Work continues on the City of Prince George’s Civic Core Plan, with administration gearing up towards hiring a consultant to create a business plan for the project.
Between July 14 and Aug. 1, the city solicited expressions of interest from consultants “interested in an opportunity to provide a business case for the land use vision for an area referred to in downtown Prince George as the Civic Core District” on its bids and tenders webpage.
An expression of interest is used to see whether there is an appetite for service providers to bid on a contract before formal offers and solicited.
The city’s bids and tenders website states that four firms submitted expressions of interest: Vancouver-based Capex Project Advisory Services, Vancouver-based Cornerstone Planning Group, Lincoln, Ont.-based HLT Advisory Inc. and Edmonton-based Urban Systems Ltd.
Prince George city council approved a vision for the Civic Core Plan at its Dec. 16, 2024 meeting after more than two hours of discussion.
The motion that passed directed city staff to consult with user groups of the new facilities the plan would see built, including the Prince George Spruce Kings, Studio 2880, the Prince George Playhouse and the Prince George Symphony Orchestra.
Citizen owner and publisher Cameron Stolz has been involved with the user group discussions surrounding the Civic Core Plan.
The page for the EOI states that “Beginning in January of 2025, city administration and representatives from current and potential facility users have engaged regularly to collaboratively determine the most appropriate pathway forward for the next phase of consultation and research.
“The successful applicant will be required to work in collaboration with such city administration and representatives as more particularly described in Annex 1 below to inform the business case.”
A business case for the project would provide a basis for the scope of the project and its potential costs.
In a July email to The Citizen, a city spokesperson said “the final business case will aid city administration in providing recommendations to council for next steps, including building designs and architecture, site servicing plans, and recommendations on funding sources. administration will aim to present the final business case to council in Q4 of 2025.”
For example, when the Civic Core Plan was last discussed by council, the seating capacity for the eventual replacement for Kopar Memorial Arena was still up in the air.
Though the city didn’t specify when it will issue a formal request for proposals, the bids and tenders page said that it “requires the business case to be completed by Nov. 28, 2025.”
