The business licence suspension of the Connaught Motor Inn has led to a dramatic drop in crime calls this year.
Prince George RCMP said that 2016 calls were halved from the 2015 high of 300 within a 100-metre radius of the inn, looking at data from January to September each year.
Since July, when city council handed the Connaught a three-month suspension, RCMP calls to the Victoria Street motel dropped by 67 per cent, from 96 to just 32. In particular, incidents of causing a disturbance dipped 74 per cent, from 68 in 2015 to 18 in 2016. There were 10 calls for public intoxication in 2016, compared to 26 in 2015.
Supt. Warren Brown said the inn drew a particular crime type and that the drop can be attributed entirely to the closure.
“We have met our goal,” he said.
Mayor Lyn Hall was also on hand at the Friday morning announcement and called the numbers of calls staggering.
“This is something we were hoping to happen,” said Hall.
With the inn located at a highly visible corner and a gateway to the downtown, Hall said it was important the city took action. He said he hoped it becomes a well developed property in the next year or two.
“From our perspective it really deserves to be a corner that is well developed, highlighted and shows our community and I hope that happens in the coming year or two.”
The licence will stay suspended until the owner meets 15 conditions, most of which city staff said hadn’t been met by the end of last month.
“The ball is really in his court,” Hall said. “We’re hoping he redevelops this corner or she sells this corner to an investor who’s interested in developing it. It’s certainly up to him.”
The city’s bylaw services manager, Fred Crittenden, said as far as the city is concerned the owner still has the opportunity to reopen.
“We’re still waiting on confirmation on a work plan and the permits he’d need… to have it up and running to a satisfactory condition,” Crittenden said. “If that happens I think that would be a win-win for everyone.”
Crittenden said the owner still has security on site so it isn’t an abandoned building, but "if at some point the building deteriorates that we feel it’s a nuisance” council can address that too.
“We’re in a better position today than we were three months ago,” Hall said, noting he used the inn as an example of the council’s approach to remedial action at a presentation before the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention last month.
“They took great interest in it and are looking to us to set the pace to be able to provide them with information and resources with how in fact we move forward with this remedial action,” said Hall, adding council has moved to demolish sites when necessary and would take similar actions if it ever got to that point with Connaught.
“We do have the tools at our disposal to do something.”
