Yup There Is An Election Coming
In spite of the staff thinking otherwise, Prince George City Council has approved an 85 lot subdivision in the Blackburn area of the city. This development will remove property that formerly was zoned Agriculture/ forestry and turn it into rural residential. The staff had argued that it would create urban sprawl, Council thought otherwise.
The property in question is designed to hold 85 lots. The property will be developed in stages. In other words in 20 lot segments.
As you finish selling one section, you then develop the second and so on. The developer says the homes will sell for between $400,000 and $500,000 dollars on one acre lots. The services for each section will be built as you sell another batch of lots . So you get the first 20 lots with sewer and water, then wait until the second phase is sold at which time you put in services for that section.
The developer will pay for the sewer and water line extension of 900 meters to reach the subdivision. The people living along the 900 meter stretch will be able to hook onto the new service . They will simply have to go to City Hall and get a permit to hook on to the service, and of course pay for that connection. Not such a good deal for the folks on Midland, who have been waiting for City services since amalgamation.They will have to enter into a local area service tax deal, not unlike the one some residents in the Hart Highlands are now part of.
The area in question has been set aside for development on two previous occasions. One in 1959, the second in 1980 in which a Calgary company proposed a 200 odd subdivision that never got off the ground. Well not quite, a few people bought lots but never did get the services they were promised to go with it.
Councillor Stolz seemed proud to say that the developer was paying for the sewer and water extension, after a local resident had appeared at the public hearing to say that she bought a lot in 1980 and still doesn't have any services. She did however point out that her taxes this year were around $2,000 dollars. Now if you consider that she has been paying taxes on this piece of property since 1980, you might think Councillor Stolz that she is entitled to something for her money. But of course municipal taxes and how you pay for them is not a strong suit for Councillor Stolz.
Then there were a couple of Councillors including Brian Skakun and Lyn Hall, who hopes to be the new Mayor , suggesting the new development would mean more kids attending the Blackburn Elementary school. At $ 500,000 a pop just how many new families with kids do you think will be buying in the new subdivision?
Now I don't want to suggest that the Blackburn residents don't need a break when it comes to receiving something for their money. They have been promised every damn thing under the sun, that never develops. They haven't been handed a silver spoon by the city. So to somehow suggest that the sun is about to rise on Blackburn is something that you say when you are seeking re election.
The argument remains, if we need one acre lots , in order to provide this type of land for the population there is plenty of it around, including land nearby that didn't need to be re zoned.
Staff worried about our ever increasing foot print growing in this city got it right. The entire Council and Mayor seem to think, as Councillor Stolz alluded to, that we are on the verge of this city busting loose. That comment suggests that an election is not far off.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
I just don’t get it. We have a council that poohoo’s developments in the Hart and College Heights as urban sprawl, always saying they want in fill and developments downtown, and that the sprawl of infrastructure is a high cost item for PG. Then we go ahead with developments anywhere a developer can get cheep land to subdivide like the Cowart Road riverside development across from the BCR Site and now this.
PG can barely sell a hundred new houses a year… it would make more sense to see more effort put into multi unit starts where a family could move to PG to test the market before moving on to a house. Then if the city actually grew we could look at developments on the outskirts.
I think PG needs to have a big focus on highrise developments. We need to clearly stake out the locations for clusters of highrises that conform to the existing infrastructure footprint and planned mass transit routes. This is the low cost for the city route to development, and the densification helps to generate greater economic efficiencies.
Places like Coquitlam have completely transformed in recent years through high rise developments and PG could learn a lot from them IMO. It seems PG has the Langley model when it comes to urban planning.
” But of course municipal taxes and how you pay for them is not a strong suit for Councillor Stolz.”
Burn!
I guess the market will decide if this is going to be successful. If it only ends up with 20 lots I guess we’ll know it wasn’t. At least those along the 900m extension will get services out of the deal and not have to pay for it, only their own hook up.
IMO people should have the option to live on an acreage without having to have a min 5 acre lot. And a lot of people can’t live in the bowl because of the air quality.
You need a five acre lot to be able to put a lagoon on it, especially in the Blackburn area with the clay. If you have to have your own well and then a lagoon and then a house and maybe a shop , you can see why you need five acres.
Looking at the plan of the proposed development, there appears to be a very thin sliver at the northern end of it which joins Blackburn Road South. If this is where the existing water and sewer services are to be brought into the new development, then there is only ONE resident who will benefit from being able to have city services, this sliver of land runs alongside his property, I do not foresee the developers extending these services to either Midland Road or even to City limits 1000 feet further South
Why don’t they just grandfather in all current out of bowl developments and then set up a tiered rate structure for water, sewer, snow and roads. Then charge appropriate rates for people who want to live outside urban limits. Urban PG residents have been subsidizing urban sprawl for decades. That is the only truly fair and equitable means of controlling sprawl. Or you could drop the rates in favour of urban dwellers and phase the change in over 20 years.
Ben hit the nail on the head when he references Cameron Stoltz’s lack of concern on how much people are taxed, or their ability to pay the said taxes.
Cameron should probably be thinking of a career change. He seems to be one dimensional when it comes to being a politician, and seems not able to connect with the real concerns of the citizens of Prince George.
gitterdun has it right. The market will ultimately decide whether this will get off the ground or not.
You have to wonder how many more houses that PG can build without seeing a rise in the population or any influx of new people moving to the region.
I agree with Eagleone. PG has been trying to make a push to a more “metropolitan” environment. Continuous building outward like the prairies is not going to achieve this. Focus on having people live within the current city we have. The city keeps trying to grab the attention of lower mainlanders to move to the north. Make our city feel like a “city”, and perhaps we’ll have a better chance at attracting new residents.
This for people who do not want to live on a quarter acre lot, being able to shake hands with the neighbours from the bathroom windows. They also do not want a five acre lot, but a one acre lot (like the ones in the proposed development} might be just right. It is about giving people a choice! Let them make it!
Hopefully the city calculated how much it will cost the city extra for snow plowing and garbage pickup! Probably not.
What no one protesting about farm land being destroyed.
The one good thing about this election is we won’t be voting to get Green out. She has done nothing for our great city.
But this leaves us to who to vote in.. This is when the bull$hit flies trying to convince the public they will do what we want.. The only problem is once they get in they forget everything said and do what they want. We have seen that time and again. I live by my grandfathers words..” If you don’t vote you can’t complain” so I will vote but really hope we see a mayor and council that delivers what they promise and listens to the voters.
Businesses do not want to stay downtown, so what makes anyone think that people would want to live in high rises downtown? Downtown is dead at 5pm. If I was to move to a place downtown I would want to have access to amenities that were open a significant chunk of the day, not close up shop as soon as 5pm hits.
What amenities would you like to see stay open that are open outside of the core?
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