A new light industrial park is under construction on Highway 16 east of Prince George, near the PGARA Speedway.
Last year, Prince George city council approved the rezoning of a 8.8-hectare portion of the property from C5: Visitor Commercial to M1: Light Industrial at 3737 Highway 16 East to facilitate the construction of a seven-lot light industrial subdivision.
The property owner, Teare Creek Contractors, also applied for the discharge of a restrictive covenant that restricted the industrial uses of another six-hectare portion of the land to vehicle sales, service and storage.
Both sections of the property are north of Highway 16 near the intersection with Old Cariboo Highway. The property was subdivided and re-zoned when the former Ritchie Bros. auctioneers site was being developed back in 2002.
A letter from engineering firm Stantec to the city’s planning department dated April 16, 2024 said the original intent was to relocate NR Motors on the southern, smaller part of the parcel and build an RV park and campground on the northern end, neither of which happened.
“The M1 Light Industrial zone provides for a relatively broad mix of business and light industrial uses,” the Stantec letter said.
“While it is difficult to speculate which of these uses specifically would be developed upon completion of subdivision, the general intent of subdividing into relatively large lot sizes is to provide for the uses that typically require larger yard space for storage of vehicles, equipment, or materials.”
A report from city staff presented to council last September said that the property “has remained vacant and undeveloped in the past apart from the storage and sorting of logs in 2006. The surrounding land uses include a mixture of light industrial, outdoor recreation and undeveloped lands.”
“The adjacent light industrial lands at 1434 Old Cariboo Highway have been used for outdoor storage and recently as a staging area for BC Wildfire Operations.”
A public hearing on removing the covenant was held during the Oct. 21, 2024 council meeting, where a resident of Old Cariboo Highway expressed concerns about whether the property had adequate drainage.
A bylaw removing the covenant was then given final and unanimously approval at the Nov. 14 city council meeting and then final approval of the rezoning bylaw was granted at the Nov. 18, 2024 meeting.
In recent months, construction on the site has been visible from the highway. Though the Citizen ran into Teare Creek owner Dan Sindia at the site in late May and took photos of him, he has since been unavailable for an interview to discuss the project.
