The Prince George Heritage Commission gave its annual report to Prince George City Council at last night’s (Monday) meeting.
Prince George Heritage Commission Chair Dr. George Davison started his presentation with a history of the Heritage Commission, before going into detail on some of the issues the Commission has been facing.
“Before Covid, the commission met ten times a year, and three city staff supported the commission,” he said.
“In 2021, staff support was reduced from three to two, and monthly meetings became quarterly meetings. A few more buildings were designated, there’s only 15 on the register now after 18 years of existence, two applications are currently in limbo, are there any more to go on it? Is the process too ponderous? Does anyone care?”
Davison added roughly half of the heritage signs need repair.
“We’ve been told that the City can replace three a year, so it will take 20 years to fix them all,” he said.
“I was told last fall, that staff support is less than one per cent of our liaison’s workload. Over the last two years, the commission has had six meetings, two were lost for lack of a quorum in 2023.”
Davison added the commission has held many working group meetings over the past few years to figure out what to do.
“First, an inventory of signs led to the realization that they needed a lot of work, they need updating, Northern Hardware and and Pastry Chef aren’t here anymore,” he said.
“Lost ones haven’t been replaced, the Columbus Hotel is an empty lot. Damage needs to be fixed due to weather and graffiti, but most of all, in the spirit of reconciliation, the signs need to acknowledge that we live on the unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, people who’ve been here and shepherded it’s resources for thousands of years.”
Davison estimated replacing the signs would cost approximately $60,000, which could come from the City, grants or donations.
“We want to revitalize heritage, and broaden its definition from the narrow focus that’s led to just 15 things being placed on the registry,” he said.
“If you were a stranger coming to Prince George, could you tell much about the heritage by looking at six old houses, an old post office and liquor store, two old schools, two tree line streets and a bridge crossing? Heritage needs to be dynamic, heritage needs to resonate with the public about where we’ve come from and what we enjoy, heritage needs to be taken into account when Council makes decisions. You can’t do that if you don’t know much about it. Heritage needs to be supported with adequate meetings and staff, an involved commission that gets more than ten minutes a year on a Council agenda.”
Davison’s presentation came with five recommendations:
- Increase the number of Commission meetings from four to seven annually.
- Endorse reconciliation with the Lheidli T’enneh through future Commission projects.
- Provide additional financial support for updating and replacing heritage signs.
- Increase Commission membership to twelve to enhance capacity and collaborations.
- Direct staff to investigate increasing staff support for the Commission.
City Manager Walter Babicz said if Council were to further consider these recommendations, it would be appropriate to have a referral motion to staff.
“Right now we do have a planner who assists with the Heritage Commission as part of that planner’s tasks, they’re working on current applications as well as assisting with the Heritage Commission,” said Manager of Development Services Mandy Jones.
“At this point in time, we don’t have any further capacity to assist with more with the Heritage Commission.”
Councillor Garth Frizzell put forward a motion to refer the recommendations back to staff, which Babicz said a report could be returned back by the end of May.
“In the mean time, I highly encourage Dr. Davison, within this year, there will be a new government, and we should take a look at what federal programs we have in terms of funding projects of this nature,” said Mayor Simon Yu.
“I do believe there is a heritage candidate to give some grants, but sometimes they’re project specific, so if you can identify a project and we will receive some grants, get the enthusiasm up.”
Yu added he would be interested in attending the Commission’s meetings.
Councillor Cori Ramsay put forward an amendment in regards to providing financial support for the replacement of signs.
“I am wondering if it is possible to have information come back, if that could be a one-time expense in the next fiscal cycle as a consideration for Council as part of the budget,” she said.
“When I think about our Council strategic plan and our goal to grow the city, I think that that is something that is really important. The way we attract people is when they come to visit us and see how great our city is, and to spend 20 years replacing signs when I’ve been getting spammed by Kamloops all week from their sponsored posts, come visit Kamloops, I think that this is perhaps, if it’s $66,000 on an almost $200 million operating budget, I feel like this is pennies that would be spent to invest in our strategic plan and grow our city and enhance the visitor experience.”
Councillor Kyle Sampson also inquired if “removing the Commission from the City’s umbrella” would allow them to get more done if the city provided grant funding.
“I’m thinking maybe a partnership with the library or something of that nature so that you’re at arms reach, and you can come and present your information to Council and your suggestions, recommendations, but it gives you more freedom to be more self governing,” Sampson said.
Davison said the idea has been raised, but it hasn’t been discussed by the Commission.
“The support of the City in staffing, if there was much, would take the burden off the Commission to do the work that needs to be done,” he said.
“I just tried to set up five people in another meeting and it took 31 emails to do it in about three weeks.”
Sampson put forward an amendment to include in the report what it would look like to give funding to an arms length, more autonomous group that could make recommendations to the City.
“I want to be clear on that intent, it’s not to definitively do it, it’s to give us information on what that might look like to give the Commission more autonomy,” he said.
Davison added that provincial heritage legislation mandates that cities perform this work, not non-profits.
Council voted in favour of referring the recommendations, plus the amendments back to staff for further information, as well as referring the sign replacement project to the Committee of the Whole.
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