Thoughts on living in PG

[BCHoyt]

Well my wife is finally fed up with where she has been working for the past 11 years. With a big American corporate take over of her company things have changed so much, good for the business partners as they now have nice new big houses, boats, and sports cars, but for the employee's who keep the company running its not been good.

She sent out some resumes this morning to companies in Kamloops, Vernon, and Prince George.

Within a few hours she already had a call back from PG.

We have been there a couple times, passed thru several times on the way to moose hunting but thats about it.

For those who live there what area's should we stay clear of for living if we do end up coming. Also what are your general thoughts on the area.
We will be leaving Victoria which is a place I never wanted to live to begin with. I know Ill be happy with less rain!

[rocksteady]

You make the best of wherever you live..

Crap weather, good hunting for ???

Take the leap, move to pg and discover what it has to offer

[New Bow Hunter]

We lived there for five years, before moving to Sooke. Stay out of the bowl area. West is best. The other areas tend to have Pulp Mill odour.

[604ksmith]

I moved from Vancouver to PG for 2.5 years, recently moving back to Vancouver last August.

You mentioned you didn't like Victoria for the rain and PG certainly gets much less. The winters have also become much milder as of late with the last two averaging around -5 to -10 with the one or two weeks of -30. But, make sure you know what you're up for when moving to a "small town" like PG. Everything is a far drive, or an inconvenient flight away. The closest major city is Edmonton at 5-6 hours east. Entertainment in PG is hard to come by, and restaurants are limited, you'll have to get used to making your own entertainment in the bush or in the city. In my opinion passive residents don't do well in cities like PG. Also, if you're bringing kids make sure to keep them busy as the winters are long, dark, and can be boring if you don't like the cold or skiing/sledding, snowshoeing etc. PG still has a rough/dirty downtown area as well, so coming from Victoria where there really is no "rough" area could be hassle, however most responsible residents steer clear and never have any issues. That being said, while I don't regret my time in PG, the hunting and fishing was phenomenal, I knew I wanted to get back to the lower mainland. For all the traffic hassles, and crazy real estate, I just prefer to spend M-F in the city with weekends outdoors.

As for places to live, I agree with the post above. West is best, and assuming you're selling a home in Victoria you'll be able to afford to get into all the areas but maybe the custom homes on the river. If you want a nice suburb-style home University Heights is the best in town. HOWEVER, be warned to do your due diligence just across the street if looking in the Parkview Crescent area. I won't mention the name of the builder of that area but the company doesn't have the best reputation. I rented in the area during much of the construction and corners were cut, and crews were very junior. Multiple homes ended up having complaints and issues that were outside of the normal "nothings perfect" idea. If you'd like to live a bit farther west of town go for the Beaverley area about 15 minutes SW of town. It's made up of some very nice 5 acre lots and large homes. There are also some really nice places north of town that tend to be a bit older. The Hart Highlands is one such subdivision, and Chief Lake Road with larger lots. All the areas above will limit the amount of smell you'll notice from the local oil refinery and three pulp mills.

Hopefully that helps, if not, I'm sure others with more experience than mine will chime in.

[Salty]

I grew up there but left long ago - 89. If I moved back I'd take advantage of the large inventory of affordable rural properties there's tons of 2-5 acre subdivisions around 20-30 min from town. Not that there's not decent urban subdivisions but if you're living in the north why not live in the north. I enjoyed my years there but my intel is obviously pretty outdated so I'll leave it at that except yeah, the bowl area (inner city) is like many other inner cities run down and with crime, that was the case in my day too. I never felt unsafe anywhere being a homey but there's sketchy areas, drugs and crime.

[MRP]

west side if like it busy.
south if u don't like snow and don't mind airplanes
east is down wind of poop mills
north quiet clean air. SNOW.

[takmaster]

Well I'm born and raised PG. Moved away to Canmore after University for a bit. Moved back. Moved to Edmonton for almost 6 years to get my apprenticeship, worked up in NWT for almost 3 years. Moved back to good ol' PG when raising a family came on the radar. Why? well affordable housing, decent size town with all necessary amenities. Family and friends here. Has anyone mentioned the hunting and fishing yet, lol. I have found that where you live is what you make of it. There is a charm about PG that keeps people coming back. You will hear about the pulpmill smell. Having worked at the mills in town for the last 4 years I can attest that there have been a lot of measures put in to reduce the smell put out and it is not near as bad as 10 years ago. Also born and raised 20 minutes from the Hart in Ness Lake there are some beautiful areas with acreage within 1/2 hour drive of downtown. Property taxes will be substantially less for land in the Regional District than the City of Prince George. I now live in College Heights and find it as convenient as Edmonton for proximity to stores. There are a lot of local restaurants and a winery, craft brewery now in town so if you can do without the franchise names you will find much to enjoy when dining out. Among my favorites for a good evening out with my wife are: Copper Pig, Betulla Burning, Crossroads, Nancy O's (they also have comedy shows once in a while). If you would like to know more please PM me. Don't be shy. Its a big province. Sometimes there is more beyond Hope than you would think.

[Boner]

19 year PG resident. I love it here. I mostly travel for work, I've been all over except for the Kootenays, and I still don't want to live anywhere else than PG.

[northernguy]

7 years in PG for me. I was offered postings in Richmond, Vancouver, Abbotsford, and Kelowna. PG was the right choice. The house prices alone mean that I can retire almost 5 years earlier than I could if I was in any of the other postings offered.

As mentioned, there are lots of great restaurants.

I know lots of young professionals who come to PG on a "5 year plan" because it's a good move for them professionally, only to stay because of the house prices and the community.

[Riverratz]

We moved here from Kelowna in '86, had no trouble adjusting to life here at all.
Raised two kids, elementary and high schools were just fine, no problems other than the expected teen year's issues.
Kids walked to school.

We're partial to the north side, Hart Highlands area has been great for us, been here since we moved; clean air, sunny skies, quiet/clean/neat/modern neighborhoods where you actually get to know your neighbors on a first name basis without having them attached at the hip. Everyone looks after their homes and properties and we all look out for each other when gone away, sickness, etc. Smell from the mills is extremely rare in this neck of the woods.

No snarled traffic, no long traffic jams, short commutes to downtown/shopping malls etc are about 15-20 minutes and that's at "rush hour".......if you can call it that.
Vanc. and Vic are a quick one hour flight away, at least 5-6 flights/day.
Easy 7 hr. drive to Edmonton, 4 hr. to Jasper.

Fabulous fishing out west (Terrace/Kitimat/Rupert, etc.) about 6-7 hr drive, dozens of lakes, etc close to home.
QUALITY hunting opportunities (moose/deer/elk/birds/small game) within a 20-30 minute drive from home.

Good schools, smaller shopping mall (Hart) near by.
Very affordable, larger/newer houses run in the $350K - $450K range with good sized lots/landscaping, etc. etc.
$450 - $550K buys you a luxury quality home in a newer sub-division.

All of the big box stores, good shopping, all the amenities of any other city anywhere........we've got it all WITHOUT all the congestion/traffic/parking issues, etc.
Lots of nicer restaurants/dining rooms, including the major chain ones, like Earl's, Moxies, Mr. Mikes, etc. etc.
Larger new major shopping malls, lots of new stores/businesses, many areas of the city have become very modern, trendy and upscale.

If you're into night-life/major entertainment obviously we don't have what LMD/Vic have to offer but there's enough to keep us happy.
UNBC is the jewel of the city and of course major junior hockey with our home town Cougars.

Contrary to popular belief it's not a rough town any more, those days are long gone.
Like all cities you learn which smaller areas of the city to avoid, crime is NOT rampant like some would have you believe and we don't have daily drive by shootings/home invasions/muggings, hit and runs, etc. etc.
Life is actually very peaceful and quiet, at least for us.

Winter has never been an issue for us, has been much milder with less snow for the past 10+ years. Only used the snow blower three times last winter.
Temps usually in the 0 to -10 range Nov. thru Dec, down to -10 to -20 in January, then gradually warming Feb/March.
Spring arrives in April, by mid to end of May temps are warm, grass is up, flowers starting.
No endless depressing weeks/months of drizzle and rain here.
We don't own umbrellas and have no need for rain gear unless we head out to the bush but it's extremely unusual if we ever put it on.
We experience the true "four seasons" and love every one of them.
Some find winter a little long, it can run 4 months most years.
We don't, it is what it is, and besides, there's no shortage of things to do and experience in the winter.

People up here don't fly into mass hysteria when the snow arrives, most, if not all, are well prepared with the right vehicles that are properly equipped.

Our yearly average natural gas and hydro utility bills total $150/month combined, for 2900 sq. ft. finished area.
Yearly city taxes run in the range of $2600/yr with full services, sewer, water, garbage, etc.

Pulp mill smell is the worst in the downtown core ("the bowl" area) particularly in the winter when night time heavier cold air inversions force it down into the valley bottom.
Rest of the year it's actually quite rare, depending on the wind..........unless you live east of town.
Certainly nothing like it used to be many years ago.
As I said above, smell from the mills is a rarity in our area.

If you're really into the "big city" thing, you're not going to find it here. We have all the city amenities, etc. but without that big city feel and everything that goes with it.

Obviously we have really enjoyed it here, don't miss the south one bit, never have, we'll never move back.

Good luck with your plans.