City council gets their first look tonight at a pair of proposals to bring 327 more hotel rooms to the busy Highway 16 and Highway 97 intersection.
Treasure Cove Casino and Hotel owners are looking to turn the site of the old visitors' centre across the parking lot from the casino into more accommodations.
Council will vote on first and second reading for changes to the official community plan and zoning bylaw to facilitate a six-storey, 84-room hotel fronting the intersection.
The official community plan changes would include switching the hotel site from a community facility to a service commercial designation.
"Recognizing the unique gaming entertainment that Treasure Cove Casino and Hotel provides to the region at its current location, and the limited demand for additional gaming facilities in the city," staff are also proposing a text amendment to the OCP to remove gaming from the list of encouraged land uses downtown.
Changes to the zoning bylaw would switch a part of the property from a major industrial to a visitor commercial zone. The proposed C5 zone has a variety of other permitted commercial uses that "may detract from the aesthetics of the Highway 16/97 intersection," said a staff report. To that end, the applicant has volunteered to register a restrictive covenant on the site that would restrict uses to a hotel, motel, parking and restaurant.
Across Highway 16, plans are being put forward for a 243-room hotel development behind the Prince George Playhouse.
The city owns part of the 2.15 hectare property and is applying for a site-specific rezoning from parks and recreation and major institutional to a regional commercial zone.
"With a successful rezoning, the subject area will be consolidated into one property and sold privately for hotel development," said a staff report. A covenant restricting on-site activities to recreational use would also be discharged.
The preliminary design is for two four-storey hotels fronting Recplace Drive connected via a one-storey pool and fitness facility under the Pomeroy Hotel flag.
"Through the land sale, the purchaser has agreed to restrict the allowable land uses on a site to a hotel, motel, restaurant, exhibition and convention facility and ancillary uses," said the staff report.
