A vacant lot at 50 Electronic Ave. in Port Moody will soon be occupied by construction equipment after city council approved a development permit Tuesday.
The planned development by The Panatch Group on the south side of Murray Street will feature two six-storey buildings with 358 residential units and 18,000 sq. ft. of commercial space.
After some initial pushback from council and the community, Panatch proposed some changes to the project in July that gained council’s approval, including designating 30 units rent-to-own.
In addition, Panatch promised to give first opportunity to purchase to Port Moody residents and people who work in the city, and it committed $250,000 toward the city’s reconstruction of the Shoreline Trail and boardwalk. Panatch will also make 2,500 sq. ft. of the project’s commercial space available to the city for community amenities at an annual rent of $1 for 10 years.
The only councillor to not support approving the permit was Zoe Royer, even though she praised the project for having “significant density,” bringing “great revitalization to the community” and being “quite visionary” in many aspects of the project.
Royer said she commutes past the site daily and believes the traffic impact on Murray Street will be too much for an already busy thoroughfare to handle. She also said another recently applicant made a very large voluntary contribution with a significant impact in the community that was a monetary game changer for the city and felt Panatch should step up too.
“For me, I won’t be supporting the project but I sincerely appreciate the efforts of the owners,” said Royer. “I hope that they do think about bigger contributions as this passes.”
