{"id":373,"date":"2023-03-10T18:27:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T23:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/landuseplanninginbc\/chapter\/__unknown__\/"},"modified":"2024-01-07T19:49:30","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T00:49:30","slug":"case_urban_princegeorge","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/landuseplanninginbc\/chapter\/case_urban_princegeorge\/","title":{"raw":"Case. Prince George: Planning for Low Growth","rendered":"Case. Prince George: Planning for Low Growth"},"content":{"raw":"

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Learning Objectives<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe historical of development Prince George, British Columbia, provides the context for understanding many challenges of urban planning over the past 100 years.\u00a0 The City\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Learners should consider the roles and contributions of the professional land use planner throughout the history of the city\u2019s development, including the legislative and regulatory tools employed to both support and discourage development.\u00a0 Learners are encouraged to analyse the elements of public, private, and government interests, the function of various land use plans, and the implementation tools that have helped shape BC\u2019s \u2018northern capital\u2019 over the past one hundred years and how will shape it for the foreseeable future.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n
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Attribution\r\n<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
Much of this case draws from Jason Llewellyn\u2019s Master\u2019s thesis \u201cUnderstanding a City\u2019s Form and Function: The Development and Planning History of Prince George\u201d. MA Thesis, University of Northern British Columbia, 1999.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
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Upon arrival in Prince George, British Columbia, a visitor is likely to first notice its industrial developments.\u00a0 The pulp mills, rail yards, and supporting industries are some of the most prominent features of the City, which make Prince George typical of many cities and towns in rural British Columbia.\u00a0 Visitors will also notice the requisite \u2018big box\u2019 store developments, casino, golf courses, and chain restaurants, which make the City typical of most cities in North America.\u00a0 What visitors may not notice immediately, but will come to appreciate if they stay long enough, is a healthy network of social, arts, and cultural activities.\u00a0 Yet, what is least obvious is how the City arrived at its present state.\u00a0 While the proximity to the Nechako and Fraser rivers suggests why the City is located where it is, the current pattern of development seems to defy many principles of good urban design.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Key facts\r\n<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
The City is centrally located in the Province of British Columbia within the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George (Map 1).\u00a0 The municipality is situated at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers and is divided by two major highways:\u00a0 Highway 16 divides the City on an east-west axis and Highway 97 divides the City on a north-south axis.\u00a0 The City of Prince George is home to 76,708 residents (2021) and covers a total land area of approximately 316 km2, for an average population density of 242.2 residents\/km2<\/sup>, which is relatively low.\u00a0 The average annual growth rate since 2016 is 0.74 percent.\u00a0 The population of the census metropolitan area is 89,490, with an average annual growth rate of 0.66 percent since 2016.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
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Unceded traditional territory of the Lheidli T'enneh<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe City of Prince George is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Lheidli T'enneh and ancestral lands of the Dakelh (Map 2).\u00a0 The Dakelh are believed to be central BC\u2019s first residents and are ancestors to the Lheidli T'enneh.\u00a0 The name of the latter can be translated as follows: Lheidli means \"where the two rivers flow together\" and T'enneh means \"the People.\"[footnote]\u201cLheidli T\u2019enneh\u201d<\/a> (n.d.).[\/footnote]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
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Map 1.\u00a0 Prince George located in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George<\/p>\r\n

\"Map_PG<\/p>\r\n

In the early twentieth century, the few permanent residents of European ancestry were employees of the Hudson Bay Company.\u00a0 During this time, the modest settlement of Fort George served as an important fur trading post.\u00a0 This settlement would be permanently changed when it was discovered that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would be travelling through Fort George, an announcement that set off a flurry of land speculation and development in the area.\u00a0 From here forward for Prince George, like other settlements of the North American West, \u201c[n]othing could be further from the truth than the notion that Western towns originated as spontaneous crossroad hamlets that grew slowly, incrementally, and randomly, without guidance of direction.\u201d\u00a0 To the contrary, Prince George is the result of numerous efforts to guide and restrict growth.<\/p>\r\n

Notwithstanding numerous planning initiatives to fulfill its destiny as B.C.\u2019s \u201cnorthern capital,\u201d Prince George has not achieved most of its predicted growth scenarios.\u00a0 This shortcoming has presented significant difficulties to direct growth and development throughout its history.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Map 2. Traditional territory of the Lheidli T\u2019enneh (unceded)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1088\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"663\"]\"Lheidli Source of base map: OpenStreetMap<\/a>. Licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL). Territorial boundary derived from the BC Treaty Commission<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n

First Townsites<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

The first townsite plans (Figure 1) at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser rivers were registered in 1909\/10 by a group of investors known as the Northern Development Company.\u00a0 The new townsite was called South Fort George.\u00a0 Nearby, a competing townsite called Central Fort George was being built by another investment group, the Natural Resources Security Company, who promoted Central Fort George as having huge development potential.\u00a0 The townsites of South and Central Fort George were home to roughly 1,500 residents and thousands of temporary construction workers who worked in the region.[footnote]West, W J. (1985). Stagecoach and sternwheel days in the Cariboo and Central B.C..<\/em> Surrey: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., p. 34.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Figure 1.\u00a0 Map of early townsites and Fort George Indian Reserve in 1910\r\n<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_367\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"738\"]\"Prince Map of the Fort George District as it existed around 1910 (adapted from a map published by Rev. F. E. Runnalls in his book A History of Prince George<\/em>).\u00a0 The red circle identifies the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company site upon which the provincial government offices were built.\u00a0 The blue squares identify the competing townships of (Central) Fort George and South Fort George, as well as the Fort George Indian Reserve that eventually became the township of Prince George. (Digital map source: The Exploration Place)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n

All the while, the influential Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was moving ahead with its plans for another townsite.\u00a0 Grand Trunk solicited the federal government for purchase of the Fort George Indian Reserve lands.\u00a0 After extended rounds of negotiations, and highly questionable tactics, the dispossession of the Reserve lands to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was completed in 1912.[footnote]Vogt, D., and D. A. Alexander (2010). \u201c\u2018You Don\u2019t Suppose The Dominion Government Wants to Cheat the Indians?\u2019: The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and the Fort George Reserve, 1908-1912.<\/a>\u201d BC Studies<\/em> 166 (Summer): 55-72.[\/footnote] Building at this third townsite commenced the following year.\u00a0 Following the announcement that the train station would be located within Grand Trunk lands, the newest townsite was incorporated in 1915 as the Town of Prince George.\u00a0 Figure 2 shows an early image of the new town.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\nFigure 2.\u00a0 Early image of George Street, City of Prince George (c1915)\r\n

\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_368\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"750\"]\"George George Street, Prince George, BC (c1915). Courtesy of Northern BC Archives & Special Collections, University of Northern British Columbia. https:\/\/search.nbca.unbc.ca\/index.php\/george-street-from-above-prince-george-bc[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
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Early Development<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

When the first train arrived in 1914 there was already sufficient investment in the regional forestry industry to ensure prosperity for the area.\u00a0 At the peak of speculation, the greater Fort George area boasted fourteen completed subdivision plans, equalling roughly 22,800 lots in the three separate townsites.<\/p>\r\n

For the two original townsites, over two-thirds of the subdivided lots had gone undeveloped, and much of this vacant land was abandoned by its owners and reverted back to the provincial government.\u00a0 Although South Fort George managed to maintain a small population, Central Fort George was eventually completely deserted.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the Town of Prince George had quickly established itself as the industrial and administrative capital of Northern BC.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

The War Years<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

During the war years from 1941-45, Prince George\u2019s population expanded from roughly 2,000 to 3,800 people; an annual increase of 18%.[footnote]Llewellyn (1999), p. 51.[\/footnote]\u00a0 Many of the new migrants were attracted by the expanding forest industry and the increased provision of services.\u00a0 However, due to wartime lumber restrictions, much of the new development was poorly constructed and without basic sanitary infrastructure.\u00a0 Adding to these woes in 1942, Prince George \u201cwas to be invaded and literally taken over by one of the largest army camps in Canada,\u201d with roughly 10,000 soldiers temporarily taking residence in the bustling town.[footnote]Sugden, Jessie B. In the Shadow of the Cutbanks<\/em>. 2nd ed. Prince George, British Columbia: Fraser-Fort George Museum Society, 1986: 28.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Gaining Control of Development<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

The post-war era was the start of a long period of sustained population growth for Prince George.\u00a0 As illustrated in Chart 1, from 1921 to 2021, average annual growth in the City of Prince George outpaced that of a prospering British Columbia at times, although the pace of growth fluctuated wildly.\u00a0 As noted below, several of the population increases were due to expansion of municipal boundaries, thus encompassing the population of rural areas.\u00a0 As the City expanded both demographically and economically, so too did the challenges of managing growth, with low-density, haphazard development spreading beyond the Town of Prince George into South Fort George, the former Central Fort George, and surrounding areas.<\/p>\r\n

To accommodate the influx of new residents who were arriving at an accelerating pace in the 1950s and to deal with the increasingly dilapidated and disorganised cityscape, the City recognised that some form of land use planning was required.\u00a0 Subsequently, this need was addressed in several capacities, including the following:<\/p>\r\n\r\n