In the first meeting of the spring, Prince George city council will cover a variety of topics tonight.
Habitat waiver
Following the rejection of their application for a social grant, Habitat for Humanity is petitioning the city to have more than $13,000 in charges waived on their 2012 build. In a letter to the council, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity's P.G. branch Jo-Ann Pickering cited a variety of other cities that waive fees for building and inspection permits for Habitat projects. These include Kamloops, Kelowna, Comox, Greater Vancouver and Ottawa. "We believed this would be a reasonable accommodation for the city to make - one which could be granted without affecting the budget allocated for grants. After all, if Habitat did not build this year, then those charges would never exist," Pickering wrote.
Public hearing
The floor will be open for presentations from the public before going to a third and final reading regarding development permit guidelines for city's request to rezone portions of land along Highway 16 used by the Prince George Tennis Club and the Prince George Golf and Curling Club to allow for commercial and residential development. The Golf Course - Pine Centre Neighbourhood Plan adopted by council in November, 2010 discusses the commercial use likely for this area to consist of big box stores and auto dealers. Guidelines for the commercial use included in the bylaw amendment detail buildings should be designed to provide visual interest, should not be used as a large corporate poster and that a trail should be installed along the highway frontage to accommodate pedestrian traffic.
Core service review contract
The select committee on a core services review is recommending city council accept the proposal from the KPMG - the only firm to submit a bid for the city's core services review contract. The total price proposed by KPMG for the project, which is aimed to wrap up by the end of September, is $284, 895 (excluding administration costs and HST). The committee is still looking to iron out agreements with the accounting firm regarding reporting, public consultation, staff involvement and administration costs.
Affordable housing
Following a March 12 presentation to council by the Prince George Mtis Housing Society,
city staff were directed to come up with a way to incorporate the information into the development of an Affordable Housing Strategy. Administration is recommending the city participate in the development of this strategy and will present the terms and reference of the steering committee. The committee is comprised of a network of community agencies including UNBC, Prince George Native Friendship Centre, BC Housing, Initiatives Prince George and the Mtis Housing Society.
Parking results
Bylaw services manager Guy Gusdal presents the results from the downtown parking pilot project. The two-year trial removed on-street parking meters, created two-hour free parking, eliminated the two warning ticket system and increased the parking violation fine to $25. During the public consultation period, roughly 70 per cent of respondents felt free parking was absolutely necessary for the success of downtown businesses and 60 per cent preferred difficult-to-find free parking to easy-to-find free parking. Respondents also indicated a strong negative perception to the use of public transit or walking/biking to access the downtown area. Council must select an avenue to pursue regarding parking. Staff are recommending they go with pay parking or free parking with enhanced enforcement.
