I was one of a very concerned group of Prince George residents who attended the information session by the City of Prince George planning staff and BC Transit about the plan to locate a BC Transit operations, maintenance and refueling facility on a forested piece of property at the corner of 18th and Foothills.
The city just bought this land from a private owner. The property wasn't developed and the city is now taking the steps to get it rezoned from residential to facilitate this industrial project.
What we heard is that the city rejected several other possible industrial properties due to size constraints and not wanting to deal with contamination on site. We were told this is because they are under a tight timeframe to move ahead with this project or they will lose the provincial/ federal government funding.
We also heard that the UNBC connector trail located immediately adjacent to the site, with numerous humans and dogs walking and enjoying every day to link to the Ginter field area and UNBC trails isn't really a trail but on some master city planning map, actually a continuation of Foothills Boulevard.
While I acknowledge these city planners are likely under constraints, the whole project just makes me want to weep as it clearly reflects how little forests, wildlife and regular recreational use of green spaces seem to matter in these processes. I was actually astounded that the city would choose not to decontaminate sites but rather, contaminate a currently forested sight so close to wildlife corridors.
How can a servicing/fueling bus operation not generate some level of contamination not to mention paving the whole area to park 80 buses and build a shop to be able to service five buses?
It is also a question for the provincial and federal politicians as to why there are such stringent timelines which seem to be precluding the city to plan this in a more environmentally conscious way.
Ironically this whole project is about enhancing our bus system and reducing bus greenhouse gases, both laudable goals, but at what expense to our forests and recreational areas of the city? The city is accepting feedback to [email protected] until Friday and certainly the mayor and city council need to hear about people's concerns, too.
Mary MacDonald
Prince George
