver, Granville Island. Once a heavy-industry enclave, hidden away from public view, Granville Island is now a thriving tourist, retail, educational and service center, with a little bit of heavy industry remaining.
“Granville Island took a generation to really develop into a real community asset. I feel the Harbour Quay area has the potential to develop along the same lines. We’ll still have some of the marine industries, but with retail, tourism and residential.”
Visitors to Port Alberni also won’t miss the growing profile of the aboriginal community. From the welcoming figures at Victoria Quay, created by Hupacasath First Nation, to the award-winning Tseshaht office complex on River Road, First Peoples are serving notice that they are becoming important players in the local economy. “We have forward-looking First Nations, with a growing number of business interests: resources, retail, cultural tourism – even independent power projects. They’ve signed on to the future, and they’re becoming major employers in the Alberni Valley.”
Along with all the other changes, Port Alberni is also developing a reputation for environmental consciousness. There’s a growing determination to live green, and the city has signed on to address the issue of climate change.
“When people first settled here, it was partly for the forestry, and partly because of the incredible potential for agriculture. Because of our climate and soil, you can grow just about anything here. Now, people are re-discovering that. We have a lot of people moving in who are interested in sustainable and organic agriculture. But even in town, people can put in a small vegetable garden and feed themselves almost year-round.”
The boom town may be history, but so is the notion of Port Alberni as an isolated mill town.
"In Port Alberni nowadays, you’re only as isolated as you want to be. This is still a close community, but the nature of that closeness has changed. It’s no longer us against the world. As we’ve evolved, we’ve become a much more welcoming community. And now, with the Internet, people no longer have to live in the major centers to earn a living - especially in the knowledge-based industries. You can move your family to that affordable home on Vancouver Island that you’ve always dreamed of, and maintain a high-end consulting business with the rest of the world over a fibre-optic cable.”
Whether you’re young and just starting a family, whether you’re in mid-career or thinking about retiring, Port Alberni has plenty to offer. Just ask Dave Koszegi.
