Prince George city council asked city staff to prepare around 30 reports on potential amendments to the Official Community Plan at a special meeting on Wednesday, April 16 but has yet to approve any amendments.
That distinction is important because if council amends the OCP from the draft proposed by city staff at all, another public hearing will be required before third reading of the bylaw establishing the new plan can be considered.
Towards the end of the meeting, manager of legislative services Ethan Anderson said he believes another public hearing is likely at this point.
Compared to the two nights of the OCP public hearing held on March 19 and April 9, when the audience gallery was filled to the brim, just a dozen people came out for the April 16 meeting.
Instead of making amendments to the OCP, councillors asked staff to prepare reports on the options and consequences for changes they’re interested in proposing.
These reports are likely to be presented to council sometime in June.
Coun. Trudy Klassen, who participated in the meeting remotely from Alberta, proposed the most motions of any council member, including asking for reports on the options and consequences of:
- Incorporating a multi-nodal growth strategy into the OCP (defeated six to three),
- Explaining the rationale behind the boundaries of the Urban Containment Boundary (passed unanimously),
- For developers who complained about their properties being removed from the boundary without their consultation to be engaged by the city (based on an amendment by Coun. Cori Ramsay, passed unanimously),
- Adding a city-wide infrastructure renewal strategy (passed after amendment to refer the matter to the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit),
- Developing policies and criteria for “strategic exceptions” to the Urban Containment Boundary, requiring individual neighbourhood plans for each proposal and to map potential future urban reserve areas (passed),
- Amend the OCP to recognize Prince George as a “polycentric city with multiple district neighbourhoods,” establishing neighbourhood-level data for decision-making purposes and broadening policies to allow for a diverse range of housing options (passed five to four, with Ramsay, Coun. Ron Polillo, Coun. Susan Scott and Coun. Kyle Sampson voting against)
- Creating a plain-language summary and visual guide to accompany the OCP, making sure the OCP spells out that it is a tool and not a rigid set of limits and to create an interactive digital version of the OCP (passed after Coun. Tim Bennett proposed an amendment to have the matters incorporated into the city’s corporate workplan).
- Addressing the Prince George Airport Authority’s concerns regarding a lack of acknowledgement of its role in land use decisions around the airport (passed with Ramsay, Polillo and Frizzell voting against),
- Amending the OCP to include the development of a ring road around the city in collaboration with Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and the Ministry of Transportation (defeated with Ramsay, Polillo, Scott, Bennett and Sampson opposed)
- Amending section 10 of the OCP to include “bold, aspirational wording to inspire a thriving cultural vision” (defeated five to four),
- Amending the OCP to include mention of collaboration between the city and the colleges and universities within its boundaries. (defeated after tie vote),
- Changing every instance of the word “may” in the OCP to “shall” (defeated after not being seconded),
- Embedding meaningful consultation with Lheidli T’enneh First Nation into the OCP (deferred until discussion of the 2028 update to the OCP) and
- Changing the vision statement for Prince George to be more aspiration given recent political upheavals (also deferred until 2028 OCP update).
Regarding the developers who said they weren’t consulted, director of planning and development Deanna Wasnik said at one point during the meeting that city records indicate that the city did reach out to them.
Bennett had a few motions of his own, asking for reports on:
- Changing Prince George’s status as a winter city in the OCP to a year-round destination (passed with Mayor Simon Yu voting against),
- Adding food security elements to the OCP (passed after Ramsay proposed amendment to include dissuasion of residents planting fruit trees they don’t intend to harvest because of bear concerns),
- Adding language to the OCP about increased access to public washrooms in the city where possible (passed unanimously) and
- Creating a strategy for Prince George to become a more prominent host of large regional, provincial, national and international events (passed unanimously).
Coun. Garth Frizzell asked for a report on potentially adding wildfire safety enhancements to the OCP, which passed unanimously.
Coun. Brian Skakun asked for reports on the options and consequences of:
- Amending section 7.2.2 of the OCP to change a line saying that developers “shall” contribute to infrastructure to “must” (passed unanimously),
- Removing Moore’s Meadow entirely from the Urban Containment Boundary, something raised by many speakers and letter writers during the public hearings (passed with Ramsay voting against) and
- Amending one of the OCP’s objectives on climate change from “climate change mitigation measures reduce greenhouse gas emissions” to “climate change adaptation minimizes climate-related impacts on human safety, health and wellbeing” (passed with Klassen voting against it).
Sampson asked for reports on adding language to section 16.1.4 to protect the city’s urban tree canopy, adding language to section 9.1.6 to support the growth of the local innovation and creative sector, adding aging in place policies and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles to policy language in the OCP. All these motions passed.
He also asked for a report on including policy language in section 9.1.4 on the re-use and redevelopment of underutilized municipal assets, which passed unanimously.
Ramsay’s first motion asked for a report on amending section 18.7(e) to add the words “and in underserved areas” after the words “growth priority areas.” It passed unanimously.
She also asked for reports on amending section 19.1.3(a) of the OCP to add a business diversification snapshot from Statistics Canada as an indicator under goal four (passed after an amendment to add the BC vital statistics estimates index as an indicator under goal one from Frizzell) as well as to add definitions of “land use designations” and “zoning” to the plan.
For her final motion, she asked for a report on diversifying the land use designations within the Carter light industrial area.
The mayor had just one motion on the night, asking for a report on changing the future land use designation for the area east of Queensway from light industrial to “transition.” It passed
The meeting was held on Yu’s birthday, who thanked city staff for a gift they had given him.
Before the meeting started, a man went around with a sheet of stickers saying “Ginter’s Green tree hugger” on them. He offered them to other attendees, asking if they wanted to wear one to prove that they’re not a police officer.
After the second night of the public hearing on the OCP, city administration confirmed that there had been plainclothes police officers in the audience after staff had expressed that they felt unsafe during the hearing’s first night.
Because of the Easter long weekend, the next regular meeting of city council is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 at 6 p.m.
Read more about the April 16 special meeting in the April 24 print edition of the Citizen.
