Coldstream's Revival?

...At least the sleepy community of Coldstream appears to no longer be stuck in reverse since the loss of 300 jobs with the 2008 closure of Consumers Glass by parent company Owens Illinois.

about time the blue arrow began to turn upwards...

So nine years later, the announcement by Coldstream Ranch Owner Keith Balcaen that Quebec's Vegpro is investing $60 million into a vegetable processing plant on the North side of Highway 6 has long-time Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick smacking his lips.

Garlick's lip balm equates to a windfall for the community's tax coffers.

The Vegpro value-added farming operation won't recover the lost property taxes since Consumers Glass closed, but 200 new jobs (reportedly paying a minimum $15.00 per hour) will be welcome indeed in a community where young people have been forced to leave and look for work elsewhere.
That's not all.

Another uptick to the property tax and jobs base is from the shuttered Consumers Glass site with Restoration Lands' production of magnesium-oxide boards, expected to commence soon as their certification is now in place.  One hundred jobs are expected to be added at the Lavington site.


"Good that Highway 6 was widened a few years ago," Kia would've said.

Good point.