Preserving the Ioco townsite's heritage was the top request at a pair of open houses last week in Port Moody that saw record turnout despite the mid-summer scheduling.
Architect James Cheng, who is representing the Ioco property owners Brilliant Circle Group, said 252 people attended last Friday's open house and 291 turned up on Sunday, with many of them from PoMo's April Road and Ioco Road neighbourhoods. Participants saw a slideshow about the property and then broke up into groups with a facilitator and artist, who sketched ideas on topics, from transportation to arts and culture, heritage and more.
"There were a lot of interesting ideas but the number one consensus was that people would like to preserve the heritage site, on that one there's no controversy whatsoever," Cheng told The Tri-City News. "That's the character, the history, and they want to preserve it."
Cheng said there was widespread support for ideas around remediating heritage buildings and make them the centre of the new area, similar to Fort Langley's revitalization.
Also popular were ideas for improving the waterfront, with greater public access to the water, particularly for non-motorized activities such as canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding, and the need to offer a variety of housing types, including downsizing options for seniors who would like to stay in the area.
Traffic was raised as a concern, particularly on Ioco Road, and while there was support for building the David Avenue connection, there were also those who aren't in favour of it going through PoMo's Bert Flinn Park.
"I don't think that's surprising," Cheng said. "There are some people who understand the necessity and the traffic impact of going through the park but a couple did say as long as there's no loss… and if there's a road through the park, then we should expand the park.
"A lot of people did not realize that road alignment has been on the books for 35 years."
Cheng said facilitators received comments criticizing the late July open houses so they plan to book another one in September. Anmore residents also said their needs were unique from PoMo's, Cheng said, so they'll likely schedule separate public information events once they've developed more concrete proposals.
Imperial Oil sold the 232-acre property, of which about 150 acres are in Anmore and 82 in PoMo, in 2013.
• Visit www.iocolands.ca for more information.
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