Council to review planners recommendations tonight, as they prepare to make decision on application for proposed Park Avenue Micro-Hotel

Prince Rupert City Council will review a report from the city's contract
planners towards a proposed commercial development for Park Avenue

Update: At the start of Monday's Council session, Mayor Brain advised that the item on the Agenda would be removed at the request of the developer, as they would like to do more work on their application before it comes back to Council.

The City's contract planners from iPlan are recommending the city take a pass on a proposed development for Park Avenue, with a parking plan and the city's changing vision for development in the area, seemingly the key elements of concern towards what would be a Micro-Hotel on a lot adjacent to the PJ's Park Avenue market.

In a report for City Manager Robert Long included as part of the agenda for tonight's council session, iPlans Chris Buchan notes of a variance request to allow for parking with lower dimension specifications than is currently the norm for Prince Rupert.

In the report, the parking element is outlined as follows:

The applicant has proposed a novel “Travellers Accommodation” use with 120 “Micro” rooms that contain a bed, small desk, and sink. A toilet will be shared between two separate adjoining rooms. Six kitchen/lounge rooms and six designated lounge rooms are proposed as shared spaces for 120 rooms. 

Because the proposed density is not able to accommodate for the total onsite parking demand, the applicant has requested a variance to reduce 47% of the parking stalls sizes from 5.8 meters in depth to 4.75 meters in depth and a variance to reduce the total required onsite parking from 120 stalls to 110 stalls. 

The applicant has stated that some additional parking may be located at the neighbouring convenience store; however, this would need an easement to reserve these spaces for the exclusive use for the “Modular Micro-Hotel” if the hotel needed to rely on those spaces into the future. 

If the applicant indicates that he would like to pursue this, he should provide information to ensure that this assignment of parking spaces does not reduce the convenience store’s on-site parking below the minimum required spaces.

The report also notes that the land in question which is currently zoned for Commercial is to be changed to Residential  once the new Official Community Plan zoning provisions are put in place. 

The synopsis also provides a glimpse at what the proposed Micr-hotel would look like.

The current site is zoned as C3; however, in accordance with Council’s direction to focus commercial in the Downtown Core, this site is in the process of being rezoned to RM2. This site will become an RM2 zone once the new Zoning Bylaw is adopted by Council. A C3 zone allows for a “Traveller’s Accommodation” use; however, the proposed use for shared facilities and reduced room sizes are characteristic of a “Construction Camp” type of accommodation. 

A number of civic departments have also weighed in with both the Operations Department and Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Department finding some issues with he proposed development plan.

Towards a final recommendation for this evening's council session, Mr. Buchan provides a number of elements for the Council members to consider.

This proposed development requires two parking variances that may negatively impact the viability of the intended use. Furthermore, recent policy and Council direction does not align with commercial use in this area. The applicant has asked that Council consider the City of Prince George’s parking standards for this application. These standards would not support this proposal. 

Given the concerns with this proposal, it is recommended that Council deny this application and continue with the draft OCP process to designate this land area as residential. This would be consistent with the City’s initiatives to revitalize the Downtown Core while supporting surrounding residential development.

Two areas of interest come to mind to mark the decision ahead for Council tonight. 

The first whether the proponent will be willing to consider a relocation to the downtown core area; or what impact a negative decision may have on optics when it comes to the city's desire and commitment to attract development to the community. 

Those are just a few of the things that the City Council members will have to weigh as they review the report, discuss the topic and then come to a decision on what would seem to be the first large scale commercial development project to pop up on the radar in recent years.

For a look at the full report, see the Council Agenda for this evenings session here, the report is found at page 12 of the package.

More notes on tonight's Council session can be explored from our Council Preview Feature.