If you haven't taken a drive down North Road in the past couple of months — or zipped along the newly opened Evergreen Extension to Lougheed Town Centre — you've missed quite a show.
Burquitlam is booming.
On nearly every block along the west Coquitlam neighbourhood — from its intersection at Como Lake Avenue to Austin Avenue — there are signs of massive growth: construction crews in hard hats, orange vests and steel-toed boots, excavators, cranes, detour signs, blue fencing and lots, lots and lots of concrete pumps.
The area is developing at a pace that has even taken city planners aback.
"Every time I come here, something changes, something is new," Andrew Merrill, major project manager for the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan (BLNP), said today while scanning the scene from Burquitlam station, one of two public transit hubs along North Road.
Indeed, the addition of the Evergreen Extension, which opened Dec. 2, has put a new spin on the BLNP. With so much activity happening, property owners can now see the future of the area taking shape before their eyes.
Their comments and concerns about the evolving land uses — and new towers rising from key sites — came out Wednesday night when the city hosted the first of its three final public consultations on the BLNP, at Coquitlam College.
The feedback from the Feb. 1 meeting was "generally favourable," Merrill said. "Overall, it was positive. There is interest in specific properties and also uncertainty with the timing and the value of their own land."
The BLNP calls for up to 20,000 new residents in 1,400 acres, to be housed in up to 10,000 more homes — be it in apartments, townhomes and detached houses.
The high population swell is not only a response to the new rapid transit line but also to meet Metro Vancouver's regional growth strategy target to boost the number of Coquitlam residents, said Carl Johannsen, the city's manager of community planning.
The population goal is also being met on Burnaby's side of North Road, too, where that municipality is planning towers up to 60 storeys tall as part of the City of Lougheed development, around the Lougheed Town Centre station.
Carolyn Orazietti, executive director of the Burnaby North Road Business Improvement Association, said her organization is in favour of Coquitlam's BLNP has it "is multi-modal and will really facilitate a healthy lifestyle for residents."
"With all the thousands of people moving to the GVRD every month, it is important to have all municipalities and their planners out in front of it as much as possible with affordable housing options," she told The Tri-City News. "The great selection of housing options, amenities and business infrastructure that Coquitlam is proposing all support growth in a meaningful way."
Still, the recent growth has come during massive fluctuations in the real estate market. Since Coquitlam city planners began the draft BLNP nearly three years ago, home prices have skyrocketed and tanked. (According to a report released today by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, home sales sank 39.5% in January compared with the same month a year earlier — with detached homes down nearly 58% and condos down 25%.)
The market slowdown, however, hasn't affected the high-level planning.
Coquitlam remains one of the fastest-growing municipalities in B.C. — with a headcount surge stronger than Surrey's, Merrill pointed out — and homes of every type need to be built, surrounding the SkyTrain stations. "Coquitlam is known as being very family friendly," he said. "We want to give people here the ability to live affordably so that they can still have a front door and a garden and be able to walk to SkyTrain."
As for the displaced residents, Merrill said the city — under its newly adopted Housing Affordable Strategy — has mandated developers hire a relocation co-ordinator to work with tenants. And he stressed the city has made an effort to build up its rental stock in Burquitlam, which has a high concentration of low-income residents.
The land-use changes are being watched closely by the Burquitlam Community Association, which said in a statement to The Tri-City News that its concerns focus around the lack of parking, the heights of some of the proposed towers (the Marcon/Kevington Building Co. high-rise plan for Como Lake Avenue and Clarke Road, which has yet to be formally approved by city council, is for 49 storeys) and school spaces for new students.
North Road businesses, especially the tenants at Burquitlam Plaza, have also taken a financial hit because of the construction tie-ups, the association states.
But "once the dust has settled, we believe things will improve. A great boost to the appearance and functionality of the Burquitlam area will be a major refit of the Plaza presently owned by Morguard. To date, the owner has made no comment on any future plans regarding the Plaza and we urge them to do so."
Merrill said it's up to Burquitlam-Lougheed landowners when they proceed and the city can't force redevelopment.
Meanwhile, Johannsen expects the final BLNP report to be before city council before the summer break. For now, "we want to hear from the public. We are still listening and taking ideas," he said.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
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OPEN HOUSES
The last rounds of public consultation for the draft Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan are on:
• Wednesday, Feb. 8 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Mediated Learning Academy (550 Thompson Ave.);
• and Saturday, Feb. 11 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Roy Stibbs elementary (600 Fairview St.).
Residents unable to attend an open house can take the online survey via coquitlam.ca/blnp. Call 604-927-3430 or email planninganddevelopment@coquitlam.ca for more details.
