A development company is using creative means to get home shoppers to buy into its new Coquitlam tower: free transit passes for a year.
On Monday, Polygon Homes showed its drawings for the first of its two highrises planned for Windsor Glen, a new neighbourhood off Pipeline Road that used to be the site of a mobile-home park.
The 27-storey tower, which will likely be approved by city council next week after being okayed by the land use committee, will include a number of transportation incentives for new residents, said Brian Ellis, Polygon's vice-president of development.
These are: a bus pass (costing Polygon $200,000); five car-share parking stalls; and 136 bicycle spots.
The bonuses are aimed at reducing the need for more residential parking as the tower will be two blocks away from the proposed Evergreen Line along Pinetree Way.
As well, the measures will drop the variance for the number of parking stalls Polygon requires for the building. Under the City Centre Area Plan, such a tower would need 377 parking spots; but the transit/cycling offers will mean there will only be 302 parking spots provided, Ellis said.
Polygon will pay for a neighbourhood parking study before any future building happens at Windsor Glen, city staff say.
While Coun. Mae Reid, chair of the land use committee, praised the company on its tower, Coun. Brent Asmundson repeated a comment he made this month about Cressey's 25-storey highrise planned for Glen Drive and Pinetree Way, saying the architecture is too square.
"I want to see more creative designs," he said, referring to the flat skylines for the new towers in City Centre. He also pressed for more energy efficiencies with the Polygon building.
Coun. Selina Robinson also urged the company to include space in its tower for residential kitchen waste disposal, a program that will be added to all Coquitlam multi-family homes over the next two years.
The 186-unit highrise, called Celadon, will also have an adjacent four-storey residential building with 40 suites. Once built out, the Windsor Glen neighbourhood will have 1,360 homes and accommodate 3,400 residents. To date, four of Polygon's 14 medium- to high-density buildings have been approved by city council.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
