The city is planning to woo developers into the downtown with a new incentive plan.
A city press release announced Thursday council approved a new program providing benefits up front rather than over time to those choosing to develop housing, commercial and mixed-used structures in the downtown.
The concept, which still requires buy-in from the Northern Development Initiative Trust,incorporates stakeholder responses to the city's plans for a new revitalization tax exemption program.
The issue comes before the Northern Trust board on Feb. 3.
The existing program, which ends in 2011, provides tax relief on the increased assessment value of building improvements for five years, with the possibility of a five-year extension.
It did not spark the kind of downtown development the city had hoped.
Recent changes to provincial rules allowed the city more flexibility in developing a revitalization tax exemption program that could include the entire value of the building project.
The city is also considering providing the developer Northern Trust loan money up front rather than over the term of the former tax exemption agreement, said city officials.
Since the city cannot loan money to developers, the idea is to have Northern Trust act as a loan partner.
The developer could choose either the tax exemptions over time or the loan up front.
The incentive program also includes up to $10,000 per unit of housing built in the downtown.
"We know that housing is a key driver in enhancing the downtown and the concept behind this proposal helps encourage development and increase density downtown," Mayor Dan Rogers said in a statement.
"The downtown incentives program is at the conceptual stage, and we will be engaging the public and the development community extensively as we move forward."
The city will have to wait to see if Northern Trust approves of the concept, said Wendy Nordin, the city's manager of policy initiatives.
Northern Trust CEO Janine North said the concept does fall within the mandate of the trust, and could be replicated throughout the North, a key issue when considering new economic development initiatives.
She noted that each community has an allocation for loans and grants. The City of Prince George has just under $5.2 million under its allocation.
North said if the board decides in favour of the concept, it could be made a reality quickly.
The city's push to find incentives to drive downtown development was a recommendation of the 2009 mayor's task force on downtown improvement.
A 2009 Citizen reviewed showed there had been numerous plans to revitalize the downtown, including at least three major efforts in the past two decades alone.
While some elements have been implemented, the revitalization plans have largely been unsuccessful. There has been an increasing number of empty storefronts in the city core, particularly along historic George Street.
