As anyone passing through Squirrel Cove in recent months knows, there has been a great clearing in the upper part of the new Klahoose property. QXMC, the business arm of the Klahoose First Nation, hopes to open a store and gas bar there by March 2025.
Ron Buchhorn, Chair of the Board of QXMC, explained, ”We retained a project manager back in November of last year and we have signed a letter of intent with Chevron for the gas station component of the store and gas bar. We have a commitment from Co-op that they will assist us with stocking the store and helping us basically manage to their standards. Co-op will supply us with all the products in the store through their wholesale distributor TGF. We’re very happy about that. It won’t be branded Co-op because obviously with the Chevron branding on the facility, you can’t have two brands.”
“The footprint of the store will be about 4,000 square feet. Full service with everything from groceries to produce, to meat, to deli to some prepared warm foods. It looks as though we’ll have four suites upstairs. A 2 bedroom and three 1 bedroom suites, to ensure that we have accommodation for staff at the store.”
“If we proceed with phase two, which is the campground next door, our plan is to have the General Manager and potentially a couple of the other department managers living at the facility. We want to have someone there full time.”
“In terms of the store layout and the external architecture of the store, we’re trying to keep the architecture consistent with the cabins that we’ve had an architect design. He’s done a lot of research on Coast Salish buildings, during the last couple hundred years and tried to factor in that type of architecture. It’ll be very similar to the Klahoose Administration Building as well, so it’ll be a shed roof with some nice exterior wood paneling. Our hope is that the sawmill will be able to provide all of the beams and most of the wood that will be required for the structure.”
Cortes Currents: I thought everything was on hold for the camp sites or RV sites until we see what’s happening in the Gorge. Have plans progressed?
Ron Buchhorn: “We’ve got a design for what we’re calling ‘Phase two,’ and we have a budget for ‘Phase two,’ but there’s been no decision by the board to proceed. We had an architect do a preliminary design on cottages for the Gorge. They would be the same cottages that we would use for the Squirrel Cove RV park.”
Cortes Currents: Have there been any changes in the number of sites, or whether it will be campsites or RVs?
Ron Buchhorn: “We’ve got a preliminary design which would have RV sites on the interior of the property and then cottages along the waterfront, the best as we can with the topography there. I think the cottages along the waterfront with views would command significantly higher prices, obviously, than the RV facilities. Those are all things we’re looking at. We’ve done a fairly extensive business case in terms of whether it gives us a decent return on investment.”
Cortes Currents: Do you have a number of how many cottages there will be?
Ron Buchhorn: “It’s all tentative. We would need to do geotechnical work in terms of which lots would accommodate a cottage. So it could be 6, 8 or 10
Cortes Currents: Do you know how many parking spots there’ll be at the store?
Ron Buchhorn: “I’m not sure exactly how many, but we’ve actually got RV parking stalls as well as parking stalls for the store. I don’t think there’s going to be any issue with overcrowding. The other thing we’re looking at is putting a parking lot down below the store that would take away some of the vehicles that are all along the road, who are wanting to use the marina. It’s always a mess down there. We’re looking at allowing people to use that as a parking spot instead of the road.”
Cortes Currents: Will you be selling tools at the store?
Ron Buchhorn: “We’re looking at garden supplies, tools and things like that. Marco Bedetti and I are working on that and we’ll present something to the board when we make a final decision. We do think we should have that kind of product available at one of our stores. One of the things we need to work out is if the Gorge store a better location to do the hardware, outdoor tool supply and gardening supply?”
Cortes Currents: Are you getting phase three hydro?
Ron Buchhorn: ”I just received an email from Jeff Baggs, the manager who’s working on the phase three project out of Campbell river. He’s done a lot of work on it and they’re currently entering the data in terms of how many new poles they might require, and any surveys that they might require along the road. It is moving forward and we will be getting Phase 3 right to the sawmill on the Klahoose reserve.
Cortes Currents: Is this still something that is being financed by Klahoose rather than BC Hydro?
Ron Buchhorn: “Unfortunately, they’ve given us a price of $1.9 million and indicated that we’re going to be on the hook for that.”
“Chief Clarence Louie from Osoyoos is on the board and I’ve chatted with him about potentially giving us some assistance with respect to financing phase three. There are grants available that we’re pursuing. There’s REDIP and CORE and some of those funding agencies that we may be able to approach to get some assistance.”
“It’s really disappointing that Squirrel Cove was left off the Phase 3 distribution plan initially. We’ve expressed our disappointment with that and tried to get Hydro to acknowledge that they should have put Phase 3 to Squirrel Cove, but so far we haven’t had much success.”
Cortes Currents: What does that mean in terms of usage? For example, in the sawmill or in the stores?
Ron Buchhorn: “If you want to run electric motors and that kind of thing, you do require phase three power. Right now, the machinery that we’re running at the sawmill is being run on diesel power generators. Similarly, the Klahoose Administration Building, I believe, is still using solar panels on the roof, which I think has helped them with the electrical situation. Ideally, that whole building should have been serviced with Phase 3 power. In the store, you’re looking at all the refrigeration appliances, that all should ideally run with phase three power.”
Cortes Currents: So among other things, people who are concerned about climate change should be concerned about this too.
Ron Buchhorn: “Exactly. We’re going to take all of the current utilization on diesel or oil or natural gas out of the equation and presumably replace it with hydroelectric power, if phase 3 ever gets completed, which I’m sure it will.”
Cortes Currents: Do you have a potential opening date for the store?
Ron Buchhorn: “We were hoping we could get it done by November of this year, but unfortunately that’s not going to be the case. It looks like March of next year, and that’s largely being driven by the availability of contractors, particularly on the petrochemical side.”
“There are very few contractors that work in that area, and apparently there are 40 renovations or new gas stations being worked on in BC this year. That made the timeline a bit longer than what we would have liked, but we have signed agreements with companies to provide the fuel tanks, which will be above ground on cement pads to ensure that we can very quickly see if there’s any kind of leak rather than the typical underground tanks, which years ago was the norm. All of the tanks and all of the engineering with respect to the gas station is nearing completion.”
“The store has been all designed and laid out and Marco has giving it his thumbs up. We’ve built it in a way that will be convenient for the staff to manage the incoming goods in pallet form, rather than having to carry things individually into the store.”
“It’s looking very positive. I’m disappointed by the delay and I’ve expressed that to the project manager, but he’s obviously got challenges with respect to the things that I’ve talked about.”
Cortes Currents: Is there anything you would like to add?
Ron Buchhorn: “We’re just excited about being able to deliver a quality store to the island. I’ve visited most of the facilities up there, and I think the owners are doing the best they can to offer niche services, but this is going to be a full scale store that offers a lot of options to island residents. The other thing obviously we’re very connected to is providing the Klahoose Nation members with a decent facility to service them. So it should be a good thing for both the Klahoose members and the Islanders.”
Top image credit: Artists conception of the Squirrel Cove store – courtesy CTM Design Services
Links of interest:
- Qathen Xwegus Management Corporation website
- The Squirrel Cove Project – Qathen Xwegus Management Corporation
- QXMC Squirrel Cove Project On Track For Late 2024 Opening – COrtes Currents (Jan 30, 2024)
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