The City of Prince George says it won't be going through on a proposal to develop a private seniors home at Watrous Park.
It was considering selling the neighbourhood park, located at 377 Watrous St. and 388 Wainwright St. in the Crescents area, to facilitate the future development of a four-storey 90-unit apartment for seniors assisted living.
The proposal received a lot of negative feedback from local residents and the community at large, a reason why the developer decided not to proceed with the project.
A petition was created by Natalie Warren, who lives near the park, garnered 371 signatures and generated a lot of discussion online.
The city and the developer are continuing to explore an alternate location for the facility, ideally near a hospital and would include care rooms, limited medical facilities, and offices for nurses and doctors and the because of these requirements, the Watrous Park site was considered this past summer.
The city says the developer had been working for multiple years with a proposal to construct a facility to allow for the long-term care needs of individuals with special care requirements, noting Watrous Park was initially considered by the developer because it is city-owned land in the area of the hospital with sufficient space to allow for a facility of its size.
The proposed purchase price of the land was at market value, which would offset the cost of relocating the lawn bowling green at Watrous Park as well as the playground.
When a developer is interested in purchasing parkland from the City of Prince George, the developer enters into a contract with the city, which is subject to a number of clauses, including multiple stages of public consultation, which must be satisfied before the project can go to a public hearing in front of council, let alone before construction would begin.
The city says more detailed estimates for site preparation were also developed, given that the site had previously served as an outdoor public swimming pool and the pool's old foundation would need to be removed.
The first step in the process was to solicit feedback from the surrounding neighbourhood and the Lawn Bowling Club, which occurred this past fall.
