Child care facilities can now expand into different areas of Port Moody after council passed a zoning bylaw amendment at Tuesday's meeting.
The change means child care is a permitted use in all one-family residential and development acreage zones for up to 10 children. It will also allow child care use in some commercial and comprehensive development zones for facilities that would look after more than 10 kids at a time.
Staff proposed the zoning changes after reviewing child care regulations contained in the Community Care and Assisted Living Act and the BC Building Code.
Other Moody news:
CROSSWALK
A crosswalk will be added to Ioco Road a little earlier than expected after two youngsters argued their case before city council.
Caitlin and her best friend Lucy live on Ioco Road and said they expect to wait at least five minutes - but often end up waiting more than 10 - to cross the street, at which point they have to run to make it to school on time. At the Oct. 9 meeting, they asked council for a crosswalk at Campbell Road, a plan that was already on the books for 2014.
At Tuesday's meeting, council agreed to move those plans forward to 2013.
The nearly $200,000 project will include relocating the nearby bus stop and other intersection improvements.
HERITAGE HOMES
A proposal for a strata conversion subdivision raised concerns about the loss of rental housing and heritage preservation.
Fred Soofi is applying to subdivide the property at 2628 St. George St., where there are two heritage-register houses situated, so that he may sell one or both of the lots.
The property's heritage revitalization agreement (HRA) stipulated the second home (the Alexander residence) could be re-located to the single-family property as long as it was used as two ground-oriented rental units. Staff noted the strata subdivision would result in the loss of rental stock.
Soofi was also required under the HRA to restore both heritage homes and have them designated as municipal heritage sites; the staff report notes the subdivision brings a "level of risk in guaranteeing the future heritage designation of both heritage buildings."
Council agreed to defer the application until the applicant had met all the conditions of the original HRA.
RV PARKING
Parking a commercial or oversized vehicle - including some large RVs - on Port Moody streets may soon be restricted to a total of 48 hours in any consecutive 10-day period.
Council has been grappling with the problem of how to keep the large vehicles from being parked on local roads indefinitely, citing safety and visibility concerns.
At Tuesday's meeting, councillors passed first three readings of amendments to the street, traffic and public places bylaw to restrict parking options for oversize vehicles.
Limiting parking to 48 hours within a 10-day period is expected to allow RV owners time to prepare their vehicle for a trip but prevent people from moving their vehicle to slightly different locations to extend their parking time.
