Plans for a new highrise at a major intersection close to the Port Coquitlam border got the seal of approval from Coquitlam council this week.
City council unanimously approved fourth and final reading for zoning and OCP bylaws to allow the 33-storey tower at Westwood Street and Lincoln Avenue.
Coun. Brent Asmundson praised the Onni Group for working with neighbours on the project and for its plans to widen Westwood on the Coquitlam side.
"Now we need PoCo to step up to the plate" on road improvements, he said.
PoCo Mayor Greg Moore has criticized the project, saying it will put too much pressure on infrastructure as some 1,000 residents will live in the building.
At Monday's meeting, Coun. Terry O'Neill also took aim at Onni for placing advertisements in newspapers last week to market the development even though council had yet to formally sign off. "I guess that's the risk they take," he said.
The ads show the tower standing 42 storeys tall - not 33 storeys - which accounts for the parkade, podium, top level and the missing floors that contain '4,' an unlucky number that, in Chinese, sounds like the word for death.
Other Coquitlam news:
BURKE HOMES
Another mega-project on Burke Mountain got the green light this week.
City council signed a development permit (DP) for 97 new townhomes on vacant land at 3461 Princeton Ave. Polygon's Bridlewood project, located in the Smiling Creek neighbourhood, is bounded by creeks on either side.
Meanwhile, city council also issued a DP to New Mainstream Developments Ltd. on Monday for 16 street-oriented village homes at 3368 Mason Ave, in the Lower Hyde Creek neighbourhood; the existing home will be torn down.
Jim McIntyre, Coquitlam's general manager of planning and development, told The Tri-City News on Monday the first two Burke neighbourhoods - Upper and Lower Hyde creeks - are now 40% built out.
The city intends to see the mountain developed with 20,000 residents over the next 15 to 20 years in five neighbourhoods that include Smiling and Partington creeks, and Hazel Drive.
NO LIST
A Coquitlam councillor this week failed to persuade his colleagues to lobby the provincial government to change the rules for the viewing the voters' list.
At Monday's meeting, Coun. O'Neill was the only elected official to support his own motion to have the municipal voters' list published.
Under the Local Government Act, the voters' list can be made available for viewing six weeks after a civic race; the document can't be photocopied.
The list is often used by campaign organizers to obtain names of people who have cast ballots; however, there is no information about who they voted for.
O'Neill said having the voters' list out in the open is part of the democratic process and he believes it would increase voter turnout. Last November in Coquitlam, 21% eligible voters - or 17,961 of 82,839 - went to the polls.
But other city councillors cited privacy concerns.
"I'd prefer community engagement rather than community humiliation," Coun. Selina Robinson said.
