Port Moody’s mayor says provincial legislation mandating housing targets and increased density near transit will likely have consequences on surrounding neighbourhoods.
Meghan Lahti's comment came as she acknowledged concerns expressed by a resident on Moray Street that a proposal by Vancouver-based developer Anthem Properties to build a 12 storey rental tower atop a six-storey parkade — four of which will be above grade — at the intersection of Moray and St. Johns Street will impact the views currently enjoyed from homes to the south.
And while the city is working to develop a policy to protect view corridors, Lahti added, “there is a housing shortage so we have to look at all the applications with that lens.”
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, council approved third reading of amendments to the city’s zoning and official community plan bylaws required for the project to proceed.
Only Coun. Haven Lurbiecki cast a dissenting vote, which came after a public hearing during which several speakers expressed satisfaction with the project that is comprised of 128 apartments, 13 of them to be made available at below-market rates. It also includes a new 45,818 sq.-ft. Ismaili cultural and worship centre.
Several councillors lauded the building’s architecture that is highlighted by intricate Mashrabiya latticework wrapped around two walls of the cultural centre as well as the street front of the parkade’s four storeys that are above ground.
Coun. Diana Dilworth said the design by Vancouver architecture firm Arcadis Architects “sets a high bar,” while Coun. Amy Lubik said she hopes other developers will take inspiration from it to make their projects more interesting.
Lubik also said though Anthem had to scale back its original intention to designate 64 of the apartments as affordable, the 13 that are included in the project are still a gain for Port Moody as the city’s inclusionary housing policy doesn’t require any affordable units in purpose-built rental buildings.
“I’m glad they got some non-market housing in there,” she said.
Coun. Samantha Agtarap expressed hope the abundance of new rental apartments coming to Port Moody will exert downward pressure on rental rates in the city all on their own.
“We know adding housing does decrease rental rates,” she said. “That is my hope here, too.”
On Oct. 22, council approved another project by Anthem that will see 180 market-rental apartments built a little further west along St. Johns Street and, a few days later, a proposal by Vancouver-based PCI Developments to construct 865 new rental apartments in two 39-storey towers next to the Moody Centre SkyTrain station was sent to public hearing.
Extraordinary Port Moody council meeting sends 39-storey rental towers to public hearing https://t.co/6Ot3ZBasb9
— Tri-City News (@TriCityNews) October 26, 2024
Those are in addition to the hundreds of rental units completed in recent years in new buildings on St. Johns as well as Dewdney Trunk Road.
But Lurbiecki said too many of the new apartments are studios or one-bedroom units that won’t accommodate families.
She said council “needs to fight for the common sense space needs of people."
"We just do not need to keep approving majority studio and one-bedroom units in this city.”
Lurbiecki was also dismayed the four storeys of parking to be built above ground will set a precedent in Port Moody that other developers will expect as well.
But Isaac Beall, Anthem’s vice-president of development, told council the elevated parking structure is necessitated by the property’s steep slope down from St. Johns Street and to ensure the lowest floors of the residential tower are actually above the SkyTrain guideway that runs behind the site.
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