Revised Fraser Bench Lands Plan Approval On Hold
By 250 News
Google Earth Image shows Fraser Bench Land area, West side of river from top centre of photo south to Malaspina Avenue on the bottom centre of the photo. East Side of river is the BCR industrial site
The revised Fraser Bench development plan has been put before Prince George City Council.
A year in the works, the project involves 106.52 hectares (263 acres) would see 783 housing units (315 single family units) and predicts the population of the neighbourhood would be just under 2,300.
The developers say the plan has set aside a little more than one third of the available land for greenspace including 20 hectares of parkland, 16.5 hectares of greenspace, and 4.4 kms of trails. As well, there is a 50 metre setback from the river bank (riparian habitat) and 15-30 metre set backs from any streams. The developers say this neighbourhood will have more greenspace than any other neighbourhood in the city.
On transportation, there will be bike lanes, improvements to Malaspina, a trail network, many informal trails that already exist wil be maintained.
While there will be plenty of single family dwellings, the developers say this neighbourhood will be accommodating for people through all stages of life as there will be a variety of densities
It includes a neighbourhood centre, that will be the heart of the Bench Lands. It will include, provisions for a school, centre for workship and a community centre.
The developers sent handouts to 702 households in the area, held an information session, and had the plan available for view at City Hall for three weeks.
Acting on concerns from neighbours, the developers say they have made some changes from the initial outline including:
- changed location of higher density housing
- increased the size of the neighbourhood park
- increased trail connectivity
- policy regarding tree retention
- additional traffic analysis
- additional "noise attenuation" information
- retention of an acoustical engineer
The acooustic engineering company will monitor the noise and provide Council with a complete a report on the noise levels as well as offer some solutions to a problem which the developers say is not limited to their area. "This is an on going concern among residents of our City " says L & M ’s Heather Ohlund "There have been many concerns raised about whistles and shunting, especially in the quiet times of 10 p.m. and overnight."
The developer hopes to apply for rezoning next month with hopes of starting to develop the property next spring.
"It is an exciting project, but I have some concerns" says Councilor Brian Skakun. He wants to know how the developers would deal with increased noise in the future especially since more of the BCR industrial lands are being sold.
At this point, the acoustical engineers have indicated that with the greenspace kept, the addition of buildings, the noise levels should be reduced. L&M’s David McWalter says there may be an opportunity to meet with CN Rail and ask why we hear those bells and whistles, when the folks in communities like Squamish are spared that kind of noise. He hopes the noise report will be ready to be presented to Council September 11th.
Councilor Skakun says with increased activity in the BCR site, air quality will also be an issue "I don’t want to get into another North Nechako issue where it becomes a buyer beware scenario" Skakun is referring to the recent problems raised by residents of the North Nechako area as they have been subjected to industrial noise and air quality issues linked to asphalt plants.
"It’s grand, it’s infill, but there are two issues I do not have enough information on yet to support the plan." With that, Councilor Don Zurowski introudced a motion to refer the item to Adminisstration for more information. Zurowski is concerned because there is expansion in occupancy and density in the BCR and Danson sites. He is worried about increased air quality and noise issues and says when you are building a neighbourhood the size of Vanderhoof, or McBride, there is a responsibility to get it right.
For Councilor Scott, the issue is traffic, as he has concerns about Peden Hill. He has just as many concerns about expansion of Cowart Road and Malaspina. "We’re putting everything up in College Heights, and we’re going to have a traffic nightmare like you’ve never seen" L&M’s David McWalter says the Ministry of Transportation suggests that in ten years, Highway 16 from 97 to Westgate will be 6 lanes, and that should handle the extra load. He says the extension of Malaspina is a key to success of the development.
Councilor Don Bassermann "I think we need to look to the future with vigor". Bassermann says industry and traffic along with residential neighbourhoods in Vancouver seem to work and he suggests maybe there is something Prince George can learn from larger urban centres. "None of the decisions we make here should be made in isolation, I believe we are committed to improving air quality , I believe this neighbourhood will bring more people who are committed to carrying on with this work." He thinks that if a project like this is approved, it will have a direct contribution to assisting the City in dealing with issues like air quality noise, and traffic.
Council supported a move to have the matter referred for further information on noise assessment and air quality. Councilor Zurowski wants "substantial information on this issue", in particular, what the noise impact will be with extra container units and train traffic as a container port is developed at the BCR site to service the Prince Rupert Port.
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Posted by: spanky on August 14 2006 10:10 PM
(1) The CN Rail is (at this moment) in the process of moving its yard location from 1st Avenue to the BC Rail site. This will increase the switching, and train marshalling in the BC Rail yard by at least 25%. In addition if they build the Container Terminal at the BC Rail yard truck traffic in and out of the Industrial area will increase significantly. (More noise)
(2) Contrary to popular beleif the population of Prince George is not growing, and at best for the next 10 years it will remain static. So where will the 2300 people come from who will live in the Bench area. I suspect that they will come from other areas of the City and as a result these areas will become rental areas and will over time become eyesore neibourhoods much like the VLA etc;
(3) With all the building going on West on Highway 16, and College Heights, plus the proposed buildings in the Downtown Core (Metropolis), and New Hotel across from the Casino, The New Sandman on Highway 16 etc; etc; etc; who will live in all these new facilities. Where will they come from.
(4) School District 57 is predicting a 400 pupil reduction in enrollments this fall. How is this possible in a growing City. This is the 5th year in a row that enrollments are down.
(5) With all this business on 97 South 16 West, and the Downtown core, why is it that we need a new bridge across the Nechako. With the CN moving out and no new projects planned for the Hart Hiway, or North Nechako (Golf Course excluded) Why are we trying to spend 22 Million for a new bridge when we can repair the present bridge for $750,000.00
(6) Once the South Scale is relocated to Stoner/Red Rock will it really be necessary to twin the Simon Fraser Bridge. The congestion between the Bridge and Husky truck stop is a direct result of where this scale is located. Once the scale is gone the problem is solved. Twinning the bridge will do nothing to move traffic except get it to the junction of 97 and 16 faster so that intersection can be congested.
You cannot do good City Planning if you do not have all the facts. City Planning in this town is more about job security than anything else. We keep moving things in circles and calling them new, when they are nothing more than a shell game.
Case in Point.
City yard located at 15th and Ospika shut down to make room for soccer fields that were being relocated from the south end of the Pr Geo Golf and Curling Club, to make way for a driving range.
City moves its yard to East end of 3rd Ave in same area as their Purchasing Dept. City later buys the buildings and land from Yellowhead Road and Bridge and moves to new location, right across the street from where it was originally located.
This is only one of many cases where things are moving in a circle only to come back to the same place, however it usually costs us something like $5 Million in the process.
The next big fiasco will the the New Prince George Golf Course. My bet is that the City will in the next few years buy enough land from the new PG Course to build a new par 3 Golf course, which they will get the PG Course to run, and they will close and sell of the property where the present par 3 course is. Who wins in this scenario. The Golf course will get some much needed revenue to keep its new course out of the Red, and the City will have vast amounts of land to sell to developers.
The fly in the ointment might be that Prince George is reaching capacity for anymore box stores, etc; and the property may remain fallow for a number of years, but so what its only taxpayers money.