Overview
URBAN PLANNING CASE STUDY
The Urban Planning Case Study centres on the City of Prince George and its surrounding area in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George. This case describes the historical development of the City. Five applications cover the topics of downtown revitalisation, growth management, urban fringe management, and zoning applications.
Case. City of Prince George: Planning for Low Growth
The historical development of Prince George, BC, provides the context for understanding many challenges of urban planning over the past 100 years. The City’s history begins with early townsites and the dispossession of Indigenous lands of the Lheidli T’enneh and leads to periods of uncontrolled growth and, later, an extended period of no growth. Learners consider the roles and contributions of the professional land use planner throughout the history of the city’s development, including the legislative and regulatory tools employed to both support and discourage development. The case encompasses elements of public, private, and government interests, the function of various land use plans, and the implementation tools that have helped shape BC’s ‘northern capital’ over the past one hundred years and how will shape it for the foreseeable future.
Applications
The learner is charged with recommending a particular growth management strategy the City of Prince George should follow to achieve its vision of a desirable future. Choosing among the four growth management options, the learner must include justification premised upon public, private, and government interests.
To overcome barriers to revitalising the downtown area, the City of Prince George is considering a bundle of regulatory tools and financial incentives to aid in neighbourhood-level re-development efforts. As a long-range planner for the City of Prince George, the learner is responsible for recommending to City Council which financial and regulatory tools will assist continued development in downtown Prince George.
As an expert in urban planning, the learner must advise an ad hoc advisory committee established by the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George about how to improve the legislative framework for land use planning (Official Community Plans, zoning bylaws). The learner’s task is to advise the committee regarding the relative strengths of each of the following options and provide evidence of any critical deficiencies: status quo; update current OCPs and zoning by-laws; create fringe area OCP and zoning by-law that covers all or parts of the area immediately surrounding the City of Prince George; create a Regional Growth Strategy.
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Rezoning Amendment (Part 1)
Part 1 and Part 2 of the Rezoning Amendment Application are related. Both cases deal with the same subject property on Leslie Road in the City of Prince George but at different stages in the application process, which was subject to two court cases. Part 1 is about the original application for rezoning from the property owner to the City of Prince George. The task of the learner, in the role of Planner 1 for the City, is to process the application for rezoning. As such, Part 1 is suitable for learners who are not familiar with rezoning applications and the steps a professional planner must take to complete the review process. Learners are provided with a template Staff Report to complete. After, learners can compare their results with the Staff Report completed by City of Prince George planning staff.
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Rezoning Amendment (Part 2)
The bylaw initially approved by the City of Prince George to rezone the subject property on Leslie Road was challenged by a local resident and, subsequently, overturned by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Part 2 of this Application requires the learner to join a meeting of all planning staff to assess options moving forward. The task of the learner, in the role of Planner 1 for the City, is to present a range of options at the meeting, with the options informed by their review of the Supreme Court decision.
Learning modules that support this case study
This module describes a range of planning tools available to local governments to help control and direct urban development. These tools are regulated under provincial legislation.
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Downtown Property Developments in the City of Prince George, 2011-2021
This module describes development projects that have been completed in the City’s downtown area since 2011. Collectively, these property developments help learners understand the current state of downtown Prince George.
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Regional Growth Strategies
The Local Government Act enables a regional district to adopt a Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) for all or, with permission, part of a regional district. This module describes and explains what a RGS is and what it aims to do.
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