The community spoke. The illustrators drew.
The third round of open houses for BC Housing's visioning exercise for the future of Riverview Hospital kicked off Tuesday with some 75 people talking about how the Coquitlam property could take shape.
The participants - many of them with the city's Riverview Lands Advisory Committee, the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society and ArtsConnect - spent several hours with illustrators from the Co-Design Group to describe how they would like to see the 244 acres transformed.
Their comments and the illustrators' drawings were videotaped and observed by BC Housing staff overseeing the year-long process. Among those at Tuesday night's workshop at Douglas College were BC Housing CEO Shayne Ramsay; Michael Flanigan (vice-president of development and asset strategies); New Westminster-Coquitlam MP Fin Donnelly; former Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Diane Thorne; and Coun. Craig Hodge, who chairs the city's Riverview committee.
Attendees were broken into small groups to focus on themes such as potential employment, movement and circulation, recreation, health and wellness, and special events.
Next month, those concepts for the evolution of the 102-year-old site can be seen at renewriverview.com; online viewers will also be able to rate the renderings.
So far, feedback from the open houses and online has shown strong support to maintain Riverview as a mental health care hub.
BC Housing will host its final round of open houses next spring, with its conclusions handed over to the city next year to decide land uses. Coquitlam council has already indicated it wants the grounds used primarily for a health and wellness centre while BC Housing has said any future development will be done on a "break-even basis."
BC Housing will host another open house tomorrow (Saturday) at the Centennial Activity Centre (570 Poirier St., Coquitlam), starting at 10 a.m. Registration is recommended by calling 604-216-7057 or emailing [email protected].
