Mayor's Task Force Examines Tax Breaks to Improve Downtown

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 03:58 AM

Diagram shows two "precincts", one for residential construction, number 2 is for revitalization tax incentives.

Prince George, B.C.- The Mayor’s Task Force on Downtown is working towards developing recommendations that would bring about positive change. Tax incentives and increasing density are just two ideas being considered to boost revitalization and new development.

The suggested changes, (which are still in the discussion stage) would see the designation of two precincts.

Precinct number one, is the residential area between Vancouver and Winnipeg Streets. The proposal up for discussion would see that area allow any density of construction up to 6 storeys, and the focus would be on wood construction. “We want to be the showcase for wood construction” says Initiatives Prince George President Tim McEwan, “We should be ground zero for wood”.

The main reason behind the increased density in that particular area is the new Northern Cancer Centre. Along with it, will be a lodge where patients can stay during treatment, but Northern Health’s Finlay Sinclair says not all people want to stay in a lodge “Family members often like to rent an apartment for a month or two so they can all stay together” He says the development of the Wood Innovation Centre in Prince George will also bring along about 108 employees and some will have families “We know the density is coming, this is to encourage it in a certain area.”

Then there is Precinct number two, which is within the current downtown core. Bounded by Queensway and Quebec Streets between Second and 7^th Avenues, this precinct would see special tax incentives for those who either build new, or upgrade existing buildings.

The incentives proposed are more than generous with a suggested 10 year exemption for 100% of the land and improvements that boost the overall assessment of the property by $200 thousand.

It isn’t known if the exemptions would be legally allowed. Further research on that aspect will be undertaken.

The City already has a permissive tax exemption plan in place which offers municipal tax exemptions (school, hospital and Regional District taxes must still be paid) for the value of a new improvement or the alteration of an existing improvement.

That program was put in place in late 2005.

But does this kind of program work?

The Mayor, Dan Rogers, doesn’t seem convinced “We have the lowest Development Cost Charges, the cheapest land, and we already have permissive tax exemptions, we should be inundated with developers but we’re not.”

IPG’s Tim McEwan wants to develop a special marketing prospectus “Something that shows downtown Prince George is open for business. The principle here is we need some serious incentives to drive some activity.”

There is still a great deal of work to be done and the recommendations won’t be finalized until there is some more background information, especially on legalities, and what kind of incentives other communities may be offering.

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Posted on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Shellshadow on June 24 2009 8:19 AM

People are not spending! The markets are still unsure! You have all the chain stores already in place in other areas! Until the financial world gets back on track all plans for fixing the screw ups the city planners have done for decades should be shelved!

Posted by: Eagleone on June 24 2009 8:53 AM

Why not have ten downtowns rather than one? I like that idea better... one in the Hart... College Heights, PG Golf lands, current downtown, university, Edgewood ect... why does all the focus have to be downtown next to the oil refinery?

The Hart mall has a lot of empty spaces in it too, and I don't see any city focus on helping that area attract new investment... my guess is profitability wise an investment in this city in the Hart would make more business sense for all the reasons the downtown could sell plus more. Maybe a 16&97 entertainment area would be more highclass than the downtown?

Maybe people would like to live in high density 6-story buildings on the Cranbrook Hill Crest near the university overlooking the city, or possibly out Edgewood over looking the river, rather than downtown in the dirty bowl? Isn't that what the transit and infrastructure investments are for? Isn't that what the focus on making PG a more livable city should be centered around with park and trail development?

What makes the downtown so special? What about the taxes the homeowners are paying throughout the city and receiving little in return.. why should they subsidize a loss leader plan destine to fail as sure as we need fuel to run our cars?

I have more questions than answers.

Posted by: gus on June 24 2009 9:33 AM

SGOG (smart growth) is all about denisfying the City, primarily by moving people back into the centre. That is the intuitive thing to do because that is the type of community many of us grew up in.

Prince George is one of hundreds of cities in North America that let the Genie out of the bottle and oted for sprawlsville. Now they are desparately trying to put the Genie back in the bottle.

The residents of this and all those other cities that have found themselves in this situation are paying higher taxes since they have to support a large infrastructure of roads and utility umbilical cords they are hooked up to. Maintaining those with snow removal, road repairs, etc. is expensive on a continuing basis. This City has problems keeping up with those repairs as we well know.

Now they are proposing to hit the residentiakl tax payer with a double whammy. Give those who build and buy downtown a tax break. So who pays for that? Yet higher residential business and industrial taxes.

I aggree with Eagleone. Work with what we have. We have a city with multiple nodes of residential precincts with services attacehd to those precincts.

Take a close look at Kelowna. It is beginning to take that type of look. The first noticeable thing about Kelowna is that there are no high rise office buildings in the core of the City. There is a series of 10 or so storey buildings to the south east on the south side of Harvey, away from the core. The high rise buildings in the core are all residential types - condos as well as hotel - which take advantage of the water access for leisure activities and the view.

The core is also the precinct which has many of the night clubs and restaurants, although they too are spread out.

The downtown in PG will find its niche one of these days, but likley not till the population increases. BTW, StatsBC is not projecting that to happen within the next 25 years.

So, if StatsBC's scenario is true, then the only way we can populate the core of PG with residents is to remove them from the suburbs and leave those houses empty and depress the residential values.

The City is playing with fire, in my opinion.

Posted by: diplomat on June 24 2009 9:40 AM

Every time a new business opens in the Hart we (as Hart residents) need to pollute less to drive to the Superstore strip or to College Heights malls.

Downtown? Practically off our list altogether. Too unsightly and dirty, in too many different ways.

Nothing has worked as far as downtown revitalization ideas go, so perhaps an industrial use approach and a reverting to bush in the flood plain is the way to go.

Move City Hall.

Posted by: lunarguy on June 24 2009 9:42 AM

Until such time as the air downtown can be breathed most days without causing issues no one in their right mind would be moving into the downtown core to live there. Solve that issue and the rest of the downtown issues will have the potential to be solved.

Posted by: gus on June 24 2009 10:17 AM

An interesting blog on higher rise wooden buildings.

http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1075

The building in london that the last blogger mentions can be seen here. A completely different kind of wood construction than the frame construction we use. The system is much closer to concrete panel systems buildings as was popular in the mid 50s to mid 70s. The panels are solid laminated wood and are thus strong enough to take the compressive stresses. The panel connections look primitive to me and are the element which is closest to failure in the earthquake testing.

There are already enough companies working on this that there are various systems avialable. I hope that these are the types of issues and systmes the Wood Innovations Centre will be focusing on.

http://www.organicbuilding.co.nz/organic/index.mvc?ArticleID=136

http://www.massivholzmauer.de/index.php?id=278&L=1

KLH an Austrian firm specializing in cross laminated solid panel buildings which have been built as high as 9 storeys, 8 of wood.

http://www.klh.m2online.at/fileadmin/klh/bilder/2007/Prospekte/PDF/071018_KLH_engl_A4.pdf

Spruce is the key wood ingedient. Made to order for around here. Stacks well into containers and ships via Rupert to parts of Asia that like solid wood better than framed wood.

http://www.klhscandinavia.se/product.html?L=3

So where are the entrepreneurs who will buy the machinery and get it set up in a factory over here? We do not have to wait till the wood innovation centre is finished. the know how is there, the market to the east of us is waiting, and we have the wood.

Posted by: gus on June 24 2009 10:18 AM

You are right on lunarguy. The inncentives need to be given to new factories built outside of town.

Posted by: NMG on June 24 2009 5:47 PM

"Until such time as the air downtown can be breathed most days without causing issues no one in their right mind would be moving into the downtown core to live there. Solve that issue and the rest of the downtown issues will have the potential to be solved"

And we have a winner! Bang on lunarguy.

Posted by: Eagleone on June 25 2009 5:56 AM

IMO PG has huge potential for growth if it focuses on its regional areas within the city itself... the downtown will follow when the population grows and lifts all boats... the downtown will always be BC's northern capital with government and civic services, and commercial and legal services... if the regions grow the downtown will follow... the downtown can not and will not ever IMO lead the way... simple reality.

What the city should be doing for growth is working out an arrangement with the province to have satellite industrial parks in the PG region that are serviced and taxed by the city of PG for industrial development in appropriate air sheds.

Posted by: gus on June 25 2009 2:28 PM

I hope everyone realizes that the City of Prince George funds about 60% and more of the Regional District's operations. So, if there are major developments in the Regional District, such as large industrial operations, which will pay taxes to the regional district, the portion of taxes which the City will pay will drop accordingly.

By the same token, I assume, if Mackenizie drops in population their tax base would be adjusted and PG base would be lifted to accommodate any shortfall.

So, am not sure what all the fuss about some lines drawn on a map is all about.

Posted by: Loki on June 26 2009 2:45 PM

still on the infinite growth in finite space paradigm, eh?

It is no longer a matter of growth. It is now a matter of managed development of new areas and managed environmental return to original state. Clear off the man made materials and allow nature to do the rest.

Yes, this would include sections of downtown. Better than leaving a rotting hulk that is an eyesore and a hazard.

Over time we would end up with significant areas of "undeveloped" real estate that could be then developed into whatever is currently appropriate for the area. That or the town slowly drifts from its historical areas to the newly developed and currently used areas. You could read that as "off the flood plain".