A Port Moody councillor is hoping the city can become more pet friendly.
In a report to be presented at tonight’s council meeting, Amy Lubik says the city must “do what we can to make sure that all our residents and their furry family members have access to safe places to live within our community.”
She’s proposing pet-friendly rental policies be included in the sustainability checklist of desirable social attributes that all new developments must go through as part of their approval process.
As well, she wants pet-friendly rentals to be included as a desirable attribute for housing in the city’s official community plan as it’s revised in the coming years.
Lubik, a pet owner herself, said the city can’t require pet-friendly rentals or extend such a requirement to stratas. But including consideration of pet-friendly policies as part of the approval process for new developments could encourage them. “If this is deemed important to council, then of course it is one consideration that council would note when contemplating approval of a rezoning application,” she said.
Last February, Port Moody council unanimously approved submitting a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) 2020 convention calling for provincial strata and residential tenancy acts to eliminate discrimination against pet owners.
But the ongoing crisis of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic prevented it from getting consideration so it’s been forwarded for further deliberation by UBCM committees later this year.
