Ginter’s Green – With a large crowd of supporters, presenters from a community group called Ginter’s Green Forever requested a change to the Official Community Plan (OCP) to protect the land from any development. Following the presentation Council passed a motion asking staff to bring back a report to a future council meeting outlining what the process would be to remove the Massey Drive extension from the OCP and rezone the City’s land to parkland.
Public Notice Bylaw – Council gave the first three readings to a new Public Notice Bylaw No. 9329. The bylaw defines the two required methods by which the City will publish public notice as the City’s website and the City’s Facebook page. In addition, there are provisions within the Bylaw allowing for the City to publish, in a modified form, a supplemental public notice in a newspaper for matters expecting to garner significant interest from the community or impact the community at large.
Naloxone Pilot Project – Council received information from staff on a pilot project to begin this fall in which the City’s dedicated downtown Bylaw Officers and Outreach Coordinators will be trained in administering naloxone to individuals who may have overdosed on opioids.
Fire Rescue Standard of Cover Update – Council received an update on the 2015 Prince George Fire Rescue Service review. The review contained 24 major recommendations of which 18 are now complete including the new Hall 1. Last night’s update provided an overview of the current fire services situation including a 41% increase in responses compared with 2015. This increase was particularly apparent in 2021 where during the Heat Dome in June, the Department responded to three times as many incidents as the previous June. The busiest single day in 2021 saw 40 responses, the highest number for the previous year was 17. The final report for the Standard of Cover update will be provided in Q4 and will include recommendations for additional staffing based on the significant increase in workload, population and risk. Council passed a motion authorizing Administration to submit a one-time enhancement for Budget 2023 deliberations to conduct the detailed fire training center feasibility study in 2023.