A parcel of land that was once home to a groundbreaking potato processing plant could soon become home to another innovation in the Creston Valley.
Negotiations are nearing completion that would see living lettuce and freshwater coho salmon produced on the Spetifore and Sons property on Reclamation Road.
“I’m excited and thrilled that the Spetifore family and this investors group have come to a financial agreement,” said Regional District of Central Kootenay Area C director Larry Binks, who was authorized by both parties to speak for them.
“They should start cleaning out the buildings this month in preparation,” he said. “The investment over the course of construction to get up to full production is estimated at $20 million. It should result in thirty-five to fifty jobs, including about fifteen professional designations requiring degrees in science. This could eventually be a $50-million injection into our economy.”
A 200,000-square-foot building will hold tanks of fish, from which water will flow into three 80,000-square-foot greenhouses, according to the plan by the investors, a family from Richmond.
“The tanks and fish processing plant should be complete in the spring so they can take delivery of three [hundred thousand] to four hundred thousand fish fry,” he said. “The greenhouses are scheduled for assembly in March.
Binks said a truckload of living lettuce (roots attached) a day will be shipped to markets in Alberta, B.C., Idaho, Washington and Montana.
Water rights from a nearby creek were part of the attraction for investors, Binks said. A controversy arose in 2011 when another investor proposed to purchase the land for a water bottling plant. The deal fell through.
“Wells will be drilled to supplement the creek water,” he said. “Fresh water is used for the fish tanks and fish processing.”
What is described as a closed system processes the waste and water from the fish tanks for use in lettuce production. Waste from processing the fish, which will be filleted and packaged on-site, will be composted to fertilize the farmland for other uses.
Binks said negotiations have been going on for about six months, as the investors had to ensure zoning issues wouldn’t impede the development. The property is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, but a portion of the property is zoned for industrial use.
“I don’t see any impediments to get any zoning issues resolved with the regional district,” Binks said.
In the 1970s, a group of local investors purchased the property and constructed a building to produce and package potato products. Packaging technology that is still used today was created, but the business floundered and was eventually operated by the provincial government until it folded. The Spetifore family ran a seed potato operation until several years ago.
Greg Spetifore, one of the owners, said last week that the final financial arrangements hadn’t been concluded, but he was optimistic.
“After talking to the investors and lawyers I don’t see any reason for concern,” he said.