City cans plans for parking lot in favour of new pool

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — City council have approved the cancellation of a construction project in town to make room in the budget for work on the city’s future aquatic facility. 

Following the August 25th City of Fort St. John council meeting, work has begun to reallocate funds from previously approved projects towards the replacement facility for the North Peace Leisure Pool.

The facility has been open since 1997, and – while it is PRRD-owned – it is operated by the City of Fort St. John. The PRRD, the District of Taylor and the City of Fort St. John began planning for a replacement facility in 2017. 

Specifically, the city council approved the cancellation of work on the City Hall parking lot, which would have included repaving and expanding the space to make room for future additional staff at City Hall. 

According to a staff report to council, the expansion is needed due to the relocating of the city’s development services team to City Hall, and the nearby IT Services building was going to be demolished to make room for the new parking stalls. 

The demolition is still planned for sometime in the winter of 2025, and landscaping instead of construction is now planned for the spring of 2026 “when weather conditions permit,” to create a greenspace in its place until the lot is required. 

The expansion project was flagged as not necessary “at this time” by staff, and therefore council have reallocated its $250,000 in funds to the new aquatic facility. 

The council also deferred a decision regarding which members of council would be elected to the working group, which will replace the steering committee the PRRD dissolved earlier this month.

This change was made due to the absence of Mayor Lilia Hansen and Councillors Gord Klassen and Tony Zabinsky, and the agenda item will be brought before council again in the September 8th regular meeting.