The next city council meeting could be the final tee-off for the development of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club lands.
The 193 acres south of Highway 97 and west of Highway 16 at the intersection of those two main roads have been packaged together and the centre of much speculation for going on 10 years now. Even last year they were saying that the public discussion phase of the proposal would begin within months. A year later, that has now been accomplished.
"The public consultation process was completed and we are summarizing the results and that will be in the report," said Dan Milburn, manager of long-range planning for the City of Prince George. The report he is authoring is essentially ready, it just has to find an appropriate slot on the agenda of an upcoming council meeting. The next available one is Monday night.
Milburn said the public's feedback gave planners a lot to work with as they massage the initial plan proposals into a final document.
"Generally what people appreciated and liked were, one, the active transportation connections (paths for bikes, pedestrians, etc.) and, two, the park space. Those features are really central to the proposed plan. The other thing they really liked was the mix of commercial and recreational spaces, people liked to see that blend," he said.
"The top two highest concerns, or the things people wanted to most see changed, were the amount of commercial - people wanted to see less of that - and people wanted to see even more space allocated to parks and recreation."
The reason the city went the route of getting a pre-formed development plan for the area was to make the marketing of the area more efficient for anyone who would want to buy it. The alternative was to have potential buyers look the site over and have to go to the municipality and the public over every idea they might have. This gives the pre-approved parameters, to save all that wrangling.
One possible purchaser, the RJ Cooper group, is apparently interested in the land for a reported $15.5 million. The Citizen attempted to reach a spokesperson for that investment group to no avail.
The sale of the land would then allow the current tenants, the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, to turn their attention to developing their new site in the area of North Nechako Road and Foothills Boulevard.
Milburn said he would be informing the issue's major stakeholders when to come to City Hall when the item did find a definite home on the council agenda.
