More than 80% of the trees on the campus designated for the new Port Coquitlam recreation complex will be cut.
And about half of them will be felled on the north side of the site starting next Tuesday — the day after an open house for the public to look over plans for the four-year, $132-million construction project.
The tree loss has drawn the ire of many PoCo residents, some of whom have left comments via social media.
Today (Thursday), the city's community recreation complex project team told The Tri-City News that of the 146 trees on the downtown site, 122 will be removed.
The trees, a variety of species including oak, cypress, magnolia and sequoia, were planted as the centre expanded over the years — and many in the wrong places, the team said.
Some grew into BC Hydro power lines including an 18 m tall Douglas Fir near the current Kingsway Avenue entrance, which has to come down to make way for the renovation.
That tree is listed as "significant" in the city's tree bylaw because of its size and species; however, despite its status, the city can remove the tree under provisions of the bylaw to construct a building, the team said.
Of the trees to be felled, 64 are inside the footprint for the new rec complex and 58 more have been identified as being "in fair or marginal condition. A large number of these have been impacted by significant, ongoing hydro line clearance pruning and have poor structure," the team told The Tri-City News by email.
Still, the city plans to save 24 trees including Japanese Cherry, Deodar Cedar, Red Oak, Pin Oak, Red Maple, Flowering Dogwood and Weeping Giant Sequoia — seven of which will be retained on site, along the perimeter, which will be protected with fencing and signage; another 17 young trees will be relocated to other city properties and parks.
As well, the team said new trees will be planted but the exact number has yet to be determined.
"We recognize the loss of trees will have a significant impact on the site until new trees are planted and the city will leave the trees standing as long as possible until subsequent construction phases start," stated the team, which is made up of Kristen Meersman (director of engineering and public works), Laura Lee Richard (director of development services), Lori Bowie (director of recreation) and Karen Grommada (director of finance).
City staff are also working with a contractor to figure out how it will use the lumber; branch and stem debris may be chipped for mulch.
Meanwhile, the public open house for the new PoCo rec complex is on Monday, Feb. 27 from 2 to 7:30 p.m. at the Wilson Centre (2150 Wilson Ave.). The project team, project partner and developer of the proposed private residential and multi-use project will be on hand to answer questions. Visit portcoquitlam.ca/reccomplex or follow the Twitter feeds at #pocoreccomplex.
Ground-breaking for the new 205,00 sq. ft. rec centre starts next month and will include, by June 2021, a leisure pool, three ice sheets and the Terry Fox Library.
