After more than two months of work, City of Prince George staff are returning with information on potential amendments to the Official Community Plan at the Monday, July 14 city council meeting.
After a public hearing split over two nights and a special council meeting on April 16, city council had not made any amendments to the Official Community Plan but passed several motions asking staff to consider the consequences of potential changes.
Local governments in British Columbia are required by law to have Official Community Plan outlining planning and land-use policies and goals throughout their jurisdiction.
Currently, the provincial government is requiring local governments — which include both municipalities and regional districts — to update their OCPs by the end of 2025 and again by the end of 2028.
Public hearings are required as part of the update process.
If council makes any amendments to the OCP before the relevant bylaw receives final reading, the city is legally required to host another public hearing.
When Prince George held its public hearing, many residents came out to argue that the revised plan didn’t include enough protections for greenspaces like Ginter’s Green and Moore’s Meadow.
Some developers came to the hearings to complain that they weren’t notified in advance that revisions to the Urban Containment Boundary would affect their properties.
A 39-page report attached to the July 14 agenda provides administration’s perspective on 33 potential changes floated by council.
For some items, administration said that changes or additions are needed in some areas, making it very likely that there will be at least one more round of public hearings.
The first item tackled by the report addresses the potential rezoning the city-owned property north of Moore’s Meadow from AF: Agriculture and Forestry to P1: Parks and Recreation. This motion was proposed by Coun. Brian Skakun.
Staff’s report said that the area in question “presents a strong opportunity for residential infill that aligns with the existing zoning and surrounding development patterns.” Also noted is that because it’s a rezoning, it wouldn’t be part of the OCP revision process.
“While there are no immediate plans for development, any future proposals would include public engagement as part of the process,” the report said.
“There are no plans for infill development within the meadow or significant slopes of Moore’s Meadow Park, as the area is intended to remain as park. Should council direct administration to proceed with the rezoning of the 4.4 ha portion of Moore’s Meadow Park currently zoned AF, this action would impact the potential developable land for future phases of the Heritage area.”
Three items in the report also raised by Skakun address potential changes in and around Ginter’s Green, including removing the right-of-way between 18th and 22nd avenues and between Massey Drive and Ferry Avenue, as well as redesignating the area to Park and Open Space within the OCP.
The first two potential changes are outside of the OCP renewal process.
Also considered were the rezoning of that same area to P1: Parks and Recreation and removing two properties adjacent to Ginter’s Green from the Urban Containment Boundary.
According to the report, Ginter’s Meadow — including the off-leash area — is a public area that is technically a road dedication. That means it doesn’t have a zone.
“Road dedication is not a parcel of land and therefore does not have a legal description or property title,” the report said. “The city holds ownership rights for municipal road dedication within city boundaries. Since a portion of Ginter's Meadow is road dedication, an OCP designation is not applied to it.”
Removing that dedication would require following a formal road closure process, surveying, subdivision and registration with the Land Title Office.
Coun. Kyle Sampson put forward a motion asking staff to report on the consequences and options of adding the Cowart-Malaspina road expansion in College Heights to the OCP.
Administration’s response was that it was not needed as the expansion is included road network section of the new OCP to be completed within the next 10 to 20 years.
Coun. Trudy Klassen asked staff for a report on engaging the owners of five properties — 505 Fourth Ave., 2913 Silvercrest Rd., 2000 Central St., a property of Cranbrook Hill Road and 4729 Shamrock Rd. — regarding their inclusion within the Urban Containment Boundary.
The response from administration is that these properties were property notified of engagement opportunities during prior public engagement and it “believes no further engagement is needed as the comments seem to be related to property inclusion, or not, in the Urban Containment Boundary.”
Klassen also moved that staff look into reinstating language from the 2012 version of the OCP recognizing the importance of the federal Aeronautics Act and the need to advise land use applicants of recommendations from the airport master plan.
Administration said it believes there would be no adverse consequences to doing so and would serve best practices for land use planning near airports, so it will put the policy into the new version of the OCP.
Coun. Garth Frizzell had a successful motion calling on staff to look into adding wildfire mitigation language to the OCP.
While staff said that would be separate from the OCP, they said that those policies can be explored during review of the city’s zoning bylaw and development permit guidelines planned for after the new version of the OCP is adopted.
Another motion from Frizzell asked staff to consider changes to part of the OCP addressing climate change from referencing just to reductions to greenhouse gas emissions to climate-related impacts on human safety, health and well-being.
Doing so, staff said, would lead to inconsistencies in other parts of that section and would duplicate language already seen in another area.
They recommend that the language not be changed, but if council wants to edit it, it should review the wording of the entire section.
Coun. Tim Bennett put forward a motion asking for a report on adding language to section 14 of the OCP including access to public washrooms when considering facilities. Administration said it already considers this during project planning.
For a more in-depth look at the OCP discussion at the July 14 council meeting, check out the July 17 print edition of The Citizen.
The council meeting will start at 6 p.m. on the second floor of Prince George City Hall. For those who can’t attend in person the meeting will also be live streamed at princegeorge.ca.
