With one final tweak, a long-awaited neighbourhood plan for the Prince George Golf and Curling Club and surrounding lands was adopted by city council on Monday night.
Before passing the final version, council agreed to prohibit commercial development over a 0.48-hectare (1.2-acre) portion at the corner of Highways 16 and 97 currently occupied by the Prince George Playhouse and the Roll-A-Dome.
PGGCC president Kevin Bowman said he would have preferred such a decision was made two years ago but welcomed final completion of the plan.
"We know what we're dealing with now as far as the land use goes and now it's up to the developers to decide on how they plan on proceeding with the phasing with that," he said. "They'll have to have discussions with city staff on that."
Bowman noted it's been nearly six years since the PGGCC began the process of moving to a new location north of the Nechako River after the pine beetle struck the existing hard enough to make moving a viable option.
Because of the size of the site, the city required that a neighbourhood plan be completed before the land could be put up for sale and development. Locally-based R.J. Cooper Group is reportedly interested in buying the land.
A previous version of the plan that included an auto mall at the corner of the highways was close to adoption in 2008 but then the recession struck and hit the auto industry hard it enough to force a return to the drawing board.
But interest has since revived and under the adopted version, automotive sales will be allowed along Highway 16 west and to a lesser extent along Ferry Avenue adjacent to River Point shopping centre.
Long-range planning manager Dan Milburn said enough demand from auto dealers has been indicated to fill two-thirds of the site along the highway and also noted it will take pressure off the Gateway area where some dealerships are operating under temporary use permits.
The plan should also temper the demand to establish locations on the edge of the city, notably along Highway 16 West past Westgate Shopping Centre, Milburn added.
"This is a site that's on a major highway, on a major intersection, and yet is pretty central to the Bowl, so it's accessible by a wide variety of people as opposed to on the edge of the community," Milburn said.
No strong indication of what to do with the corner of the highways was given but relocating the tourism centre to the spot was raised as a possibility in the plan.
The plan was drafted by McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd. and Site360 Consulting Inc., which received $141,000 for the work.
Following an uproar by users over a proposal to convert the site into either residential or commercial use, the plan preserves Pine Valley Golf Centre at its existing location and calls for conversion of the PGGCC golf course into townhouses.
It also calls for a 6.4-acre expansion of Pine Centre Mall into the PGGCC links to the south. The clubhouse would remain in place and eight tennis courts would be moved to its west side.
The centrepiese is a 13-acre "central green" that would act as a "focal point." A drawing shows a circular waterpath and a small water park.