What do you think when a concrete pump pulls into a construction site next to your home at 6:15 a.m.?
What about when your driveway is suddenly blocked by trades?
Or when the lot down the way poised for a new apartment block is filled with trash?
These are some of the criticisms Coquitlam city staff hear regularly from residents, and their complaints are growing louder as the municipality grows to fulfill regional and provincial housing demands.
On Monday, Nov. 6, city managers came before council-in-committee to talk about how they plan to manage impacts in the new year for Coquitlam residents living near construction zones.
City manager Raul Allueva said current residents in booming neighbourhoods — Burquitlam, Oakdale and Burke Mountain, for example — are suffering from disruptions and poor practices of some builders.
These include:
- construction noise outside of permitted hours
- parking violations
- insufficient fencing and unsecured sites
- improper storage of materials
- environmental spills
- unauthorized/unsafe street and sidewalk closures
- offensive behaviour
"We're very cognizant that these do create impacts on the daily lives of our residents and businesses, and we want to signal we are stepping up our approach," Allueva said.
He said a Good Neighbour Policy adopted in 2019 sets out the expectations for builders and developers before they begin a project in Coquitlam. Among the requirements are communication with neighbours, onsite signage with contact information and following a construction management plan.
Still, some builders are not abiding and see a violation ticket as the cost of doing business, said Doug Vance, Coquitlam's manager of building permits - inspections.
Citing a recent IPSOS survey that noted 13 per cent of respondents said growth and development are top of mind for Coquitlam residents, Vance said it's time to take action against the builders who flout the rules.
Moving forward, builders will have to, in general:
- do more neighbourhood outreach
- follow a new checklist to manage construction
- mitigate residential impacts, including noise, truck deliveries, trades parking and truck washing
- install water quality monitoring
And, if builders don’t comply, they can expect to see fines per violation, building inspections placed on hold and stop-work orders issued by the municipality.
Vance said city staff will also be looking at raising fines for council to consider in 2024.
"We want to send the message out there that this is serious," Vance said, addressing builders. "Our residents are taking it serious. Council is taking it serious. Staff is taking it seriously. You need to take it seriously."
Council reaction
Coun. Brent Asmundson said other Metro Vancouver communities have less tolerance for poor construction practices.
"We need to take a firmer stand and have less flexibility," he said. "If you mess up once and do it wrong, you're in trouble."
Coun. Matt Djonlic also spoke about the "inordinate amount of time" that city staff spend on construction enforcement.
And he took aim at developers who cut down trees months in advance of their projects starting.
"It looks bad on our city to have a barren landscape," added Coun. Robert Mazzarolo while warning, "With the new provincial legislation that's come down the pike last week, there's going to be construction in neighbourhoods where residents did not anticipate construction to take place."
"I think now it's going to be very important that we are clear to the development community that the tolerance for behaviour or actions that are… not legal is zero. We can’t abide by it any longer."
Vance suggested Coquitlam residents to report to the city with time-stamped photos and videos about unpermitted construction.
Aaron Hilgerdenaar, Coquitlam's bylaw enforcement manager, said bylaw officers can be scheduled from 6 a.m. to midnight to observe non-complaint actions.
Residents can report problems with construction sites via the city's online Customer Feedback Form or by contacting Engineering and Public Works Customer Service at 604-927-3500 or [email protected].
