Its the last lot in an already commercial area. Who would want to build a residential house on that lot. The area is already undesirable. Perhaps we could build another park for the City to maintain. Nobody dropped the ball here. My understanding is that the recycle drop off wants to expand the materials they can accept for recycling.

Our landfill is overused due to recyled material being placed their. Someone businesses are taking on the recyling on their own and getting little profit.

Build it already. I will recycle anything they will take.

Ben. It is already there. It is not moving, just expanding.

This property is 100m from the highway. Like it or not, Hallandia Drive is a commercial address.

The real issue is that the intersection at Vance & Walls/Hollandia is a problem and the intersection at Vance/Hwy 16 is a problem. There should be a way to make these intersections move more cars.

Just throwing this out there but perhaps the lights at Vance & Hwy 16 should be moved to Hwy 16 & Range. Vance & Hwy 16 would be a lot safer if it was a limited interesection like the current Range Road intersection so that the big trucks don't have to stop at the bottom. It would also get rid of the line up of cars on Vance Road trying to turn left onto Hwy 16 which backs up everything. I am sure it would cause problems elsewhere but it may be worth considering.

Planning does not exist in Prince George. If you require proof, look at the downtown core.

Its not a total lack of planning Ben. Time and again the same group seems to stand before council on behalf of landowners that want changes to bylaws and zoning get approvals. Same firm that gets a contract last year from the city for the Boundary Road to noplaneland through (if you believe the blogs at the time) some of their directors own property holdings despite not being the lowest bidder (by a long shot if the articles of the time were correct). There's planning alright, it's just not for the purposes the people of PG like to think. And as for planning in the downtown core - its happening there too, but again just not for the reasons of good governance.

Ben is right on. The issue was explained quite well. The probelm is that some councillors are not able to comprehend even such simple explanations.

1. It goes against the OCP. That is illegal. However, since we have an ineffective way in this province to deal with such potential breaches by municipalities, it would take extraordinary steps by citizens to oppose it through the province. Personally, I think if this goes through that some of the residents in that area should take those steps.

2. People cannot separate a good business from location. That is the story of this city. Right business, but wrong location.

3. The business, if you heard the debate, has been illegally using the residential property to locate recycling dumpsters. That property is not zoned properly, and that is what this whole thing is about. ByLaw Services should have been ticketing some time ago.

4. On top of that, the business is using the public lane as if it is their property. The access to their electronics drop off is off this lane. That is fine, but one has to park in the lane to access it while transfering the goods. In other words, part of the lane is a loading area.

5. This is waht is turning out to be an industrial use directly next to a residential use. That is a no-no as far as planning practices go. This City continues to be an example for supporting poor standards.

6. City Council is continuing the policies of past councils - throwing the OCP and good planning practices out the window and bow to people who flaunt the law. Quite frankly I do not know why we have a planning department. Council loves to micromange and it would be cheaper to get rid of that department.

The future for that area? One or more at a time, the residences will be bought up and the whole area will become just another industrial/retail area with lousy access.

What people fail to realize is that city councillors ignored their own staff, their own City Planning and rezoned a Duplex lot that the owners turned into an eye sore. This rezoning went from duplex, past commercial, past light industrial, right on to intermediate industrial way above the (C6) zoning This property can now be developed into a huge welding shop or whatever ridiculous venture the owner would decide. no restrictions. I can't help but wonder if new businesses such as Andres Electronics would be happy with that.
Why have a city planning commission? Why maintain engineers on staff if councillors can jump on their high horse and throw all caution to the wind. It is certainly this man's opinion that this is way too much power to people which are so easily swayed.
Guess what folks your neighbourhood can be next. These councillors have shown us how irresponsible they can be. I hope they shot themselves in the foot as this is a campaign year -- maybe they did this hoping for business campaign funds, one can only wonder