Millennium Park will be sold to the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George for use as a parking lot for just $1 and a monument on the site will be dismantled and its stones returned to the Fraser River.
At the Monday, June 23 council meeting, Prince George city council approved the first three readings of a bylaw that would rezone 101 George St. from P1: Parks and Recreation to C1: Parking, Non-Accessory if given final approval.
The park has been fenced off since an encampment on the site was cleared by the City of Prince George, Prince George Fire Rescue and the RCMP in September 2023.
A report issued by city staff said the city and regional district have entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the property, which includes establishing a restrictive covenant for the site that restricts the land use to only “parking, non-accessory.”
The parcel is directly adjacent to the regional district’s main offices at 155 George St.
City staff recommended at the meeting that fourth and final reading be withheld until that covenant is established. If the terms of the covenant are breached, the city has the option of purchasing the land back for the sale price.
During the meeting, a councillor asked what the monument made of stones on the property was for and whether it was going to be relocated.
Director of planning and buildings Deanna Wasnik said the regional district is working with Lheidli T’enneh First Nation on the monument’s removal.
Mayor Simon Yu said it’s an important monument commemorating the arrival of two First Nations guides, European explorer Alexander Mackenzie and six Frenchmen to the site of what eventually became Prince George as they searched for a water route from Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean in the 1790s.
“It’s an important development in the history of Prince George,” Yu said. “It’s my understanding with this particular monument that the plaque itself is already in Lheidli T’enneh (Memorial) Park and the stone itself will be return to the river in a ceremony.”
A Parks Canada webpage on the plaque states that it was designated on May 25, 1923 and currently sits in Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.
UNBC’s Northern BC Archives and Special Collections hosts a digitized version of a black-and-white photo of the plaque attached to the Millenium Park monument on its website dated 1930.
