A Port Coquitlam road that's supposed to be a major thoroughfare for thousands of new residents on Coquitlam's Burke Mountain will likely be more of a squiggly line through farm land.
On Thursday, two PoCo committees will consider a recommendation from the city's managers of planning and engineering that suggests running the planned Fremont connector — from Prairie to Lincoln avenues — up Devon Road is the best way to go.
While that eastern route is the least direct alignment of the three options to Burke Mountain, given its two curves, it's also the cheapest to build, has the least impact on property and the environment, is far away from St. Thomas Street homes and doesn't need approval from the Agricultural Land Commission.
In March, PoCo city council voted to run Fremont connector up Burns Road to Prairie Avenue but it stopped short on picking a route north of Prairie to link with Lincoln at the Coquitlam border.
Instead, city council instructed staff to find a route that would be at least 150 m away from St. Thomas Street homes so they wouldn't have traffic near their backyards.
Coun. Brad West, who chairs the city's transportation solutions and public works committee (which will meet Thursday with the smart growth committee), told The Tri-City News his goal is to keep the road away from PoCo homes. "From my initial read of the report, it would suggest the easterly Devon Road is the one that achieves that," he said Tuesday.
The PoCo committees have three options to consider for the north Fremont connection:
• an eastern alignment, running along the existing Devon Road and affecting one house (cost: $5 million to $9.7 million, depending on watercourse enclosures);
• a central alignment, running between Devon Road and the BC Hydro lines, severing eight farms and removing four buildings (cost: $8.7 million to $12.7 million);
• and a western alignment, running close to the BC Hydro lines but still 150 m away from St. Thomas Street backyards, severing eight farms and removing two buildings (cost: $7.9 million to $12.3 million).
Area residents invited to a city meeting last month voiced concern with the latter two options as their properties would be too small to farm, according to the managers' report.
The routing of the two-lane collector up to the Coquitlam boundary has been a source of contention between the two cities.
About a year ago, PoCo said it would not follow Fremont Road and, instead, offered alternate routes to mitigate impact on its residents. Coquitlam, on the other hand, has insisted a direct north-south road would be best to handle the future traffic volume. Coquitlam is planning to accommodate 20,000 more residents on Burke Mountain over the next decade or so.
Coquitlam city council is expected to give its response to the Devon Road option on Monday.
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