Here are some highlights from the January 8, 2024, City Council meeting. For more information – including the full agenda listing – read the Regular Council Meeting Agenda and its attachments.
Official Community Plan (OCP) update
Council received an update from Urban Systems, the company managing the Official Community Plan (OCP) review project.
The “What We Heard Report (Phase 1 & 2)” shared with council details the consultation methods and feedback received through the community engagement held between September and November 2023.
The report shows the following common themes consistently emerged across the engagement events and activities:
- Preservation of parks and open spaces;
- Expansion of the existing active transportation and pedestrian networks;
- Upgrades to existing infrastructure;
- Environmental protection and climate preparedness; and
- Growth, density, built form, and housing.
The next phase of engagement, which will focus on policy development, will include more opportunities for community members to provide their input, including municipal pop-up events and two more community open house events.
The details of the upcoming pop-up events are:
- January 13 – Cougars Game, CN Centre, 5pm – 8pm in the concourse at Section W
- January 26 – Pine Centre Mall, 10am – 5pm near the south entrance
- February 17 – Downtown Winterfest, Veteran’s Plaza, 11am – 4pm
Funding request for Little Prince train
A presentation was made to council by representatives from Exploration Place in regards to funding support for the Little Prince Train.
The Little Prince Train, which was built in 1912 and then transferred to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park in 1975, goes around 2.2 km of track and has over 20,000 passengers a year.
The City has provided $25,000 per year to Exploration Place to operate the train since 2012. They have requested $100,000 in funding per year for the next three to five years, which would allow the train to operate 4 days a week (they only operated one day a week over summer of 2023).
Council directed administration to prepare a report, in time for the 2024 budget discussion, regarding funding options for the operations of this City asset.
Emergency Support Services Reception Centre
Council approved a resolution from the Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs that a request is made to the Province to fund a permanent Host Community Reception Centre in the City of Prince George for the North Central Local Government Area.
This resolution will now be submitted to the North Central Local Government Association. This was one of many advocacy items on the agenda from the standing committee on Intergovernmental Affairs.
The report accompanying the resolution explains that the City of Prince George is proud to support its neighbors as a host community during emergencies. Activating the Prince George Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has become an almost annual task. For the 2023 season the City’s EOC was activated on May 5th and continued to provide host community services until October 3rd . Within that period the ESS Reception Centre was moved 8 times to accommodate other municipal activities, adding unnecessary strain and confusion to the emergency operation as well as additional staff resources.
The proposed solution to this challenge would be for the establishment of a purpose-built, seasonally activated, facility to function as a dedicated host community ESS reception centre.
Procurement report for Q4
Council received the 2024 Quarter 4 Procurement report. The report includes information on contracts issued from October 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
2023 - 2026 Accessibility Work Plan
Council received the 2023 – 2026 Accessibility Work Plan. The plan is part of the legal framework handed down by the Province within the Accessible British Columbia Act.
Throughout 2023, administration worked to meet the requirements of this legislation including the completion of an environmental scan which serves as the foundation of the City’s 2023 – 2026 Accessibility Work Plan and informed the inventory of current and future City actions related to accessibility. There are eight focus areas within the plan, that sets the framework for alignment with the provincial legislation with a range of actions identified to guide the City over the next three years.
These eight focus areas are Employment, Delivery of Services, Built Environment, Information & Communications, Transportation, Health, Education and Procurement.
Budget meeting date change
Also announced at Monday night’s council meeting was a change to one of the upcoming Regular Council Budget meetings. The meeting scheduled for January 24 has been moved to January 23. There are also budget meetings on January 22 and January 29. See all the upcoming meetings and browse the agendas here.
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Media contact:
Claire Thwaites, senior communications advisor
Mobile: 778-349-1386
Email: media@princegeorge.ca