College Heights Comprehensive Development Study

On August 16th and 17th L&M Engineering held virtual open houses for three rezoning applications in College Heights proposed by three separate developers - Troika Management Corp (Kelowna), TBS Procurement Interface (Coquitlam) and Hayer Properties.  They were sparsely attended and, in my opinion, did not reflect the full range of concerns or the extent to which residents of College Heights may have concerns with the proposed developments.  

The developers are planning to rezone and develop three of the larger green spaces in College Heights into rental housing complexes. (See attached map for the areas and the developer associated). The virtual sessions were meant to assure residents that the proposed developments would have minimal impacts but did anything but.  

The Traffic Impact Analysis was done during the pandemic and failed to include surrounding areas that contribute to the traffic congestion in College Heights. The developers are proposing to build more roads (eliminating yet more green space) and changing traffic flow onto O'Grady road to minimize that congestion. With less trees and more population density we will also likely see a significant increase in noise for residents living in surrounding areas.

Current sanitary servicing is near capacity within College Heights, and the addition of the proposed development on Domano Blvd (beside Save On Foods) would force the city to dig up and upgrade all sewage pipes along the length of Domano Blvd.  The cost of this is unknown as well as who would be responsible to pay for it.

Inevitably multiple family housing would bring more children into the neighbourhood.  Which school will these children attend?  Ecole College Heights, Southridge and Malaspina are at or above capacity currently.  L&M Engineering’s response was it is School District 57’s responsibility to manage the increase in students, and there are no plans to build a new school within the current school district budget.

Currently none of the developers have plans to include public green space (parks, playgrounds, gardens, trails) to accommodate the influx of families and replenish the space taken. Forested areas provide so much value to our community, including visual quality, recreation, health, well-being, wildlife habitat and carbon sequestration. With more and more development in Prince George, these areas are diminishing and, in my view, more should be done to protect them.  

It was unclear from the virtual sessions exactly when the rezoning applications will go before City Council. However, one of the developers indicated their plan was to seek approval before the upcoming City election (October 15th).

If you are interested in helping protect some of these green spaces or have a say in the development of them, please respond to this post with your name and contact information.  We would like to assemble a group of people to organize a coordinated effort to make our concerns heard and understood by the City.

Please share with anyone you think may be interested in supporting.