Prince George city council voted to direct staff to further consider one councillor’s desire to create a program addressing vacant storefront in the downtown core at its Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.
Discussion over Coun. Trudy Klassen’s motion started at the Monday, Aug. 18 council meeting.
Klassen asked her colleagues to support the creation of a one-year pilot program for commercially zoned parts of the downtown core to make it easier for vacant storefronts to get land use authorization for “community-enhancing uses” like arts, culture, business, social services and manufacturing to alleviate the high vacancy rate in the area.
She pointed to a similar program that a Vancouver city councillor launched in that city’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.
While some councillors voiced support for the idea, others wondered whether such a plan should wait until the revised Official Community Plan was approved, expressed concern about the extra workload it would place on city staff and found other issues with the proposal.
After more than an hour of discussion, the matter was put on hold until the Sept. 3 meeting.
On Sept. 3, Klassen put forward a motion to withdraw her previous motion and introduce an amended one. It passed unanimously.
The new motion directed staff to contract UNBC’s planning department to research reasons for downtown vacancies and provide options for interventions and strategies under the city’s control including allowing container-based shops on vacant lots similar to the container market in Canada Games Plaza.
This work would have a budget of up to $10,000 and the eventual staff report back to council should include the university’s research.
City manager Walter Babicz noted that the new motion no longer mentions Prince George’s downtown strategy, which includes work being done by various stakeholders in the downtown core including city staff and businesses.
Babicz said that work includes research and administration feels it should be tied into Klassen’s motion somehow.
Director of planning and buildings Deanna Wasnik said there is only a small team of city staff working on the downtown strategy and she doesn’t want their momentum to be disrupted.
Mayor Simon Yu said he felt Klassen’s motion represented an opportunity for planning students to take a fresh look at issues facing downtown Prince George.
Klassen said she’d be happy to incorporate any research currently underway or that has already been completed.
Director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio said he felt like council’s contingency fund would be a good funding source for this work, with around $32,000 left to spend in 2025.
Coun. Brian Skakun said council needs to know what UNBC can do for this project and whether it is available to be contracted, suggesting that the motion be changed to refer the matter to staff to consider how it could be executed.
Klassen said Rylan Graham from UNBC’s planning department had been helping her craft the motion, but she didn’t know specific details on how it would work on the university’s end.
Wasnik said she would welcome the opportunity to come back to council at a later date and provide an update on what has already been done on the downtown strategy. She said she was already working on a presentation for the fall and the UNBC elements could be explored in time for that date.
The motion was changed to refer the matter to staff to explore rather than direct them to carry out the work.
Coun. Cori Ramsay asked that an element be added to staff’s report back on the matter as to whether handing work off to UNBC students would violate any of the city’s collective agreements. She also said it should be clarified whether UNBC can take on the work and whether $10,000 is enough to complete it.
Coun. Kyle Sampson said he wouldn’t support the motion at this point because he wants to see the results of the work that has already been done so he can make an informed decision later on. He said he would also want to talk with staff about the scope and potential price before discussing how much money the city is willing to put up.
The mayor chimed in again to say that he would appreciate hearing the thoughts of UNBC students who have recently arrived in the city for the first time on what they think could be better in downtown Prince George.
The motion tied four to four and was defeated, with Sampson, Bennett, Polillo and Ramsay voting against. There was an even number of councillors present as Coun. Garth Frizzell was absent for the meeting.
Ramsay proposed a revised motion removing the dollar figure. Yu proposed an amendment so that the motion referred to only UNBC as a whole and not any specific department.
Yu’s amendment passed with only Sampson voting against.
The amended motion passed with Sampson the only vote against once again.
Then, a final vote to refer the motion to staff for consideration passed.
