Port Moody is pressing pause on Metro Vancouver's plans to demolish the Belcarra South cottages and may afford the beachfront structures even greater protection by deeming them to be a Heritage Conservation Area, much like the old Ioco townsite.
At Tuesday's meeting, council approved a temporary protection order for the six cottages located in Port Moody (a seventh is in Belcarra), which gives the city 60 days to either relocate the buildings to another site, salvage building materials or pursue long-term protection under a heritage revitalization agreement. Council opted for the latter, asking staff to report back at the next meeting on establishing a heritage conservation area for the cottages.
Jo Ledingham, a longtime resident and member of the Belcarra South Preservation Society, said PoMo council's plans to pursue a heritage conservation area (HCA) bylaw for the cottages was a surprise.
"In our wildest dreams, we didn't think that would happen," she said. "But that has to happen very quickly, so we still feel very much in a cliff-hanging situation."
Metro Vancouver's efforts to remove the Belcarra South residents, who rent their cottages on the eastern shoreline of Indian Arm, started in February 2013, when they were notified their leases would be terminated.
Efforts to have the Residential Tenancy Branch resolve the matter were derailed last summer when Metro filed a petition in BC Supreme Court to redefine the leases as commercial instead of residential - a move that confused the residents, Ledingham said, because their leases have specifically stated no commercial activity was permitted.
The Tenancy Branch bowed out of the process, noting the Supreme Court decision would supersede its own, and since last fall, the residents have been waiting for a court date.
"We only ask that due process is followed," Ledingham told Moody council. "We're asking Metro Vancouver to back off, allow the process to occur... and to allow the Supreme Court to deal with the status of our lease."
Ledingham added that residents "truly believe it is possible for the cottages to remain there and for people to have access to the park land."
A statement of significance, prepared by Donald Luxton and Associates Inc. in May 2014, said the Belcarra South cottages property is significant for its association with the Bole family and, through the mid-20th century, as a summer destination for Lower Mainland residents.
"The Belcarra South cabin community is the only surviving example of the numerous cottages that lined the shores of Burrard Inlet," the report states.
@spayneTC
