Reduce the size of the parking stalls? Do the folks at Wholesale Sports know that 50% of their customers probably drive 1 ton dually pickups? LOL :)

If they are smart, they do like Costco and make the stalls bigger.

I would bet council will grant this request. It wouldn’t surprise me that they wouldn’t know that there are way more pickups around than cars these days.

A surefire way to piss of the people who they are trying to attract.

I am suddenly not bullish on this addition to our city.

IF they really want to expand and have parking as well, they should move to the old Sakura location themselves, take over the whole complex and have lots of parking.

NMG…I’ll be taking up 2 spots if they do that.

I do not usually write such words, but those people have to be nuts!!

“Helping build a better tomorrow” is the slogan on the presentation by Radloff who used to work for the City and Milburn whose project this seems to be and also used to work for the City.

Here are the letters from the adjacent property owners dealing with the matter of the significant reduction in parking space numbers and parking space size.
http://princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/agendas/2013/2013_05_13/documents/Hrg_Victoria_Letters.pdf

The letters say it all. The right development in the wrong location. The City seems to have a lot of these.

Here are the images of the proposed development.
http://princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/agendas/2013/2013_05_13/documents/Hrg_Victoria_ppt.pdf

Here are statements made by City Planning:

•Pedestrian Connectivity – The subject property is within walking distance of Parkwood Place Mall and Downtown. The subject property’s proximity to these major destinations increases the opportunity for pedestrians to visit the subject property without a vehicle (e.g. walking to the site from work or from another store nearby).

So they are proposing that people walk from Parkwood! Obviously the planners come from some other magical community which is not located too far north.

•Public Transportation – Transit service is a key consideration in variance requests to reduce parking requirements (see OCP Policy 8.7.28 and 8.7.53). The subject property has access to frequent public transit routes along 15th Avenue and Victoria Street. The efficient use of public transit provides people with a convenient alternative to the automobile and a reduced parking demand.

“A CONVENIENT alternative to the automobile” LOL. In PG? They actually believe this? And Council will believe this too? Sure, why not? If our wonderful so-called planners believe this, that is all they need to approve another development in the wrong place.

•Growth Priority Area – The subject property is designated as a Growth Priority Area on Schedule B4 of the Official Community Plan. OCP Policy 8.1.10 prioritizes these areas for capital investments to improve transit service, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and streetscape improvements. This policy direction demonstrates the City’s commitment to improving and maintaining a high standard of infrastructure in regional commercial areas over the long-term.

Good Lord! The diatribe hyperboles! “A policy which demonstrates the City’s commitment to improving and maintaining a high standard of infrastructure”.

I am afraid policies do not quite cut it. That whole intersection with developments and non-developments is a disgrace.

These are exactly the kind of areas which the Planning Department needs to look at in detail to come up with guidelines for Council and developers of how to improve this. That area has been stagnant for decades.

This is a proposed box store, and that is exactly the way it will look – like a box with pretend windows on Victoria – not even a nice corner entrance there – and existing weather protecting canopy removed. Makes for a totally wonderful pedestrian environment – NOT!!

BTW, looking at aerial photos of this area from the past decade (Google Earth), including Parkwood, there are two areas which show the most underutilized parking spaces.

1. the north parking area of Value Village which is used as an oversized loading are.

2. The pay parking area to the west of the Victoria Medical Building.

I suggest they buy the parking right to the Value Village property and develop a corner entrance to the building at that side.

Then corss our fingers that someone will make an offer to Value Village to help them relocate and bring some specialty grocery store in there again. Maybe a Trader Joe’s or something like that.

They are not asking for a small reduction either, from 5 stalls per 100 sq M to 2.63, just over half. Understandably most of the neighbouring businesses have a problem with this as it will affect parking near them.

It seems that this council is deaf to the concerns of those directly affected by their decisions as shown on Haldi and Hollandia Roads and will likely try to shoehorn this into piss poor location.

Wholesale Sports is a destination store and will draw customer from the whole area and should have the required parking, I can just imagine the mess around there in winter and especially at Xmas.

The city is the largest landholder in the core and bought up property to make it easy for developers….time to walk the talk and find a better location for Wholesale Sports.

Still wonder why the CH location fell through. Were there some backroom negotiations with the city BEGGING to locate in the core. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE….we will give you anything you want.

Narrower parking spots in Prince George is both unnecessary and completely inappropriate. Fortunately, this is one problem with a very simple solution. Should the rezoning go ahead and the parking stalls be reduced in size, I will simply choose to shop at another sporting goods store. there are several to choose from with plenty of amply sized parking spaces.

Or, maybe some entrepreneurial person will recognize the opportunity to open up a one hour paint repair shop nearby. Getting the rezoning required should be easy enough…

The smaller parking spaces are a just a smokescreen so they would not have less than half of the required stalls. In reality what will happen is that two pickups will take up three spaces….the lines are only visible 6 months a year anyway.

The parking standards south of the broder in Washington State is what we should be adopting. More stalls for the handicapped, wider parking at most box stores.

It is a great feeling to be able to get out of the car with a door fully open rather than to have to squeeze one’s way through a half open door.

Where do planners these days learn such mundane, but important basic standard for improved living?

I know, it is not as exciting as talking about the human footprint on this planet and trying to help Mother N along by making it unpleasant to shop for camouflage clothing and cross bows after stepping out of that mudder.

Can anyone imagine a fifth wheel or a motor home or truck and camper towing a 17 foot boat,what are these people thinking.I hope they go there then business will crash cause of there stupidity.

“the lines are only visible 6 months a year anyway.”

Not only that, but there are enough parking lots which have a lower count for the winter sonce they store snow on parking spaces.

I think what should happen with this is for the City to determine whether they need to revise the parking requirements for some retail uses. There are quite a number of lots in the City which never fill up.

In that area for instance I think these sites need a closer look

1. Value Village north lot
2. Victoria Medical west lot
3. Connaught Motor Inn
4. HBC/Staples west lot
5. Vacant site to south of Connaught Motor Inn (a totally unsightly property which should be maintained to a more acceptable – where are our bylaws with respect to such messes?)

Could they put in any underground parking under the addition to get closer to the required stalls? They could probably get 50 stalls underground if they had two levels…

Underground parking is no good for the big trucks, but maybe it would help with the Victoria Medical Building parking and the Wholesale Sports Employee Parking?

That whole area is a tough parking area. Now it will be worse.

The City of Prince George needs and wants to encourage people to go “downtown”. But they have been allowing business’s to reduce the size and number of parking stalls (try parking anything but a small car at Parkwood Mall)They are increasing the use of parking meters downtown and they WILL allow Wholesale Sports their request to reduce parking. Nice job!

They could also apply to close off Redwood Street from 17th to 15th and buy the north lot of Value Village. It only has one way access to 15th anyway so would not be a big loss.

It is not going to be Wholesale Sports whose business is going to be hurt by the reduction in parking spaces as people will come downtown just to go there and will drive around till they find a spot. The same cannot be said for the restaurants and other businesses in the building along 15th Ave.

I cannot believe the “planning department” of the city is recommending approval, sure glad that my optometrist moved down the street!

One of the reasons there is so many empty offices downtown, is the city is allowing
professional people to buy up houses and convert them to offices.
This is the double standard we have in our city. The city hall people ars supposed to
protect the businesses downtown because they
are already zoned and pay very high taxes,
2 taxes, bc assessment and DBIA, DBIA is a
total waste of money. I sometimes think the
city wants businesse downtown to struggle,
so they might get a good deal on realestate.

Wake up city planners! I will attempt to park my vehicle on the lot of the new proposed retailer when there is space to park, but a) I will not park at Parkwood and try to make it across the intersection and b) I will not take a bus just to do my shopping there!

There are other established Sports stores in town which have easy parking.

One can spin a bad idea to make it look better but in the end a bad idea is still a bad idea!

This is ridiculous!
My hubby is pretty excited about this business, and he looks forward to going there. However, he will not walk from nearby businesses, especially if he is carrying a newly purchased gun back, or if we are there to buy always bulky camping equipment. The nature of their merchandise requires nearby parking. Would they even allow you on a bus with a rifle? LOL
He will always take our truck there, because of the nature of what he would buy. IMO, this will end up being like Ave Maria, which we avoid because of the stupid parking. If I need something from Ave Maria, we head up to Westgate, and will probably do the same for sports stuff. There is another sports store at Westgate.
I support businesses going downtown, but they can’t be silly about it.

Relax folks – if you are going to buy something bulky just park on the North side of value village as Gus selected. You can park within 15 meters of the place…
If you are going to avoid a place because of parking you probably were not going there anyway and just feel like spouting off ;)

on a related note – there are alot of people in this town who couldnt manage to park bicycle properly yet they drive full size pickups.

“There is another sports store at Westgate.”

Is that what you call it? Asked for a fishing reel to have new line put on it, (as bulk line is cheaper)answer….sorry we don’t do that on Sundays. Among many other issues.

As for smaller parking stalls, they are everywhere around PG and I drive a pickup. I take up two spots as required. It is required due to many drivers parking beside you so close that you can’t open your doors.

50% of Wholesale sports customers drive dualies? Thats a little far fetched..

Yes there is other sporting stores in town but sorry way overpriced. Recently went and priced out a new rifle from the “local” stores and found the same one at wholesale sports $80 cheaper. Wouldnt match the price so when I went to kamloops for business I bought my purchase there. I for one cant wait for Wholesale Sports to open.

On the upside would be taking a bus to and from the sportings good store. Lotsa room on the buses and with luck there might be another guy on the bus to help you load and unload. Plus if yer sports equipment has wheels all the better. Drop buses. No need to lift. They have handicap parking. Expectant mom parking and “with kids parking”. How long will I have to wait for special parking for “old white guys too lazy to walk”?

Having visited both the Nanaimo and Langely Wholesale Sport locations recently, I recognize the proposed PG store / parking layout as slight variations of the company standard template.

Parking larger vehicles is an issue at both of these existing store locations if you think painted lines are sacrosant. A standard pickup takes up two spots in both cases. And interestingly, there were dually pickups in both lots during both visits. After seeing hybrids and small cars all day, I was amused to pull into the Langley store lot to see at least four dually pickups. Made me feel like I was in PG for a moment.

The planning theory is that the lot will be more efficient laying out small stalls knowing full well that larger vehicles will take up as many as necessary. However, most of the customers will be able to fit into the smaller stalls.

The key question may be, “What is the potential impact on existing businesses?” The second question may be, “Are existing businesses providing their own customers and clients with enough dedicated parking?” A restaurant or health clinic should probably need to provide a lot more parking per square meter than the average business.

My experience is that many of the Victoria Medical clinic’s clients poach on the free parking at this location rather than utilize the lot connected with the clinic.

Kamloops – Notre Dame a light industrial area with similar types of stores. No aerial photo available for me to count the parking provided or calculate the size of the store.

Nanaimo – on their own property with about a 42,000 sf store and just over 200 parking stalls

Langley Centre – a 42,000 sf store with a 9,000 SF Pier 1 Import and a 4,800 sf Sleep Country store sharing a roughly 200 stall parking lot which gives the sporting goods store a share of around 145 parking stalls.

So why would a store in PG require only 80 parking stalls, all be undersized and why should they not provide the required landscaping that everyone else supposedly needs to provide?

I mean, the City sets a standard and everyone automatically asks vor a variance for no good reason. Great corporate citizens, aren’t they. And the City daddies and mmmies are ready to turn over and accommodate ……

Is this the standard this City is willing to accept in order to have box stores close to downtown? There are plenty of locations much closer to downtown for this type of store. Make them work harder to find it!!!!

“It is required due to many drivers parking beside you so close that you can’t open your doors.”

Sure, put the blame on others.

Don’t people know that you are supposed to park the car with the passenger side wheels just to the left of the line on the right side so that everyone is parked equidistant from each other?

Parking just anywhere between the two lines is totally illegal ….. ;-)

Nothing wrong with parking over a line. BUT if you do, make sure that the car is centered on it so people do not notice. They’ll just think it is a handicapped space …. which I guess it is. LOL

Mythoughts, Dragonmaster… small mind big truck attitude kind of person.. gives the others a bad name..but doesnt care.. the world revolves around his/her truck.. why wont the rest of us realize that…LOL

Kamloops – Notre Dame a light industrial area with similar types of stores. No aerial photo available for me to count the parking provided or calculate the size of the store.

=============================================
hey gus … just looked on Google maps for the aerial view of Kamloops … looks like approx 65 parking stalls to me including the staff spots in the back next to the dumpsters ;-)

Dragonmaster .. it may seem counter intuitive to some on this site, but I appreciate you taking two slots and leaving room for both you and I open our vehicle doors without excessive contact .. been a long time since I haven’t been able to shop around PG because the whole parking lot of any store was filled to capacity .. maybe the week before Christmas .. but then again I don’t do much last minute Christmas shopping :)

Our elected officials are looking at these decisions no different than an average citizen instead of doing what they were elected to do and look at the bigger picture.

Wholesale Sports…would be a good addition to the city…planning dept make it happen.

Recycling and bottle depot in a residential neighborhood…yea OK.

Industrial sized rehab in rural neighborhood …Sure why not

Two of these stupid decisions have so far ended up in court. Haldi twice and still ongoing. Nechako Sports took the bottle depot to court for spilling out onto the parking lots, further proof that the location was undersized. City hall clearly to blame for these fights between neighbors because of their shortsighted decisions.

This myopic group needs to open their eyes a little wider ala Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange:)

This would be a very poor decision by city council to allow for reduced parking. Every time I go to the doctor in the Victoria Medical Building I can not get a spot in the West lot to the building. It is jam packed during medical office hours. Then if I can find a spot I can’t fit the truck into it because the lot is not designed for truck. Its a serious issue when one is paying $30 for being late, or worse yet is very sick and forced to walk an extra block to find a parking spot.

Obviously allowing a parking variance for this location would have huge impacts on the surrounding area.

Why not Spruceland with the huge empty spot they have now that use to be Marks Work Warehouse?

Thanks for posting all of that info up gus.

After having a quick look at it, I retract everything I said about the city needing to do whatever it took to get them downtown. This proposal is nuts, LOL!

I remember going to Ricky’s for breakfast at times and having a hard time finding a parking spot. I can’t imagine what it would be like if this proposal goes through.

Taking the bus? ARE YOU SERIOUS????? I’d wager that 85% of the people shopping at Wholesale Sports haven’t been on a bus in over 20 years.

This is just a dumb proposal the way it currently sits, which of course means that it will be fully supported with the exception of Skakun.

P Val, we’ve had this discussion once before. What part about other vehicles parking so close to me that I can’t get in my door don’t you get? Also, some parking lots are so small that even if you did park squarely in one single spot, it is often impossible to get out of it without taking the corner off the vehicle next door. You and others should be thankful I’m looking out for others unlike many others out there that aren’t looking out for me. If you’d like to post a name tag on your vehicle I can surely park so close to you that you can’t open your door. Don’t worry about any parking lot damage either, sounds like you’re inviting it. What is it exactly, you flipping burgers for a living and drive a 69 VW Beetle?

Mooseheart, not sure what store you’re referring to but the one I have been spending at has matched prices with Wholesale Sports on all items I have purchased there over the past couple of years. All items over $1000.

There needs to be a whole lot more Handicapped parking spaces available in all lots everywhere. Not just close to the store entrance either. :-)

Speaking of handicapped parking, why does someone that is able to play baseball get a handicapped parking permit?

Eagleone; didn’t Sportmart just close in Spruceland? Lots of space in that location

How many parking spots does the City have allocated for the 4 Seasons Pool/Civic Centre/Art Gallery/ Library area? Nuff said.

Dragonmaster…golfers have handicaps. It only stands to reason then….

LOL!