A slogan I came up with years ago still applies;
The City of Prince George, we are not open for business.
If the adjoining residential area is so "tight" then why is there commercial zoning right there in the first place?
Face it, the commercial zoning in this area has been creeping outward for years.
It is not fair to BBK for their application to be denied when there is already a lot of commercial development right there already. And what undesirables?
The citizens who recycle?
If the city is intent on restricting commercial expansion and hindering its' citizen's access to recycling, maybe they should consider underwriting BBKs' move to a 'more suitable' area.
metalman.

"If the adjoining residential area is so "tight" then why is there commercial zoning right there in the first place?"

Gee why don't you do your homework for a change adn find out for us? Dont' ask a question and then go on as if the answer to the question is "because the residents wanted it."

The more likely answer is that the service station and previous motel were there for a long time. Then some of the other uses probably inched their way in the same way as this one was about to and may still do. Only this time there was someone smart enough to go to the ombudsman, because we do not have a municipal board in this province wich would otherwise deal with such matters.

This City is not open for business? Give me a break!!!! Try something like that in Kelowna and you'd be out on your behind in 10 seconds!! This city is open. Period!!! I defy you to find another city this size or larger where property taxes for businesses are lower than here!

People should recognize that a little house was bought out and the owner put up a car lot which could not survive without encroaching on the resident. The commercial businesses are addressed on Vance road.---Serta,BBK The New bike shop,Andre's are all registered to do business on Vance NOT Hollandia or the residential street of Petersen. The Undesirables are derelicts with their shopping carts breaking into our yards and stealing whatever they can pack away. And Yes the clients are a problem. The rear service lane is not cabable of handling the traffic. The residential lots have been illegally used to do business regardless of city bylaws. BBK should never have been allowed to stay, leave alone expand. There is traffic backs up very bad in the summer. People that live in this neighbourhood have trouble coming and going home at the Intersection Of Vance and Hollandia. Due to Future shop Costco and traffic backing out of the New bike shop right at the intersection and the service lane so close to the stop sign. Garbage everywhere --Look closer you will see what the neighbours have to look at every day. It is an Industrial application and should be at an Industrial zone. There are a lot of suitable places open. We are not against Business expansion or recycling and Yes we should have more places to recycle but NOT backed up against our bedrooms. Take a walk through the site on First Avenue- ask to see how they conduct business It is very efficient and well done, but you will then definetly realize it does not belong jammed near homes. I'm all in favour of any one asking to have it put on thier own street. Do us a favour, take your bottles to Nechako Bottle depot as almost everyone in this neighbourhood does and get paid twice as much. Right business -- Wrong Place

Do you have statistics on how many times you have been broken in. and is it above average?

Gus's Kneejerk reaction to another's opinion (:priceless:)
Perhaps one should never comment on a story unless one is an expert on the topic.


frustrated residents insightful comments:
thoughtful, informative, obviously someone who lives in the area. Well done.
Thank you for your reply.
I think my opinion would be the same as yours if I lived in that area, I don't, therefore know little about the problems you apparently face on a daily basis.
With all due respect; would the "derelicts" go away if there was no recycling depot there?
Personally, I avoid the bottle depot there for one of the same reasons you cite, not enough room, if there is more than three vehicles unloading.
By the way there is a very clean, well organized and friendly bottle return depot on the Hart Highway as well, just off Austin Road behind the Mr. G store, next to the dental clinic.

By the way, many business people, builders, developers and the like I have talked to over the years agreed to my very general statement
--"not open for business" Your experience may vary.
metalman.

"By the way, many business people, builders, developers and the like I have talked to over the years agreed to my very general statement -- not open for business"

I actually agree with gus on this one. Many of these people you speak of would never even get off the ground in a larger centre. The requirements and restrictions put on developers in this city are a joke and the planning and way the city has developed is evidence of that.

To me, anytime I hear that the city isn't "open for business", I tend to think that it actually means "I didn't get my way so I'm mad". Too bad. I actually wish the city were MORE strict in regards to how they dealt with development issues. It would make a better city for all of us and perhaps we could get some more competent people being willing to invest here because then the development climate (and thus investment climate) would be predictable . . .

NMG feels that what the business people mea to say is: "I didn't get my way so I'm mad".

I agree with that.

Having some experience in zoning and building code issues, which are often cited by those business people who did not get their way, I will go one step further. Those who make those comments are more oftne than not people who could not read a zoning bylaw or the building code if their life depended on it, and they refuse to hire people who can. Or, when they hire people who can, who then tell them what they can and cannot do they ask them to part the waters for them because they are a special case.

Just because one owns a business, does not mean that they run the buziness well. In fact, if they do not run the business as well as it could be run, there are those who will tend to blame others rather than themselves. It is human nature.

So, that kind of complaint can be more of an indicator of the ability of the business and its owners and employees than the quality of the services and laws in place in the City.