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Fraser Health withdraws Eagle Ridge application

Reevaluates after Port Moody planning committee didn't like being 'held hostage' over ER expansion
ERH proposal
Fraser Health's conceptual redevelopment plan to finance an expansion of Eagle Ridge Hospital's emergency department did not impress the City of Port Moody's planning advisory committee.

Fraser Health has withdrawn its initial application to the city Port Moody for a project that would have seen it sell land at Eagle Ridge Hospital — making way for highrises on the site — to finance an emergency department expansion.

The withdrawal, announced Thursday, comes in reaction to members of the city’s planning advisory committee saying the health authority was “holding them hostage” and using a much-needed 17-bed expansion as “ransom.”

The comments came Tuesday when the committee voted unanimously to not recommend support for Fraser Health’s application to change Port Moody’s official community plan. Fraser Health sought the approval so it could sell two parcels of land for development of 427 residential units. The current OCP and zoning designates the land as public and institutional.

“You’re kind of holding us hostage. You’re holding the emergency room expansion as hostage,” Coun. Hunter Madsen told Fraser Health land director Gavin Blackstock. 

“I feel the [expansion] is being held ransom," said Coun. Meghan Lahti. “I won’t be blackmailed to allowing a development that is not needed in the community.”

Fraser Health spokesperson Jacqueline Blackwell said Thursday the organization heard the concerns and is “going to reevaluate our plans for the site.”

Blackwell said she couldn’t elaborate but added the planning for the ER expansion will continue.

Fraser Health’s plan called for towers of 22 and 26 storeys, total of 328 units, on the west side of the property. It also proposed a mix of buildings from three to 12 storeys (99 units) on a second lot in the southeast corner. The proposal was for primarily market units but Fraser Health committed to ensuring a minimum of 20% would be rental units with at least 36 being below-market.

The committee was not impressed.

“This is not density we need. And what it does is add service cost stress on parks [and other city services]. So I’m trying to figure out how this affects schools and everything else,” Madsen said.

Coun. Rob Vagramov said privatizing publicly owned assets hasn’t worked in the past and doesn’t pay off in the long run. He also said PoMo's OCP and planned development already cover the city’s residential needs.

“We have enough condos today, and we have enough condos in the plans for tomorrow. What we don’t have is enough publicly owned lands for future needs in the community,” said Vagramov.

He added the energy spent on the proposal would be much better spent lobbying the province for the money. “I do believe there are other mechanisms to getting this emergency expansion built.”

“It would be completely shortsighted to sell this land for housing, in my opinion,” said Coun. Zoe Royer.

At the meeting, Blackstock acknowledged the health authority estimates it could get about $56 million for the land. The planned expansion would cost in the neighbourhood of $25 million but since tenders haven’t been put out and construction costs are rising, he wouldn’t give a specific figure for the expansion. 

City staff in its report and many committee members were concerned that not all of the revenue realized from the land sale would have been committed to Eagle Ridge.

But Blackstock balked at that suggestion.

“There’s so many unknowns at this time,” said Blackstock adding some of money would have had to go toward First Nations compensation.

The 26 acres of land on which the hospital sits was originally owned by the city but transferred to the Eagle Ridge Hospital Society in the 1970s. Even though it’s 40 years later, flipping some of the land for another purpose was another point of contention for the committee.

The staff report, which said Fraser Health’s application was premature because so many details needed to be determined, also noted there was large opposition when it was presented at a community information meeting in March.

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