Most Say No to Hotel on Ex Grounds
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 @ 3:57 AM
While the lot in question was designated a parking lot in the Exhibition Park Master Plan, it has never been developed to the extent detailed in the plan. The plan displays the site as a paved parking lot with plenty of mature trees in the area.
There are some complaints from neighbours who worry the loss of the gravel parking lot will mean even more congestion on their street as people seek parking alternatives when they are attending a major event.
Others complain the notice of the public consultation was inadequate, saying four days was not enough time to prepare a response. There is also concern over the multiple amendments and changes to the Official Community Plan, some residents say they have no sense of security in what will take place in their neighbourhood.
On the positive side, the investment in the City is being welcomed by those who are looking down the road to the taxes the development will generate and the positive addition the hotel will make to the area. The hotel plan includes extensive landscaping and improvements to the main entranceway to Exhibition Park.
Still, the majority of people who responded to our poll ( we know it’s not scientific) do not favour the sale of the property.
We asked, do you favour selling a piece of Exhibition Park for the development of a hotel?
67.8% (2842) said no
32.2% (1348) said yes.
The matter has yet to come before Prince George City Council as the sale requires both an amendment to the Official Community Plan and a rezoning.
Comments
So, with the changes that need to be done at council, hopefully this ‘grandiose’ idea will die a natural death? Hopefully.
It’s not surprising in this town.
whats the problem wih having a hotel built there?
sure looks a lot nicer than that gravel lot thats there now.
Done deal – someone has already started clearing trees behind the horse stables to replace the parking lost on Ospika side of the CN Centre.
That part of Ospika is mostly light industrial with the mix of the recreation facilities.
polar: “whats the problem wih having a hotel built there?
sure looks a lot nicer than that gravel lot thats there now.”
Agreed!
I think it would be a great development for the area. I hope it goes through.
People complain about lack of economic development and private investment at the same time opposing to new development and investment. Is this town just becoming a priavte country club for those who made their millions during the boom years? Sure looks that way!
If a developer is willing to take the risk to purchase this land and build a hotel that means jobs and investment. Not to mention a hotel right beside CN Centre makes booking acts at the CN centre more logisticaly friendly..
The parking on Ospika has long been earmarked for removal, but no council has had teh polictical will to make it happen. It makes zero sense to allow parallel parking on a four lane major aterial roadway where the average vehicle travels 10-30 km above the posted speed limit. The parking on Ospika needs to be removed, but with the overflow parking at the CN Centre gone, this will be a challenge
Until Opinion250 fixes the ability to vote 100 times a day, or as fast as you can refresh and click, I can not give these results any credence.
Agreed JB, build it. Only in this town would people crap on the project. Sad.
If this gets killed off because we have some grandiose idea for that space that will never happen, this town is destined to shrink. I say pull down that ugly tin shack, move the livestock out of the area to Pineview and let’s build a real nice park that includes the hotel. You can have both. Look how the Coast fits in with the Civic Plaza.
The fact that there is livestock pens littering the area around your best civic sports facilities is crazy.
The other thing I haven’t heard mentioned yet is that we will now have an OLYMPIC sized ice surface. How much of an attraction would a hotel on the doorstep provide to high level national/international teams that need to work out and practice on large ice surfaces prior to the big events. I could see the World Juniors setting up here for their training camps allowing them to practice and get used to the bigger ice surface. The hotel right on the doorstep could be a game changer.
those that agree to have it built probably don’t live near the CN Center I’m betting.
How eactly will this hotel affect the neighbourhood? It would be no different than having more townhomes built on the corner.
Increased traffic? Traffic would most likely travel from 15th Ave to Ospika, not through the residential side streets.
Noise? Not too many hotels permit loud noises.
Yes it does suck that the OCP has to be changed again to allow this zoning, but do you really think that the City was going to develop this as a park??
the only negative comments that I have heard are from those people living in the area. The rest of the community seems to like the idea. I agree with the marjority shown here, I think it would be a nice addition to our city.
I recollect the neighbours near 15th and Ospika said nay to the construction of Tim’s there. Remember Moxies? That was a kerfuffle. Same with Wal-Mart. The Bay went apoplexy ga ga over that. The extended Malaspina subdivision. Neighbours there vented. On the upside, we welcomed Costco. After Costco came Overwaitea and the Stupidstore smartened up with longer hours and then every one got a pharmacy. I’m sure someone out there can add to my list of negative nabobs in this town bad mouthing construction of anything new here in PG over the last many years. Just sayin’. As Columbo would say, “One more thing. I’m still against the Haldi Road School incident”. But that’s me.
Also on the positive side since Costco opened prices of almost everything we consume dropped.
Maybe the OCP needs to be changed because it’s a narrow scope of planning that needs to be changed. Times change. Get over it.
I don’t know why anyone would want to pigeon hole the chance of growth because some “plan” that someone else set up in a different economic time.
“I say pull down that ugly tin shack, move the livestock out of the area to Pineview and let’s build a real nice park that includes the hotel. You can have both. Look how the Coast fits in with the Civic Plaza.
The fact that there is livestock pens littering the area around your best civic sports facilities is crazy.”
DING DING DING DING – PGguy for mayor!
This is what I call an absolute no-brainer – build it.
“I say pull down that ugly tin shack, move the livestock out of the area to Pineview and let’s build a real nice park that includes the hotel”
That is why the hotel is building there, to get some of the business of people who stay overnight in hotels instead of trailers for equestrian and other events.
The more those kind of uses are removed the more the hotel will have NOTHING other than its name to draw customers. There is no drive by intercity traffic on Ospika and there never will be.
“but do you really think that the City was going to develop this as a park??”
Of course not! … They did the Exhibition Park Report just for the hell of it, like they do all other reports.
They love doing reports so that they keep the people guessing as to what they will actually be doing when they can tell which way the wind is blowing.
Sort of like when one has several buildings surrounding a grassed area like a commons. Wait a year or two till the wear patterns of the desire travel paths start to show on the grass …. THEN dig up the grass in those path locations and put some type of more permanent hard surface down to make walking easier.
Called reactive planning instead of proactive planning.
“This is what I call an absolute no-brainer”
Not a truer word was written on here, LUMBER1, a real no-brainer …. LOL
I don’t have an issue with someone building a hotel in this town, as long as they do it on their own, like all the other hotels.
I do have an issue when they make a secret deal behind closed doors with the City. Buy the land that is designated as Parkland, and basically tell the rest of us to go to hell.
If these hot shots want to be business people, then they should get their hands out of taxpayers pockets. Buy your land from private sources the same as all other taxpayers (with a few exceptions) in this City.
So Typical of the backward thinking in Prince George.
An ugly piece of property that has been an eyesore for years ?
Millions of dollars of investment in Prince George ?
More rooms to draw tourism and attract bigger events ?
Oh No – there may be more traffic !
Get in the year 2013 Prince George and look past your individual bias and think about Prince George for once .
Lets become a city that is open for business !!
” Maybe the OCP needs to be changed because it’s a narrow scope of planning that needs to be changed. Times change. Get over it. ”
I could not have said better ….Check your Calendar folks.
Its 2013 . Time to move forward
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