Here are a few highlights from the City Council meeting last night. You can read the full agenda and all the staff reports on the City website.
Grant support letters from the Mayor’s office – The following motion was passed by Council: That Council DIRECTS Administration to bring back recommendations to Council for a policy and process for Mayor and Council writing letters for local businesses, non-profits and elected officials. This report will include how the Mayor and City Admin decide what letters for grants and assistance come before Council for a resolution and what letters are not required to come before Council.
Canfor Leisure Pool update: In a 2017 referendum, Prince George residents voted 62.5 percent in favour of borrowing up to $35 million to replace the aging Four Seasons Leisure Pool. The original budget was set 5 years ago at $35.75 million. The addition of a $500k NinjaCross obstacle course and various construction challenges resulted in an amended budget of $39.126 million.
The Pool Replacement Project budget is funded through the following sources:
- $28.376 million of Municipal Funding Authority (MFA) borrowed funds
- $10 million in grant funding from the 2020 Investing in Canada (BC) Infrastructure Program
Community Culture and Recreation Infrastructure streams
- $750,000 capital contribution from the Regional District Fraser-Fort George.
With the impact of the pandemic, inflation, and labour shortages, construction costs have escalated substantially since the original 2017 budget. According to Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) data from Statistics Canada published in the Journal of Commerce, this year the construction market rose another 20% in 2021 and has been rising at a rate of 5% a month in the last three months.
The original completion for the project was estimated at late summer 2022. The amended completion will be early October 2022.
Public Notice Bylaw received final reading and adoption – The Community Charter requires local governments to issue public notices for certain things like notice of a Public Hearing or notice of Council Meetings. Until now those notices have been published in a local print newspaper at a cost of over $100,000 a year. The new bylaw allows the City to publish public notices on the City’s website and Facebook page. The Facebook page is a public page so even those who do not have a Facebook account can see it. The City’s website has a subscription service so citizens can have all public notices emailed to them. In addition, there are provisions within the Bylaw allowing for specified positions within Administration 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. Residents will also continue to receive individual public notification by mail or hand delivery of certain development applications and public hearings that they are in proximity to, as specified by bylaw and provincial legislation.
Public Hearing for Official Community Plan and Zoning amendment Bylaws – Following a public hearing, Council approved third reading for a proposal to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) and Zoning Bylaw to facilitate development of a six-story apartment building at 1177 Foothills Boulevard. The applicant’s intent is to create a 125 suite, six-story apartment building for seniors with 13 of the suites proposed to be affordable (50% of the market rate). Final reading and adoption of the two Bylaws will be considered at a future Council meeting.