Clock Starts Ticking Tomorrow for Connaught to Be Brought Up To Snuff
Prince George, B.C. – By the end of today, the 9 permanent residents of the Connaught Motor Inn will have to be out.
The City suspended the business license following a lengthy hearing in which numerous failings of the Connaught were cited, not the least of which was the criminal activity.
During that hearing, Prince George RCMP Superintendent Warren Brown described the Connaught Motor Inn as the “hub” of illegal activity from stolen property to drug trafficking and prostitution. It accounted for more than 600 calls for service over the past four years, and numerous other stops by police who were trying to be proactive in their crime investigations
As ordered by Prince George City Council, 30 day notices were issued to the residents on the 1st of June.
All of the residents are said to have found alternate housing..
The Connaught Motor Inn was dealt a three month suspension of its business license, that suspension starts tomorrow and the clock will start ticking on meeting a long list of conditions and upgrades.
The owners of the Connaught will have two more deadlines to satisfy the conditions set by the City of Prince George if they want to have their license reinstated .
By the end of July, the owners are to have:
- submitted a Business Operating Plan detailing motel operations, including, but not limited to staffing, security and operational changes to ensure policing issues do not reoccur
- create file and maintain a proper Fire Safety plan
- ensure all fire alarm systems are up to standard, properly tested and fully functional
- ensure all smoke alarms are in place, operational and have had a documented test in the last 12 months.
- portable extinguishers to be installed on the exterior walkways as per the BC Fire Code
- repair all fire separations
- an inspection report of the electrical systems of the entire building from the BC Safety Authority
- install a security camera system that monitors all public areas of the property and a system that stores those images for at least three weeks
The second deadline occurs 150 days from July 1st. By that time, the Connaught Motor Inn must:
- complete any repair work required pursuant to the report and a letter from the BC Safety Authority certifying the work has been completed
- a letter from a structural engineer indicating he/she has inspected and certified the work has been completed
- Written certification from qualified professionals that all plumbing, sewer and heating systems are installed and functioning properly
- written certification that all rooms and spaces in the building are substantially free of any pesticides, fertilizers, toxic chemical contamination, molds or fungi
- written certification that the property is in compliance with Crime Prevention through environmental Design principles
- repair of all suites to a standard that would allow for occupancy of all 97 units.
Comments
I can’t wait for this place to be ripped down. Waste of space, .
Summit, you think ripping down a motel that isn’t near it’s time will solve the issues that were there. You are mistaken. It’s a social concern what goes on in a place like this. Laws and attitudes and people who do them. Need to change. Like I have said before. The current model of criminalizing drugs doesn’t work. It will never work. I am just glad that there are more free, open thinking people out there. Than a bunch of people that want to punish society into submission to make things better in the world.
Two totally different things. I agree that we need to think differently about drugs and criminality. That being said, I am 100% in favor of the gentrification of Prince George whenever possible. Read about ‘broken windows’ theory.
If changeit owns any commercial property I want to know..So I can avoid it..
If you applied all these regulations to business’s on Third and George St., you would have to shut down most of the down town. Especially when it comes to electrical and fire regulations.
Palopu, do you actually go downtown? Please list these businesses that in your opinion would need to be shut down. I suspect you are either unaware or exagerating to an extreme.
Now where will the girls and druggies ply their trade? They will just move somewhere else.
I guess these people are finally getting hit hard with the blunt end of the axe, since they didn’t respond very well to earlier much nicer prodding.
Having said that, I would suggest that a few significant changes need to occur.
1) Ownership needs to change. The current owners will continue to talk a good game, but never get anything done
2) With a change in ownership perhaps a significant investment in the property to take it considerably up market from where the druggies and hookers are accustomed to paying
3) Perhaps a change of use to Seniors housing would with proper fencing, landscaping and security would solve the issue once and for all
4) The Motel at the other end of the same block needs to be torn down, that way the Connaught, the empty space in between and the old Ranch motel could be consolidated into one site.
All of the above would go a long way towards cleaning up that end of Victoria st.
however the drug, hooker, and general criminality issue will not go away with it. It will just simply move on to another area of town!
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