A massive redevelopment of Port Moody’s Coronation Park that would bring 5,000 new residents to the city is appropriate for its location across from the Inlet Centre SkyTrain station.
But the city needs to realize more benefits from the project by Vancouver-based Wesgroup Properties Inc., say members of Port Moody’s land use committee as the developer begins the process of applying for rezoning so it can proceed.
Currently comprised of 59 aging single-family homes on 14.8 acres at the corner of Ioco Road and the Barnet Highway, the new master planned community would include 2,665 residential units in six towers up to 31 storeys, as well as a rental building, a four-storey office building, two daycares, a central park and a 2,000 sq-ft. amenity space to be owned and operated by the city.
But several members of the land use committee, which includes two members of council along with several volunteers from the community, said the project lacks sufficient affordable housing options, daycare spaces and job opportunities.
It “doesn’t meet the needs of Port Moody,” said one.
Currently Wesgroup is proposing all 101 rental units in the project be part of a rent-to-own program to address concerns about affordability and the two daycares combined will accommodate up to 194 children.
As for job creation spaces, Wesgroup said, in a letter, the project will provide 24,000 short-term jobs as well as 1,075 long-term jobs in its 114,000 sq. ft. of commercial space that includes a retail strip along Ioco Road with a grocery store and drug store as anchor tenants.
In a report, senior planner Wesley Woo said that’s not enough. He suggested doubling the office building from four to eight storeys would bring the development more in line with the city’s expectations for job creation.
“There is a preference for more jobs in Port Moody,” Woo told the committee.
Already years in the making and the subject of several contentious debates as the previous council considered and ultimately approved amendments to the city’s official community plan to accommodate the project, some members of the land use committee expressed urgency at its meeting Monday to move the project along.
“It’s a major project that has gone through so many hoops already,” said one.
“It’s time to move this forward and council can take it from there.”
In its letter, Wesgroup said its proposal addresses all the city’s goals for the project, include providing a range of housing types, density, public amenities, transportation improvements and employment spaces.
Suggestions made by the land use committee are non-binding, but can serve as a guideline for council as it considers whether a development proposal is appropriate for its location.
