Plants, flowers and vegetables are now sprouting from plots in Coquitlam’s City Centre neighbourhood for community garden members.
Last week, the municipality opened the half-acre site along Pinetree Way — between the City Centre Aquatic Centre and Douglas College — for members whose plots by the Inspiration Garden in Town Centre Park were displaced by the Metro Vancouver water pipeline project, down Pipeline Road.
Those 45 members, plus another five registered on the city’s waitlist, including a group of Douglas College teachers, were given a key to the City Centre Community Garden, as well as soil and a small bed.
Cody Cobble, Coquitlam’s parks infrastructure asset co-ordinator, told the Tri-City News today, May 16, that his team of eight workers took seven weeks to get the garden built.
Besides the plots, of which the yellow cedar planks were sourced from the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest in Maple Ridge via its sawmill and timber manufacturer Gallant Enterprises, the city crew also constructed a shed for communal tools, a bulletin board and a compost station.
A picnic table, Adirondack chairs and water taps were also added for the members.
Cobble said the site is designed to be temporary, with mobile plots.
Last year, city council OK’d the $125,000 project and budgeted $20,000 annually to operate it.
Parks capital projects
Still, the future of other parks amenities in Coquitlam are now in peril following recent changes by the provincial government.
On Monday, May 13, the city’s committee got an update about current and upcoming capital projects, which parks general manager Lanny Englund noted may be in jeopardy under the new housing legislation.
A report about the delays — due to the possible loss of the density bonus tool to pay for capital projects — is expected to come before city council next week.
At Monday’s committee meeting, of which Coun. Dennis Marsden was not present, city manager Raul Allueva talked about the financial strain the provincial housing rules are having on the municipality, potentially putting plans for Blue Mountain and Glen parks on the back burner.
The city’s push for development to pay for growth is “no longer the case,” Allueva said. “We have to get back to the drawing board and figure out how to fund these projects.”
As an overview of 2023–24 capital projects, parks staff ticked off three as completed:
- the third floor renovations at the city hall annex
- Town Centre Park Community Centre
- Maillardville Community Centre Plaza
This year, the parks team has three major projects now under construction and two major projects in the pre-construction phase:
- Austin Works Yard Renewal
- Spani Pool Renewal and Expansion
- Burke Mountain Joint School/Park Site
- Northeast Community Centre and Park
- Fraser Mills Parks and Community Centre
As for minor capital construction projects, four are now underway:
- Town Centre firehall
- portable washroom upgrade
- Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex
- Arena 2 flood replacement
- digital board replacement
- Austin Heights firehall
- facade repair
In terms of escalating construction costs, they’re jumping another four to six per cent this year, said Sarah Arkoulis, Coquitlam’s manager of facilities, capital project management.
Supply chain disruptions and a labour shortage, combined with higher interest rates, are also making capital projects challenging, she said.
