Search Continues for BC Transit Site
Prince George, B.C. – It has been 8 weeks since Mayor and Council for the City of Prince George put the brakes on the proposal to use property on Foothills Boulevard for a new B.C. Transit Operations and Maintenance facility. The search for a new site continues.“We are still exploring options with the City of Prince George” says B.C. Transit’s Communications Manager Jonathon Dyck. He says the sites being reviewed are being examined for size, cost, and constructability.
The site at Foothills and 18th Avenue met the three requirements, but public outcry over the development of a site for industrial use in a primarily residential neighbourhood was so great, Mayor and Council decided against proceeding with a rezoning and Official Community Plan amendment.
The Foothills site was not the only one originally examined, and Dyck says the others on that original list, as well as others are being examined “We are reviewing as many sites as possible and examining all available options as well as whatever else comes on the market.”
There is a fly in the ointment though, as the project was in line for a cash infusion from the Federal Government, if it could be completed by March of 2019. Development of a new site may not meet that deadline. Dyck says the Federal Government has indicated there will be a second round of funding for public transportation, however it is not known at this point how the $23 million dollar project will meet the criteria for that second round of funding.
Currently, BC Transit is operating out of a leased facility in the BCR. That site is nearing capacity.
Comments
They should look SERIOUSLY at the industrial property being developed on Boundary Road connector. Seems much more appropriate.
What is that land being used for anyways? They are still cleaning the debris and looks ready to build
Especially since tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have already been used for this private development
Part of the reason for BC Transit looking into moving the transit site is that it located on the other side of the river and in the event that a disaster destroys the bridges across the Fraser is that the only buses available to the majority of the city are the buses operated by Carefree. They were told to find a location on the other side of the Fraser.
When asked- what other sites did you look at? They could not name any so I do not know what Dyck is talking about.
What about the old Kenworth site. Borders on Quinn And Robertson. Good access, not far from the first proposed site. There is a shop already built.
Pretty much the same size they are in now
It doesn’t matter where it will go somebody in this town will have a reason to bitch about it
Behind your house perhaps?
Wouldn’t bother me in the least
They are in the process of looking at and negotiating for other sites, so it is highly unlikely that they would say what sites they are looking at. Once the decision is made they will release the info.
This whole process is more about Federal money being available for infrastructure than it is about the actual need for a new facility.
So there is the one option that they don’t want to talk about, and that is to stay where they are.
They might be holding back now what sites they are looking at but at the meeting that was held we were told there were three other sites they were looking at but when they were bluntly questioned where are the other possible sites the answer was we do not have any.
It was also nice to see a large crowd at these meetings. Thanks to the city for giving an opportunity for the people to speak on important issues.
what was the complaint about the foothills choice? the whiners couldn’t walk their pooches for the daily poop.
it seemed like a good choice in my opinion.central to all the routes,think of the amount of fuel alone that would be saved in a year with all buses not having to run from the old site.
PG has ample, already industrialy zoned land that sits empty, it’s time this town joined the 21st century and stopped industerializing land in inappropriate places. There is a reason cities put industrial sites out of cities. It’s gross and antiquated. If we want to compete with cities like Kamloops and Nanaimo etc, our city council and Mayor need to be more invested in where they live. Snd think about livability, not just the almighty dollar.
and we are competing with cities like Kamloops and Nanaimo for what? Tourism dollars? BWAHHHAHAHAHA
If you check the mileage from both sites to Pine Centre Mall you will see there is no difference. So no big savings in fuel.
Yeah, because the current location is so far away.🙄
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