It's no secret what Gaetan Royer's first order of business would be if he were to win the mayor's race on Nov. 15.
He's campaigned vigorously on what he sees as serious shortcomings in the recently adopted official community plan, a document two years in the making, and aims to bring it back to the council table, re-open it for public discussion and, if all goes according to plan, adopt a new OCP that provides more space for new jobs than new condos.
"I understand the value of connecting the dots between housing, jobs, parks, recreation, library space, police and fire hall facilities," Royer said, "and I'm running because I don't see any of those dots connected in the official community plan."
What he says he's hearing on the doorstep is that residents are shocked by what's in the OCP and the city's existing infrastructure is already at capacity and can't take much more.
Royer agrees, noting Port Moody's population is already at, or very near to, its maximum capacity.
"For the last decade, we've had growth that was.. .80% residential, 20% office and commercial," Royer said. "Moving forward, I want to flip that on its head, so 80% employment and 20% housing, and that would re-establish the balance."
But a city can't run on a "build it and they will come" philosophy - the lingering "for lease" signs at Suter Brook and at the Station development on St. Johns Street can attest to that - which is why Royer wants to revive the "Invest in Port Moody" forum, which took place in 2003.
"The city had a very coherent plan that had all the pieces - recreation, housing, office space... the overpass over the tracks... to be able to walk to the West Coast Express," Royer said. "We marketed this to the private sector and they responded, they invested. I would do this again."
Royer anticipates that the Inlet Centre Station will largely be for commuting out of the area but the Moody Centre Station offers a chance to bring people in from throughout the region to new businesses (and he wants to increase the number of community shuttle buses running to and from the Evergreen Line stations to keep traffic in check post-SkyTrain, although they falls under TransLink's purview).
Royer's vision for St. Johns Street - mainly office buildings of three to six storeys - is a big part of that.
He cites the Metro Vancouver projection that the region will grow by about a million people in the next 30 years, requiring some 600,000 new jobs, and says Port Moody has done its part when it comes to accommodating residential growth.
"It's been the fastest-growing city in the region for the last decade," Royer said. "We've done our part to create housing, we've done our part to accommodate the people. Because of our configuration, because of the state of our roads, because we're hemmed in with mountains on both sides... our contribution moving forward should be to help the region with part of those 600,000 jobs."
The benefit of such a plan is that employees coming to work in Port Moody would shop and spend money, benefitting the local economy while not adding more pressure to city facilities like the recreation centre, library and the Inlet Centre soccer fields that have been languishing for three years now, Royer said.
They're all high on Royer's project to-do list, along with improving pedestrian access across the railway tracks and bringing the Murray-Clarke Connector back to the discussion table.
"We need a leader who's going to stand up in the region... and not try to make excuses for agencies that are not doing what they should be doing and advocate for this project to be back on track," Royer said of the Murray-Clarke Connector, which TransLink scrapped in 2011, saying the $69-million cost was not viable.
Royer also wants to see the region - not developers - playing a greater role in a third station for Port Moody, which he sees as crucial to development of the city's western gateway.
"That's something we should have a long view of, and be advocating early for the region to help us. If we start to use development amenities to pay for rapid transit, we're accepting downloading."
Royer has logged plenty of experience in leading complex projects both here and abroad and says, "I have the leadership... to be at the kinds of tables we need to be at."
Question is, after Nov. 15, will it be the mayor's table?
@spayneTC
