Improve the safety of pedestrians accessing CN Centre.

What pedestrians??? There are none.

So off we go again, selling parkland to commercial interests. Short term gain for long term pain.

It would be interesting to see how much money the City gets for this property, and where the money will go. It seems to me they are filling up the Capital Projects fund with dollars from the sale of land. This money could then be used for the proposed Performing Arts Centre.

Why on earth would you build a hotel there? I would think you’d want hotels/motels located in areas where out of town traffic would be heaviest, i.e. highways, or through the downtown core.
All fine and dandy that if they get it built before the games there will be games-related customers, but what about once the geames are over? Who is going to know a hotel exists there unless you do plenty of advertising?
And as far as traffic goes, we already know how long it takes to get out of the parking area when a big event takes place at CN Centre. How is this hotel not going to add to traffic headaches/congestion?

Traffic on hockey and event nights is already crazy. Add traffic from and to a hotel is asking for trouble. I’d like to say I am surprised the city is allowing this but as we have all seen, nothing should come as a surprise anymore.

That’s the stupidest spot I’ve ever seen for a hotel. It’s not near the main highway. It’s not very close to shopping or retail (Pine Centre being the closest). Not close to dinning unless you count Dominoes and Shooters pub.

I can’t imagine why anybody would stay there. And the traffic flow will be terrible.

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!
Why in the hell do we even bother with a community plan? This council pays no attention. Put this out near the intersection of 97 and 16 or put it downtown. PERIOD>

I agree with everyone else, this development makes no sense whatsoever.

Am I correct that if this goes ahead, it’s going to pretty much block the view of CN Centre from Ospika? So much for curb appeal.

It sounds like they want to go ahead with this solely to have some trees planted and to pretty up the access to CN Centre. Good grief PG City Council, you can do that without approving a questionable development! Besides, I’ll bet $200 bucks that the trees will get vandalized and the sidewalks will fall apart after 10 years.

Do we even get to see what the hotel will look like? Does it even matter? I can’t think of another city I’ve ever been to where the city arena was blocked from view by a hotel or other complex. The arena IS the attraction to the area and development compliments it, it doesn’t ruin it.

These people are losing their minds.

But where will the carnies and JW’s live when it’s BCNE or gathering time? Certainly not in the fancy hotel. And parking, that gravel pit provides overflow space for concerts, the BCNE, and much more. Stuuuupid idea or what. Off with the wicked Green witch’s head!

I have always wondered why there was not a hotel near the Multiplex. It only makes sense to have a hotel near such a center, where parents and participants can stay at a very nearby hotel and just walk to the Multiplex, instead of driving over.

Will it be successful enough to make it viable, time will tell.

I don’t care for the location of the hotel. stealing away from the view to the Multiplex. Should have moved over an extra 100m to the west.

The trees will likely be vandalized, but the sidewalks will hold up.

Completion before 2015. Well, I know it wont be a Sandman then!

“What pedestrians??? There are none”
you really dont get out much, do you?

Lets let the developer worry about whether a hotel here is viable or not. Once again, I suspect someone is making a business plan without the help of blogsperts ;)

Its gotta look better than the big gravel and weed pit that is currently there.

Concert traffic, I can just imagine the comments from hotel guests, I booked a hotel room and i spent over an hour getting to the hotel parking lot, i won’t be staying at this hotel again.

Palopu, you really have to stop with these generalizations ” What pedestrians??? There are none.” They erode any rational arguement carried in the rest of your post. I don’t know how many times I have had to stop for pedestrians crossing Ospika or in the Exhibition grounds but it is numerous times.
I agree with Interceptor, I’m sure better minds than ours have scoped this out & came up with a viable business plan (blogsperts hahahaha, good one). Yes anything will look better than the eyesore that currently is the view there.

My Goodness !!! … finally !!! That is the perfect spot for a motel/hotel. We advocated (begged)for years with every chain to look at putting a facility there.

The functions at the CN place, Kin place, BCNE, Soccer fields, Swim hole, City yards, Carter Industrial business visitors, CNC, Forestry, …. all will contribute room stays, meetings, food and fun. They will have an enviable occupancy rate.

Never mind the traffic problems… easy… just cut thru the bush !

From our last visit there, the downtown hotels are no screamin’ jam… drunks, doves, drugs, street crime and vandals. All the great things that your town is known for. Not everyone wants to be that close to or to be part of that action.

Good luck to the proponents on this one. Turn that gravel into gold !!!

V.

I am a little concerned about the number of new hotels and rooms being built in PG. The Delta Hotel and now this one.

I read in the PG Citizen Letter to the Editor comments area about an estimated 22,000 to 32,000 jobs opening up in Northern BC and that PG does not have the labour force to meet that demand. Maybe all these hotels are going to cash in on the ever growing camp Fly-in Fly-out labour force.

If this is the case, too bad for PG, because every hotel room that accommodates these over-nighters on their way in or out of a camp job, means less families buying / building a house, and moving to PG and becoming part of the tax base, and grow our city.

I hope I am wrong about this…

This has nothing to do with a business plan, it is more to do with City Council allowing developments that don’t make sense for the area in which they are proposed. How many examples do we have now?

PG is basically a mish mash of stuff thrown up wherever a developer wants because the city doesn’t have the balls to say “sorry, come back when you have a plan that makes sense for the community”.

Some cities get it and some don’t. Some cities grow and some don’t. Some cities turn into places that people want to move to and live in and some don’t. Whether it’s hockey rinks, RCMP stations, subdivisions, or rehab facilities, this city is so haphazard with it’s land use decisions, that it likely scares off any businesses who depend on some level of predictability in regards to the environment in which they hope to operate in.

No impact to traffic? BS!! I love very close and trying to turn left onto Ospika from 22nd is impossible some days. The city desperately needs traffic lights at either the CN Center entrance or the intersection at 22nd.

I think this is a great idea! People coming from out of town for events at the CN Centre will have a place to stay close by without having to taxi all the way from downtown. If they put a restaurant into the hotel, it will be an awesome facility! There are shows at the agriplex at different times of the year, not to mention PGX.

Here come the o250 experts.

This is great. Get the traffic right and its all good. I have always hated the rats maze that is the CN center. What glue sniffer thought that the way to clear traffic was to funnel multiple parking lots through a bottleneck. There needs to be multiple accesses to Ospika from this area. Love the irony of the “no idle zones” signs when ideling is what this currant system causes.

As far of you naysayers on this project saying it won’t work. Let the people willing to build it decide.

And really Palpou, you call a gravel parking lot parkland? Its a eye sore and snow dump.

dow7500. Its the City that has this property designated as parkland, not me. In addition the reason that area is a **Rats Nest** is because the City is responsible for it, and therefore it never gets looked after.

Furthermore the pedestrian traffic takes place during the times that there is a function taking place,. People park on Ospika, and then transit through the parking lot to CN Centre. They walk anywhere from 15 Ave. through to 22nd Ave. and pay little or no attention to the sidewalks, mostly cutting through to parking lot itself. I doubt if putting a sidewalk on the North side of the entrance to CN Centre will make much difference to how they get to the building.

“Here come the o250 experts.”

And there is an opportunity for all other experts: “There is a public consultation session set for October 23rd from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Kin Lounge at 2181 Ospika Boulevard.”

You are just another one of the people living in this city who do not get it It is YOUR city and it is the rest of OUR city!!!

======================
BTW, the City has a business plan. Like any business plan it includes a vision, mission statement, short and long term objectives.

The OCP holds much of the background information for that. It gets developed over about a five year period every 10 years or so. It takes about 2 years and involves just about every organized group in this city.

So, this flies in the face of it.

This is great. Get the traffic right and its all good. I have always hated the rats maze that is the CN center. What glue sniffer thought that the way to clear traffic was to funnel multiple parking lots through a bottleneck. There needs to be multiple accesses to Ospika from this area. Love the irony of the “no idle zones” signs when ideling is what this currant system causes.

As far of you naysayers on this project saying it won’t work. Let the people willing to build it decide.

And really Palpou, you call a gravel parking lot parkland? Its a eye sore and snow dump.

Wow ! They got this through first and second readings without a presentation from L&M Engineering ?

I think its a good idea in some ways and not in other ways. It is tough getting people to an event with all the traffic congestion when events occur and even tougher getting them out again with the limited access/egress. There should be another access onto 22nd Ave with lights at 22nd. That is a tough intersection at many times of the day.

byer beware– builder beware…if someone wants to build here it is ok with me..i do think traffic flow will be a problem on event nites… there needs to be more egress lanes provided.

Anyone have an idea of what hotel/motel chain this is supposed to be?

I do not care whether a hotel/motel goes there or not. What I care about is that it can survive there and not become an eyesore because they cannot maintain their grounds and building.

It is one thing to have a hotel as a prominent entrance feature, it is another thing to have an eyesore at the entrance to a civic facility. We should be getting rid of eyesores, not building potential new eyesores.

Look at the eyesores along the bypass between 20th and 15th as well as the Gateway and Victoria ….. and the Hart …. and HWY 16W past CH.

Look at which hotels/motels have failed over the decades and which have remained at a reasonable service level and which have improved.

As people have posted already, this one will pick up some traffic from event goers, but other than that it has to be a known destination property which will take in other traffic.

$60/night rooms ……

Even Accent Inns are more expensive than that.
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As far as traffic and parking planning goes, the traffic in the area is event based.
1.Cougar games – CN
2.Performing events – CN
3.Trade show events – CN + Kins
4.Conference gatherings – CN
5.Soccer events – Rotary stadium
6.Annual exhibition – full grounds
7.Annual May midway – partial grounds

So it takes 10 to 15 minutes to exit an event … an exit north to Foothills has never taken me longer than 10 minutes.

As far as more exits from the parking lots go, we have to remember there are only two streets one has access to. Any large event centre should have more than that. It is possible to finish the Foothills to Ferry connection and provide access to that from the Exhibition grounds. Until that is done, one is simply feeding into the same arterials.

So the City wants to sell a dirty vacant lot for a hotel development near the CN Centre? What is there to complain about? Oops, look at the crowd around here.

The hotel will obstruct the view of the CN Centre ? What view ? It is hardly an attractive building. The traffic ? What traffic? Even at a sold out concert, cause God knows the Cougars haven’t sold out in years, the lot is cleared in 15 minutes as someone mentioned in an earlier comment post. Not close to shopping ? Jesus, you could spit and hit Pine Centre from there. It is an opportunistic developer looking to cash in on the Winter Games. Smart move. It is a dirt lot now, FAR from “park land” And as far as it becoming an eyesore in the long term? Lets worry about the Connaught Motor Inn and other similar crack shack “hotels” before we condemn a BRAND NEW hotel. Jesus people. Just breathe

SHOOTERS HOTEL & GRILL

as an out-of-towner who sometimes attends events at the CN Center, I think this is a great idea. I’d gladly pay a bit extra for a hotel that I could walk from. And the location isn’t any much harder to get to than if it were downtown.

Again, as an out-of-towner I have to say I do not want my car parked at a downtown hotel. My girlfriend had hers stolen a few years back.

“Again, as an out-of-towner I have to say I do not want my car parked at a downtown hotel.”

Yup this hotel is just another nail in the coffin for the city’s downtown, it should take away a sizeable chunk of business from the Ramada and Inn of the North.

City Mayor and Council continue to approve new business and commercial space outside the downtown area, and then wonder why revitalization isn’t working. Wow.. just wow!

People: “Yup this hotel is just another nail in the coffin for the city’s downtown”

The downtown ‘coffin’ has been six feet under for 30 years or so. As for the hotel, there is already one being built near the old police station, why is it such a big deal for one to be built near the CN Centre?

A **special** meeting of city council was required? Why? For first 2 readings?

Who is proposing to build a hotel on this property?

Official Community Plan? Why not Optional Community Plan? Occasional C.P.? Overturned C. Plan? Outlandish……
Obviously a matter of we will overturn any part of the plan any old time we want.
Why have one in the first place? It appears to be irrelevant, let alone laughable.

I think this is a great location for a hotel and long over due. Its a prime location for events goers from out of town and will help make visits to our city by events goers a more pleasant relaxing experience in a safe environment.

Close proximity to both CNC and UNBC, walking distance to both Spruceland and Pine Center, close access to the soccer fields, Rainbow Park, Forest for the World, Tim Hortons, concerts, swim meets, fairs, and solid arterial road access.

My only concern for the developer is getting a concrete foundation poured in the winter months. Its very difficult to do without cracking the foundation. Hopefully they spare no expense on having the foundation done right.

Also would be better if its was built at the corner of the lot along 22nd Avenue, but I guess we will have to wait for the final design for aesthetics.

How about leaving that as a recreational area maybe put the tennis club there and or a nice baseball park there. Kamloops has a nude area for sports facilities so let’s try god for bid we do something right in this town to make things look good in this town not an an eyesore of a hotel that clearly does not belong there. The automall along hwy 16 strip will look very nice once it’s done cause it seemed like it belongs there.

Hooters bar and grill would be more likely to attract customers. Why not make it another Casino too! Put up some RV plugins so the campers don’t have to run their generators. Maybe a couple of condo suites too and there is room for a car lot next door, maybe a Mazda dealership.

I don’t get how some folks on here talk about taking an hour to get back to the parking lot after a concert. If you stay there to go see a concert, wouldn’t you walk to the venue and back? I think that CN Centre has to compete with other venues to get acts to come. Look at Penticton and Kelowna. Nice hotels within an easy walk from the venue turn an event at the venue into a bigger experience. If the right acts make a stop in PG, we buy tickets, we attend and the city makes money off the building etc. If I drive in from out of town to attend a concert, I would love the idea of walking 100 yards to my hotel room when it’s all done. Multiple PGMHA tournaments every winter, the large sheet of ice being built in the new Kin Centre, trade shows etc. will keep this hotel busy. What else do you think you can do with that lot? It’s a gravel parking over flow. It’s about time someone started thinking about “moving the pea” and putting infrastructure somewhere other than the Panhandle (downtown) and the “O’Grady Turnpike”.

It would be great. Hopefully, there could be come spin off business as well, shops, a restaurant maybe a decent pub. I went to Volbeat in Dawson Creek and we stayed at one of the few hotels within walking distance it was awesome.

NoWay: different subject, but a Mazda dealer would be good as long as it wasn’t Northland. haha.

Perhaps I should stop reading the comments attached to articles on this site. It seems as though there are 10-15 people who post regularily. The comments are frequently negative, narrow-minded and out right ignorant.

I recognize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it is unfortunate that I have to scroll through so much crap to find a well written, educated response.

OK – so what day is the public consultation session? PG Citizen reports Oct 22, this site says Oct 23.

I’m against this changing of the OCP at the whim of developers. I also live right there and again, I buy because of the area and what is and isn’t allowed. A hotel definitely was not allowed and was something that I would never have expected to be built in my neighbourhood.

Meh, could just as easily have been a men / women’s addiction treatment centre in your neighbourhood peegee… just ask the residents of Haldi Road.

I have to admit, the Official Community Plan does not mean much anymore, Mayor and Council seem unable to stick to a common vision and direction.

At times it is like watching a tikes / timbits hockey game where all the players on the ice just chase the puck around as a group on both sides… it’s cute and funny.

But when you replace that puck with development dollars and watch Mayor and Council chase it all over the ice as a pack… not so funny… kind of pathetic really!

Why is it necessary to build in this particular site. Is the City going to sell this property on the **cheap**. The price etc; will be determined behind closed doors. When will the public be made aware of the details of the land sale, etc;

Has the proponent tried to buy private property in the area???? If not, why not. Why should the City be selling off this land adjacent to the CN Centre, if there are other alternatives that would produce the same results??

Palopu: “Why is it necessary to build in this particular site.”

The real question is, why are you so against this site and what alternative are you proposing?