Location Location Location...P.G's Secret to Success

Wednesday, August 16, 2006 04:00 AM

Poised for a boom… that’s how some developers are viewing Prince George.

Developments of 40 hectares or more require a neighbourhood plan, and there are about half a dozen such plans being developed by L&M Engineering. The Fraser Bench Lands development is one that has been in the works for just over a year. If approved, that neighbourhood will eventually be home to nearly 2300 people. The other five projects are being designed to accommodate thousands more:

University Heights (from the University to Highway 16) accounting for nearly 11,000.
Ospika South expects total population of just over 5,500, and the
Woodlands development would add another 800.
Two more developments are just in the early stages and population projections are not yet available.

Why the boom? That is difficult to pinpoint as there hasn’t been one definite announcement of anything that would produce the kind of jobs necessary to draw people to Prince George, however, some suggest developers are coming because right now, buying and servicing land in this city is relatively cheap and some developers are banking on the City’s great location.

Heather Oland, the Manager of the Planning Centre for L&M Engineering agrees that there is lots to be said about location “We have the most important highway intersection north of Hope, we have an international airport, great rail facilities, and excellent connections for transportation east-west, and north south.” “Forestry will always be the backbone of this community, but Prince George is diversifying” she adds. Oland says there has been great interest from developers from outside of Prince George who have confidence that things are about to spring wide open.

In addition to residential activity, the Westgate property has been granted approval for the development of a further 79 thousand square feet of retail space.

The former Recreation Place will be home to a Sandman Hotel, Denny’s Restaurant, and the new home for the Brick which has just announced it will be pulling out of the downtown core.

Prince George City Council was reminded this week of the improvements being made at the BCR site, with several kilometers of paving being done this year, and more paving planned for the near future. There is an expectation that an inland container port will also spark increased rail traffic with Prince Rupert expecting to handle half a million 20 foot containers by the fall of 2007, and two million in the second phase of development.

Local developers are excited about the activity and interest, but some are cautious about the City’s ability to be handle the demand. As one developer, who wishes to remain anonymous, remarked “This is a time for the City to really show that it is open for business”.

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Posted on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Chadermando on August 16 2006 5:25 AM

IMO the University Heights development could be the defining development for Prince George in the decades to come. If it is single family homes crowded into all the best viewing spots than I will be disappointed and feel robbed.

I think University Heights should have a Cranbrook Hill Crest Trail and park system protected that preserves some of the best view points for public access and future viewing decks incorperated into what could be one of the best urban parks in the world. I would mix some retail with some highrise condo, elderly, and student housing using high density planning, mixed with viewscape parkland, and utilizing the landscape to magnify the impression of the development.

There is so much potential along the crest of that hill it would be a shame to develop for anything other than something worthy of its location.

I am pro development if its good development.

Posted by: Chadermando on August 16 2006 5:28 AM

Also the University has the cleanest air in PG.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 16 2006 7:39 AM

All development ideas must shelved until Chadero has a chance to rifle through them to be sure he isn't getting robbed.
Lucky for PG Chado is not on council!

Posted by: spanky on August 16 2006 7:58 AM

no doubt yama, chadder has an opinion on absolutely everything. and most of the time a rather silly one at that.

Posted by: Chadermando on August 16 2006 8:04 AM

I think those were some good points. If you have a good counter point than bring it on. You're both hiding under the skirt of name calling with no good ideas of your own.

Posted by: owl on August 16 2006 10:44 AM

What does open for business mean anyway? We keep hearing this brainless phrase.

What it should not mean is that we allow this community to develop substandard buildings, subdivisions, businesses, and generally pass the buck to the last person in line, the average, unsuspecting consumer, while all the others along the way run to their respective banks laughing that there is still a sucker born every minute.

What it should mean is that City Hall should have single stop shopping for those who need approvals; that they have educated staff who know what standards are and can help the customer in pointing out why their proposal may need improvement and where they can pick up the resources to help them improve their proposal; that they have sufficient staff to do this so that the process is not slowed due to backlogs; that during "down years" procedures are honed, staff are re-educated in newer practices and standards so that they are ready when business starts walking into the door once more; that City Hall has the capacity to ensure standards to protect the right for existing citizens to enjoy their property without disturbance is being maintained during the activity of new construction.

We were open for business some 30 to 40 years ago and built some of the best subdivisions in the country - 4 lane arterials wide enough for bike lanes to be added when two lanes could have sufficed in many cases, subdivisions with services underground, elementary schools within walking distance, mixed density developments, a good mixture of local parks, good recreational facilties, sewage plant with tertiary treatment, etc, etc.

Prince George is a bubble where the time has stood still for 40 years and the old ideal of the single family detached home for a family with 2 kids, 3 cars, mechanical toys, etc. is still the norm rather than the exception.

So, Prince George can be open for business and still meet standards. However, it requires those who are the "keepers" of the standards ensure they have the know how and capacity to do so, and it requires those who wish to be in business to also understand that they have a responsibility to keep up to date and not expect that just because they are "Mr. Developer" they will be allowed to flaunt reasonable regulations.

I do not know why we knew that 30 to 40 years ago and why we may have lost that understanding of responsibility over time.

Posted by: gonefishing on August 16 2006 4:17 PM

I for one am on your side Chadermando...although i'll be honest I don't know enough to make the best decision, I agree with your points at least

Posted by: spanky on August 16 2006 6:09 PM

Build IT. Who cares about the rest. If interest rates rise or some bad news comes our way, these developers will disappear faster than Israeli's at a suicide bombing. PG cannot start to become fussy. Does any remember the Cadillac Fairview mall development, NEVER WAS BUILT. Too much jerking around. Whether this town ever becomes anything will be determined by what gets built while things are HOT!

BUILD IT AND FIX IT LATER IF NECESSARY!

Posted by: Palopu on August 16 2006 8:36 PM

And so the Dreamers Dream.

No mention of the 400 student drop in enrollments in School Distrit 57.

No mention of the flat lining of enrollments at the University on the hill.

No mention of the fact than enrollments are down at CNC and they have downsized 15 positions in the last year.

No mention that there are as many people moving out of Prince George as there are moving in.(Ask the moving companies)

No mention that between Pine Centre Mall and Parkwood there are 25 empty stores.

No mention that half the building South of Victoria street have For Sale, or For Lease signs hanging in the window.

No mention that we just went through a period where we closed down approx 14 schools in the district.

No mention that the relocation and building of business in the Westgate area is dealing a final blow to the downtown, with the Brick being the next to move. Dont forget that Rice/Chev moved out and so did Canadian Tire. I suspect that a number of Motels in the downtown area are on their last legs and will fold pretty soon.

No mention that the CN Continues to move its operation to the BC Rail side of the river and continues to downsize.

No mention that if in fact you get a Container yard for loading Containers to Prince Rupert you will kill off all the truck and rail traffic to Vancouver, with a loss of jobs that would be at least equal to the number of jobs created by the Container yard.

No mention that as people move out of the bowl area, and the adjoining areas to outlying subdivisions, that the area in town becomes rentals, and over time become run down, much like what happened to the VLA district and other streets in the same area.

The reason that they cannot come pinpoint one thing that can account for the boom, is because there isnt one. What we have is a major relocation of Industry and Housing to other areas of the City, which give the impression of great growth, but if you do not relate it to what is shutting down, then you have nothing but hype.

It will take a few years but things will become clear eventually.

Posted by: weezerfan on August 19 2006 7:49 PM

Palopu, This town already has the mentality that it has nothing going for it and recently things have picked up a bit. The job market has tightened significantly, the unemployment rate has plummeted while the employment rate is one of the highest in the province. 5 Years ago when I was in highschool it was hard to find a minimum wage job let alone a decent full time one, now there are actually advertisements for jobs.

Red Deer is Booming and you don't hear about mega projects being built there. If 500 companies in Prince George hired 1 full time person that is more than a MDF plant or ethanol plant or more than even the largest sawmill. The growth is happening, to what extent no one is quite sure but frankly things have improved and because of the improved job market, after I grad university I may actually accept the offer I have been made here in PG.

The thing that upsets me about this town is frankly the mentality of the people, things are happening, lets let them happen rather than shoot down any hope of a project or whatever. I bet if everyone in this town was a little less pessimistic we wouldn't be in the state we are now.

We can't be dependent on a few major employers anymore, and they will cut back even more, that is enivitable and if I was in their shoes I would probably cut jobs too. I would rather have a mill have half the employees than have the whole thing shut down in 5.

The mentality of some people in this town is sickening and frankly as a youth, why should I invest my life in a town where the only the negatives are highlighted.

Posted by: Palopu on August 21 2006 9:22 PM

Weezer. I agree that with the Mills putting on shifts because of the beetle kill, and the lumber issue with the USA that there are more jobs available in the short term. As a result there are more jobs and minimum wage jobs available, however most of these minimum wage jobs were full time jobs not to long ago, and the stores have got rid of the full time jobs and so we have a bunch of part time jobs. When you graduate you might get lucky and get a full time job in the short term, but a lot of students wont. Thats why they are teaching English in Japan, Korea, and China, as an example. In the last 25 yeas there have been at least 15000 full time jobs that have disapeared in the greater Prince George area, and you can rest assured that this trend will continue for sometime in the future. The CN Rail on first Avenue had in excess of 1500 jobs in 1971, and to-day you would be lucky to find 200. Just one example.

I have no problem with the City of Prince George, have worked here all my life, and will continue to do so. My problem is with those people who continually promote Prince George as a City that is growing, and a good place to invest, etc; when in fact the opposite is true. These people for the most part are City Councillers, and Mayor, Iniatives Prince George, the Tourism Dept., Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Business, Real Estate Salesmen, Developers, and others who stand to make money.

A case in point. John Brink, of Brink Forest Products, who has 2 or 3 small mills in the area was quoted the other day as saying that in the next 20 years Prince George would have a population between 200,000 to 250,000 people. The next day the same paper reported that BC Stats expected very low population growth for the Prince George area, somewhere around 2%. This would be approx 1500 people per year and over 20 years would give us a population of approx 107000 which would be about right.

The paper also referred to Brink as being a lumber magnate, owning a few lumber mills does not make you a magnate. You might refer to the Irvings back East as Magnates, or the Bentleys of Canfor before they went public.

Its the same as referring to a few Condos and shops downtown as a Metropolis, this is totally misleading.

There are many many reasons why there are jobs available in Prince George at the moment, however there will be no big boom in the near, or distant future.

Beware of the Silver Tongued Salesman.