The most valuable street in Prince George does not look like my idea of a good time
The most valuable street in Prince George does not look like my idea of a good time
And I don't feel bad for saying so because if you're living there, you can afford to move
A reliable story for local news reporters across the province is the annual release of B.C. Assessment’s updated property values. In particular, there are two stories that are guaranteed to come out: The most valuable home in <insert city here> and someone who is disputing the value of their property. We have both in today’s newsletter courtesy of the Prince George Citizen. For the dispute, there’s the owner of a 1969 mobile home inherited from their grandfather, which went from an assessment of $22,000 in 2022 to $61,2000 in 2023.
And for the most valuable property in the city, it’s 7765 St. Denis Place, a 2002 build at the end of a cul de sac, deep in the parts of College Heights that I rarely venture to and whenever I do, am struck by just how much suburbia exists out that way (here’s an appropriate meme to go with it):
Anyhew, it’s valued at $3,731,000 which is up more than $1 million from last year but still a far cry from being anywhere near the top ten most valuable properties in the province which start at more than $30 million and escalate, quickly.
But back to Prince George: The top ten list is an interesting grab-bag. At number two is 4205 Cowart Rd., which shows undeveloped land in the decade-old Google maps photo and no photo on B.C. Assessment, so I guess you’re gonna have to go rubberneck if you want to know what it looks like. Then we head to North Nechako, then further north to Austin Road and then out to Ness Lake to round out the top 5. In spots 7 and 8, we have a pair of acreages out on Blackwater Road and Chief Lake Road, on opposite ends of the city. But what is most interesting to me is that the 6, 9 and 10 most valuable homes are all within 600 meters of each other: 6700 Westmount Drive, 7010 Westmount Drive, and 6986 Westmount Drive.
In fact, Westmount Drive is apparently our millionaire half-mile, with no less than seven total properties making the top 100 list not just for Prince George, but northern B.C. as a whole (and as for that: While Prince George dominates the list, the most valuable property in the whole region is a $4.5 million acreage just north of Chetwynd).
What strikes me about these lists is really how different my values for a home are versus what the market values: You are not living your life in any of these $2-$3 million homes without a heavy amount of driving — to work, to services, to schools, to groceries. Much are in new-build areas, which means few mature trees (see the 2014 Google Maps photo of Westmount below) and overall it’s just not my scene (I also dont’t feel bad about saying this because if you can afford to live in one of these homes you are really able to choose your spot). If you have a couple million, this could be your daily life:
Alternatively, you could spend ten percent of that and live on one of the dreaded “tree streets” in the Millar Addition that look like this:
I know which one I’m more envious of.
Quick hits:
Man arrested after allegedly threatening people with a firearm at a local motel;
Having two companies provide school bus service is going just fine;
Tired: Mixing up Prince George, B.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Wired: Mixing up Northern Health (B.C.) and Northern Health (Australia).
I mean it is warm for this time of year but… summer might be a bit a stretch 😂 #CityofPGSummer is finally here 😎 Let's all be SunSmart and protect our skin from sun damage. Need more tips on how to stay safe while you're out and about this summer? Visit: https://t.co/k3qn5PcaIe #safekindtogether #wearenothern https://t.co/PIgUYWYpbv
Northern Health @northernhealth_
‘A city in constant conversation with itself’
Over at the Prince George Post, Matt Scace (who helped launch the new outlet before moving to Calgary) has written up some thoughts on his year reporting in the city. I particulary like this passage:
Maybe it’s the unignorable evidence of brutal mid-20th century urban planning at every turn, or that it’s one of the few Canadian cities that lacks a true neighbour with whom it can compete. But above all else, Prince George — its community, specifically — is dying to be better.
Two things about this:
One: That lack of a neighbour is so interesting. Who is Prince George’s analogue city? Calgary and Edmonton look to each other, obviously. Vancouver has Seattle or, alternatively, the other major Canadian metro areas of Toronto and Montreal, both of whom have each other plus their closer neighbours of Ottawa and Quebec. We used to have Kamloops and Kelowna, but they are more often in conversation with each other (although Kelowna is pulling further and further away), and looking to Quesnel of Dawson Creek can only get us so far (personally, I think Grande Prairie is the best analogue community we have in Western Canada, but not many people here seem to pay attention to it).
The B.C. city with the closest population to Prince George is actually New Westminster, but trying to compare the two is tough. New Westminster is really nice, but it’s not an independent city in the same way that Prince George is. In New West (and all throughout the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island), residents regularly leave for shopping, entertainment, school, whatever — and then come home at the end of the day.
Here, though, you can either get it in town or you are going hundreds of kilometers to get it — which leads me to the second part of Scace’s comments that strike me, which is when he says we are always dying to be better. I agree! And I think it’s because we can’t rely on a nearby bigger city to give us what we need: Whether it’s a university, a teaching program, a cance centre, or world-class sports venues, there’s a long history of Prince George striving for and demanding things we probably wouldn’t fight for quite as much if Vancouver or Toronto or Calgary was a two-hour drive away to provide it for us.
None of this is to argue that this sense of pride, or striving, or hunger for better is lacking elsewhere — community pride is fairly universal — but if it has a different flavour here, this is my take on why.
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I vote for Kamloops as rival/analogue/conversant: similar population and geography (meeting of rivers & highways & railways), both former HBC posts, both with at least one pulp mill and provincial prison, similar downtown issues, and both regional centres for large rural areas. TRU seems kind of like CNC and UNBC combined, as if PG had levelled-up the college instead of developing a separate university.