Open House to Discuss University Heights Neighbourhood Plan

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 10:56 AM

Tomorrow evening at the Bently Centre at UNBC, there will be an open house to look at and discuss plans being developed for University Heights Neighbourhood.

The project involves 674 hectares of land in the area bounded by: Tyner Boulevard, extending to the University of Northern British Columbia in the north, Highway 16 in the south, the rural-urban boundary near the headwaters of Parkridge Creek in the west and the Cranbrook Hill Escarpment in the east.

Although L&M Engineering says the draft plan complete with colour drawings can be viewed at L&M’s website, ( http://www.lmengineering.bc.ca/univ/dwgs.htm ) efforts to link to that site and share the drawings have been met with a 404 error message that says the site is still under construction.

Here are some of the highlights of the plan:

A mix of land uses including a range of residential density options, commercial, parkland, greenspace, and institutional;

Eleven Neighbourhood Parks;

Two District Parks;

Development of trails connecting with existing residential development, the University of Northern BC, the Cranbrook Hill Greenway, and Ginter’s Field;

Designed connections to the existing bicycle network;

A pedestrian friendly environment that provides connections within University Heights and to surrounding neighbourhoods;

Greenways to protect environmentally sensitive areas;

The University Support Services area and Neighbourhood Centre;

The promotion of Traditional, Smart Growth, Winter Cities, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design and Healthy Communities design standards;

otential pilot projects for Alternative Design Standards for roads and servicing

Following the Public Open House, the University Heights Neighbourhood Plan will be submitted to the City of Prince George for Council’s consideration.

L&M is hoping Council will consider the plan in August, and the first phase of development could then begin in the Spring of next year.

Tomorrow’s public meeting is set for 7 p.m. through to 9 p.m.

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Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 10:56 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 27 2007 6:59 PM

Good luck. Although I suppose the city will cut the UNBC some slack on the costs. It isn't uncommon for this type of development to have lot prices approaching $100K.

The risks associated with developing land are tied to real estate booms. If a developer misses the boom, and is in private business, they are going to go bust. A land developer going belly up is excellent news for the city as the city gets the land for nothing all serviced up and ready to sell. The city can sit on the lots forever, and just raise taxes on the rest of us to pay the overhead as needed.

UNBC and the airport are about the only developers that are safe from the city's cut throat tactics. In a very simple subdivision plan the earliest a private developer can get anything to market is two years. Any guesses on market conditions at that time?

Posted by: Palopu on June 27 2007 7:46 PM

In two years the real estate in this town will be in the tank, in fact it has already started to plummet. Real Estate Magazine two weeks ago had 74 open houses, this week it had 109. Lots of houses are up for sale.

In addition we now have a number of ventures on the go.

(1) Fraser River Bench Lands
(2) Tyner Blvd
(3) Big Development to go in adjacent to the new road that will be built from Foothills to the new golf course.
(4) Aberdeen Glen Golf Course still has at least 170 lots to be developed. This venture originally called for 200 homes, and I beleive they have now built approx 35.
(6) University Heights Development
(7) Various and sundry other developments taking place or planned for the next few years.

Projected population increase for Prince George for the next 20 years. 1 to 2 % per annum so the question is, who is going to buy all these houses. We are probably talking about 15000 new houses or more over the next 20 years. Maybe everone will move out of the Bowl Area to the hillsides and all the houses in the bowl area will become rentals, much like we now have south of 20th Avenue. (The Hood) If this is where we are heading then we can blame the present Council and City Planning people because they are the ones that continue to **ok** these developments.

Posted by: Chadermando on June 27 2007 8:29 PM

University Heights will be the most important land development in this city for the next 20 years. If they screw it up we will continue to be a ho-hump lump of coal, but if they get it right it could change the whole look of this city giving it a freash new start in the direction of livability. So far I think they are going to screw it up, but I hope I'm wrong.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 28 2007 7:38 AM

University Heights will be built by the same school of thought and look like the stuff you see on the hillsides on the way into Vancouver. Lots of little white boxes, row on row, packed on to the slopes.

I doubt PG is ready for that, and I doubt University Heights will be the "...most important land development in this city for the next 20 years."