Have you ever dreamed of going to see a movie in IMAX on top of Connaught Hill? Mayor Simon Yu has and he’ll talk about that dream at the Monday, Dec. 16 city council meeting.
On the agenda are two discussions about the Civic Core Plan, which is being intended to set a vision for the municipally owned buildings in downtown Prince George at Canada Games Plaza.
City staff will present two potential options for the Civic Core Plan while the mayor will present his own.
Staff were tasked with preparing options for the development of the Civic Core District Plan area at the Dec. 18, 2023, city council meeting. The proposals were required to include three elements after public engagement: mixed-use residential developments, a performing arts centre and an ice arena.
That area includes the Civic Centre, the library, the former site of the Four Seasons Leisure Pool, the Two Rivers Art Gallery, Canada Games Plaza, Kopar Memorial Arena, City Hall, the former fire hall #1, the Knights Inn, the Canfor Leisure Pool and Veterans Plaza.
Of the three, the mayor’s conceptual plan is the most ambitious. None of the proposals feature any cost estimates or timelines for how long it would take to enact them.
A 3D rendering of downtown provided in the mayor’s plan shows not just a new orchestra hall or IMAX theatre on the top of Connaught Hill, but an amphitheatre bulit onto the hill’s slope that incorporates a public art display and an art studio into its base.
A structure labelled “transit exchange” extends out from that facility, incorporating a new route to the top of the hill. Further down, what is currently the North Star Inn has become an unspecified future civic development. Next to that is a “rapid transit line.”
The area behind the Civic Centre and the Prince George Public Library’s downtown branch appears to be transformed into a new plaza named after the Lheidli T’enneh.
Kopar Memorial Arena has been replaced with a new, 5,000-seat rink with an adjoining performing arts centre. The current arena built in 1958 can hold up to 2,112 people, which includes both seated and standing patrons.
Where the old Four Seasons Pool was sits a new convention centre and high-rise hotel. That hotel has two skybridges connecting it to a new apartment building replacing what is currently the Knights Inn.
The mayor’s report to council on his concept plan said it was “designed to mitigate financial risks for the city while alleviating costs borne by taxpayers.”
That financial relief to taxpayers would come in the former of “strategic use of potential private funding to support public-requested initiatives.”
The development would be done in phases to reduce disruptions to municipal operations, though the report does not outline what those phases or timelines would be.
City staff’s first civic core proposal sees a new 4,500-seat arena where the Four Seasons Pool once sat. Across the street, where the old Coliseum once sat, is a new 800-seat performing arts centre, a park and a mixed-use residential development.
On Dominion Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, is a new mixed-use hotel.
Staff’s second option is similar, but with a different orientation. The new 4,500-seat arena is located on the same site as the current Kopar Memorial Arena and would have a park built next to it.
Then, where the Four Seasons Pool once sat are the performing arts centre and mixed-use residential developments and another park. The mixed-use hotel on Dominion Street is in the same location.
Staff’s report to council said that administration asked that the plans for the ice arena and performing arts centre be shown at the maximum possible size and specifies that they can be scaled down from what is shown.
At 5,000 seats, a new downtown arena would be the tied with the Chilliwack Centre for the biggest in the entire British Columbia Hockey League, which the Prince George Spruce Kings play in.
At 4,500 seats, a new arena would be the fourth biggest in the league behind the Chilliwack Centre, the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton with 4,701 seats and the Western Financial Centre in Cranbrook, with 4,654 seats.
It would also be a size mismatch with most WHL arenas if the Prince George Cougars were to eventually move there.
At 4,500 seats, the new arena would be the fourth-smallest in the WHL after the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert (3,366 capacity), the Innovation Credit Union iPlex in Swift Current, Sask. (3,239 capacity) and Town Toyota Centre in Wenatchee, Wash.
At 5,000 seats, it would be around 1,000 fewer than are currently available at the CN Centre. It would then be the fifth-smallest in the league, passing the Moose Jaw Events Centre with capacity for 4,714 patrons.
Both proposals also contain areas labelled “flex space.”
“The flex space is additional space that could accommodate a variety of users for different types of events that may be in conjunction with, or separate from, the uses occurring in the larger buildings,” the report said. “The indicators of pedestrian connectivity (on the diagrams) could be ground level and/or above ground level.”
For both proposals, staff note that further work is needed to review parking, servicing and site design needs.
Following the presentation of the proposals to council, staff will present four options:
Council identifies their preferred option and direction administration to further develop the plan,
Council directs administration to develop an alternative plan with specific direction on land use, location and building size,
Defer a decision on the Civic Core District Plan to a future meeting or
Vote to receive the report but not direct staff to take further action.
While staff said that costs associated with developing the Civic Core District Plan with the help of consultants can be covered in the city’s existing operating budget, “the overall construction of the new civic buildings will incur significant financial implications to the capital budget.”
History of the civic core plan
The most recent proposals for the Civic Core Plan were ordered for preparation by city council on Dec. 19, 2023, but their development extends beyond that.
Back in March 2022, the City of Prince George started work on a new Civic Core Plaza for the area around the Canada Games Plaza. A contract was awarded to engineering firm Stantec to carry out the work later that year.
At the time, The Citizen reported that this work was to be based on the “Smart Growth on the Ground” plan that council adopted back in 2009. This paper also reported that the city had around $28.3 million available to it in a reserve after FortisBC purchased Prince George’s natural gas distribution system, which could be spent to refresh aging municipal facilities.
The scope of work included the demolition of the Four Seasons Leisure Pool and Fire Hall #1, which has since been completed. The city said at the time that the Prince George Coliseum (now Kopar Memorial Arena), Studio 2880 and the Prince George Playhouse had reached the end of their lifespan and need to be replaced.
Studio 2880, which is more than 80 years old, needed $260,350 in repairs in 2022 to keep in functional in the short- to medium-term. In 2021, council approved $500,000 in repairs to the Playhouse after a section of stucco failed and rot was found underneath though city staff warned that cost could rise into the millions over time.
The former Coliseum is now 66 years old and doesn’t live up to BCHL standards mandating safer rink boards and a scoreboard with video replay capabilities. Its ice surface is also 10 feet shorter than NHL regulation length, a standard which the CN Centre meets.
The Citizen also reported that Dominion Street and Seventh Avenue to the south and east of the plaza could eventually be closed as part of the redevelopment. Though the site of the former Knights Inn at 650 Dominion Street was not part of the Civic Core Area as originally defined, it was added after the city purchased the property in October 2023.
Later that year, six residents from different backgrounds came together to create their own plan for the civic core centering on the area around the Canada Games Plaza.
It was made up of Noreen Rustad, Les Waldie, Margaret Jones-Bricker, Steve Henderson, Eli Klasner and Cameron Stolz, who purchased The Citizen earlier this year. Their final report was published that November.
“The work of the citizen group is not intended to replace the City of Prince George consultation on the Civic Core Plan, but to enhance the possibilities by working collaboratively, building a consensus among all groups and citizens in support of the proposed redevelopment,” that final report said.
Through their work, the sextet identified 11 primary partners that the redevelopment would most affect: The Community Arts Council/Studio 2880, Downtown Prince George, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, Miracle Theatre, the Prince George Airport Authority, the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, the Prince George Spruce Kings, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, Russell Productions, Theatre Northwest and Tourism Prince George.
They were consulted in the development of the citizen-led plan.
The final report suggested that the redevelopment centre around a dual-use convention and arts space building with a 1,000-seat chamber, a lobby/reception area with capacity for 1,000 people, a second hall with 200 seats and other multi-use shared space.
It proposed a 2,000-seat replacement for the arena that could be connected to the new convention centre and used for trade shows when not occupied by hockey. The atrium connecting the buildings was proposed to include retail opportunities.
Along the outside perimeter of the new arena and convention centre, the citizen group suggested that the space be used to house Studio 2880 and other arts, including 30,000 square feet for the Community Arts Council.
It also suggested a tourism centre supported by Lheidli T’enneh. This goal has been partially met after Tourism PG opened a permanent location at the plaza this year.
Other suggestions included building an outdoor community stage, an umbrella organization to manage the space and building the entire project in a single phase.
A theme identified in the citizens’ report was a need for “activated” community space, defined as “outdoor green space that would be accessible multi-season with common areas for families.”
The idea was for something like the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver.
In November 2022, Stantec gave a progress update on its work to council. At that point, the company envisioned that its plan would be presented to and adopted by city council by Dec. 2023.
In July 2023, The Citizen reported that Stantec was running behind on its work preparing the core plan. Because of that, city staff took over work on public consultation for the new plan.
City staff ran public engagement from July through September that year that included the launch of a dedicated page on the city’s website, social media posts, advertising, five roundtable discussions that more than 30 community organizations were invited to attend, a survey with 1,032 responses, three email submissions and three pop-up events.
Through that survey, staff listed three major priorities that residents wanted for the area: shops and cafes with housing above them, a performing arts centre and an ice arena.
When council voted last December in favour of hiring a consultant to help develop the Civic Core District Plan, Coun. Trudy Klassen tried to amend the motion so that Studio 2880 and the Prince George Spruce Kings would be consulted during the process.
However, it was defeated.
The plans being presented on Dec. 16 do not appear to address the previously identified need to find a new home for Studio 2880, though it may still be brought up by staff at the meeting.
