Prince George, B.C.- The expansion of the Downtown Business Improvement Area has meant an expansion of duties for the current Mayor and Council.

The expansion plan has not been well received, contrary to the message that had been delivered to Council in September by the president of the DBIA. Shari Green told Council that of all the people contacted, only two opposed the expansion.

Dirk Loedel of Royal LePage Realty, Kelly Steer of the Coast Inn of the North, Roger Cruezot  of Gold’s Gym,   and Peter Campbell addressed Council.

In his opening remarks, Dirk Loedel said the first time that he, or anyone he had talked to heard of the planned expansion was on August 12^th. He says at that time, he spoke with the President of the DBIA, Shari Green and expressed his concerns.  Loedel says he then started contacting other property owners and they advised they had either not heard of the idea, or opposed it.   Loedel  says he has asked repeatedly for the names of the people the DBIA spoke to, and to date, has not received any information.  He also said no one had been informed that the matter was going before Council in October. “I would like to take issue with the fairness of the process.” He told Council he had asked the Deputy Clerk for the names of the property owners so they could be contacted. He was told that because of privacy issues, that information was not available. “Yet Mr. Gable  (Kirk Gable, past president of DBIA) told me he had access to that list”. Loedel  also says the negative petition is too much of a burden “We just had an election and only 32% of the voters turned out  yet for something like this, we have to have 51% of the property owners say no.”

Roger Creuzot  told Council the DBIA  says downtown is the heart and soul of the City “Well then everyone should be paying for it, all the taxpayers, I  believe  I am being penalized for setting up my business in the downtown.”

Councillor Brian Skakun says   the idea of the expansion   was easy to accept because he believed there was no opposition. Councillor Debora Munoz wanted to know if the reverse petition   period could be extended and the answer was no. Councillor Zurowski noted that while Council doesn’t have any option if the expansion is rejected in the reverse petition,  there is an opportunity if the reverse petition comes back with a 25% – 30% rejection. He hoped the existing Council would have an opportunity to deal with it before the new Council is sworn in. Councillor Glen Scott said he would like both sides to have equal time. 

Councillor Krause thanked  the delegation for bringing the matter forward, but said while the Council’s hands are tied because the process is underway, and it will be revisited on December 1^st.

It is considered an issue that is the responsibility of the existing Council, so that means the current Council and Mayor will sit one last time on December 1^st, deal with this issue, then adjourn. The new Council and Mayor would be sworn in and carry on.

The reverse petition period ends tomorrow night at 5:00.

Councillors elect, Dave Wilbur, Garth Frizzell  and Cameron Stolz attended the Council meeting this evening, Councillor elect Shari Green was not in attendance.