Prince George, B.C.- The Mayor’s Task force for a Better Downtown is looking at how the City might adopt a “wood first” policy.

Recently the City of Quesnel passed a bylaw calling for new construction to look to wood first, but Prince George may take a different approach.

Manager of Development Services, Grant Bain says it may be possible to encourage the use of wood both structurally and aesthetically through incentives that could be offered for any area deemed to be a “Revitalization Development Permit Area.”   That regulation gives the City more authority to be more specific on building materials and to regulate the design components.

The Mayor’s Task force for a Better Downtown would like to see a higher density wood first neighbourhood between   Victoria and Winnipeg Streets. That would require a review of the Crescents Neighbourhood plan before any changes could be made.

Building with wood has already been a preference for the City as is evident in the Art Gallery and the design of the new RCMP building and when it comes to requests for proposals, there is a section that calls for contractors to “consider wood” but the Task force would like to see the procurement policy reviewed so it would include an evaluation of the use of wood in any project.