Prince George city council unanimously approved the Gateway Business Improvement Area’s 2025 budget at its Monday, June 23 meeting.
Representing the GBIA, which stretches from the intersection of 20th Avenue and Victoria St. to around the Northland Hyundai dealership along Highway 16, was the organization’s liaison officer, Daniel Denis.
Unlike the DBIA, Denis said, their neighbourhood’s focus is more on beautification and cleaning.
In 2024, he said the organization had installed seasonal lighting on two large trees on traffic islands near sculptures in the neighbourhood, added a flower bed to the base of the “Triumph” sculpture and installed a mural on the concrete fence along Ron Brent Park.
Of the $3 million the GBIA has spent over the years, Denis said they received more feedback on the lit trees than anything else. One of the trees had 8,000 lights on it but has since been “cut in half” by BC Hydro and now has 4,000 lights on it.
This year, he said they were planning to put lights on eight small trees in Gateway Park, which is next to the Connaught Youth Centre.
Multiple councillors praised the tree lights and said the city could take a lesson and do similar elsewhere in town.
Denis said there have been a lot fewer problems since the 7-11 store near the intersection of 20th Avenue and Spruce Street closed and that he’d like to see the vacant properties along that stretch repurposed.
Mayor Simon Yu asked whether Denis had heard of any plans for the vacant 7-11 or A&W buildings. Denis responded that he hadn’t.
In 2025, the GBIA’s projects are a bench replacement for Gateway Park, seasonal lighting for eight trees at Gateway Park and a design update for the banners that hang on lamp posts in the neighbourhood.
The benches will be purchased by the GBIA and installed by the City of Prince George.
Coun. Cori Ramsay asked about the $6,750 deficit listed in the GBIA’s 2025 budget. Denis said as a non-profit they aren’t supposed to have much in the bank at one time, but there are enough contingency funds to cover the shortfall.
