The Prince George Community Foundation – Rotary Destination Park has been put on hold for now.
The “Mega Park” project came back to the council table at tonight’s (Monday) meeting after being deferred in December.
According to a Life Cycle Cost analysis, the park would cost $68 million over its 50-year lifespan.
Councillor Cori Ramsay moved early that the project should be taken into the next steps towards development.
“I think they’re wonderful assets to communities, and so I’ve been asking the question, in the next 50 years, given Mayor Yu has a goal and so does this council to grow our population, and our population is going to continue to grow,” Ramsay said.
“In the next 50 years, are we going to at some point consider investing in a mega park, and if so, why not now? Especially when we have a lot of opportunity and investment on the table from the community to put this forward.”
Ramsay also noted the $68 million would be 0.005 per cent of the city’s operating budget over the next 50 years.
Other Councillors thought the price tag was too high.
Councillor Ron Polillo referenced a survey that was previously done by the city.
“We had I think over 2,200 residents respond to that online survey, which generally favour the park, but there’s some real concerns about the cost of the park, short-term and long-term, I share those concerns,” Polillo said.
“There’s lots pointed out about perhaps our focus should be placed on the needs of existing infrastructure in the parks that we have.”
“I want this, I love it, but it’s really expensive, and we do have things like a performing arts centre and an enormous amount of capital work that needs to be done,” added Councillor Garth Frizzell.
“That said, the flip side of this is we’ve got broad community support and we’ve got rotary clubs on board.”
Councillor Tim Bennett brought up the idea of leasing space to businesses at the park.
“Especially with the Ice Oval there, the Kin Centres, it’s almost becoming an extension of that recreation hub along Massey, where we could look to ‘how do you get more of an annual use out of that?'” Bennett said.
Ramsay’s motion to have the park move onto the next steps was defeated with a 5-4 vote.
Following that vote, Councillor Kyle Sampson motioned to have city administration come back with more information.
The further information would include financials of the project, scope of the project, the possibility of business partnerships, and any further information that can be provided by the Prince George Community Foundation or the Downtown Rotary that the council doesn’t already have.
Sampson’s motion was carried with a 7-2 vote, Councillors Polillo and Trudy Klassen were opposed.
Other items discussed at tonight’s meeting included four proposed apartment buildings in College Heights, and a building permit summary for the month of May.
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