Last Friday, signs were posted downtown that construction would start Monday on Quebec and George Streets between Sixth and Seventh Avenue. That was how Brian Quarmby, co-owner of Birch and Boar Charcuterie and Provisions, and other affected business owners found out about the planned work.
When Quarmby protested, the city agreed to delay construction for four days so that would mean a Friday start.
"When I got to work on Thursday morning, construction had already started," Quarmby said. "This situation has clearly shown how the city miscommunicates and we do need big changes because this story isn't just about us. It's about all of us fighting for local businesses and the crap that we've been putting up with for years in regard to communication with the city and construction. This just shows how ridiculous their process is."
Even if construction had started when the city said it would on Friday, Quarmby noted it still did not provide the bylaw-ordered two weeks' notice business owners could use to change their mode of operation to best serve their customers.
"This is why we need some notice because then we can set these things up in advance but now everyone's scrambling and trying to figure out solutions after the fact," he said. "This is why we need notice. We could have easily adapted our curbside pickup but when I am running a business and calling the city out for their poor communication and trying to adapt our business model on the day of construction, it doesn't work for anyone."
The area will be closed to all traffic for up to two weeks and remains open to foot traffic, it was stated on the city's website, along with an apology for the inconvenience.
Communication at the beginning of the process was not clear, acknowledged Adam Homes, director of engineering for the City of Prince George,.
"We apologized for that and we will help out with additional signage to make sure that people can find their business," he said. "We will post way-finding signage and some 30-minute parking signage in front of their business because they still have parking in front of their business.”
The near-completion of the parkade and Park House development forced the work ahead, Homes explained.
"So we want to get that connection into the parkade, we want to get that road all cleaned up and fixed up and doing it now is least impactful for those future residents and for the other businesses that are closed right now,” he said.
"I can appreciate moving up the construction while less businesses are active so there's maybe less disruptions but that doesn't forgive poor communication and then confusing communication on top of that," said Todd Corrigall, CEO of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. "We are at a pretty hypersensitive time right now and the level of communication, the words that we choose, how we communicate with people and how we engage is more important now, I would say, than ever before."
People are simply asking to be engaged in the process, he added.
"And I don't think that's too much to ask for," Corrigall said. "The hope would be as we are heading into construction season that if there are any more changes and adjustments the city does their best to engage the businesses or engage with the chamber to assist in communicating to the businesses because we'd be more than happy to help."
The key to maintaining a successful local business is adaptability and that's what Birch and Boar did by offering the option of curbside pickup.
"At all times our downtown businesses appreciate receiving advanced notice of potential interruptions," Downtown Prince George executive director Colleen Van Mook said. "During these different times, communication is even more important as the operational needs have changed for businesses that are trying to remain open. We are definitely asking the city to minimize the impact to all of our downtown businesses and to avoid impeding appropriate customer access."
