A bright winter sun casts a warm late-afternoon glow on the cedars, overgrown laurel hedges, houses and grassy lawns of a once-thriving company town. For nearly 100 years, the Ioco townsite, as it is now called, has stood on a gentle slope leading down to Port Moody inlet. A post-First World War advertisement for Craftsman-style homes, with their shingles and welcoming porches, the townsite is long empty of the employees who processed 25,000 barrels of crude oil a day in the nearby Imperial Oil refinery in the early 1950s.
In fact, the townsite, located at the end of Ioco Road on Port Moody's north shore, looks more like a nuclear test community, a cluster of buildings with few signs of life - a ghost town, as some have called it.
But possibly, with the purchase by Brilliant Circle Group of half of Ioco townsite, it could be a future residential community.
"I don't like to call it a ghost town," said James Cheng, a Vancouver architect noted for the design of several large and small developments, including Port Moody city hall.
If his vision comes to fruition, Ioco townsite, the home of Imperial Oil Company (Ioco) employees since the early 1920s, could once again be home to residents served by small businesses.
One of the 1920's-era buildings on the BCG portion of Ioco Townsite. -Tri-City News photos
But before Cheng can come up with a plan for the townsite, part of BCG's purchase of 232 acres of land from Imperial Oil, which also includes forests in Port Moody and Anmore, much work needs to be done to assess the condition of the heritage buildings, to look at Village Creek, which runs through it, and to become acquainted with community desires and government requirements for the land.
"We're not interested in fake heritage, just glue back the facade of the building," Cheng told The Tri-City News. "What I would like to do is work with Port Moody and the people. How do we make this a sustainable heritage town centre?"
Traffic concerns are another major issue as PoMo won't allow any more building in the area unless David Avenue is extended, and Cheng acknowledges more cars on the road is a key matter.
"I am approaching this with no preconceived ideas," he said, although he wonders if the townsite can be rebuilt as the pedestrian-oriented community that was once envisioned.
Looking on to the bowllng green and Ioco church at Ioco townsite. This portion [but not the church site] is now owned by Brilliant Circle Group.
CONSERVATION
It is a given amongst longtime Port Moody residents that Ioco townsite should be preserved and the land - now bisected, with Imperial Oil retaining the western half and BCG owning the section to the east - generates a feeling of protective ownership that few cookie-cutter subdivisions can engender.
Mary Ann Cooper, who turned 100 last fall and continues to lobby for the protection and maintenance of the remaining 13 residential and community buildings, as well as the lawn bowling green, believes the sale shouldn't be allowed to go ahead because the townsite is protected under the city's 2002 Heritage Conservation Area bylaw.
"The division of the townsite is not acceptable as long as the bylaw is in effect," Cooper wrote in an email. "A partnership would be lovely, innovative!"
From the perspective of local heritage enthusiasts, the division of the Ioco townsite is troubling because two of the more significant heritage buildings - the groceteria and the community hall - remain on the Imperial Oil side of the townsite.
Below, a street sweeper cleans 2nd Avenue, where gravel trucks were operating.
[A spokesperson for Imperial Oil said talks are ongoing with Port Moody about the future of the buildings on site and it's too early to say what will happen. But Killeen Kelly reiterated that the Imperial Oil portion is being retained as a buffer zone between the still-operating plant and the sold property. She also confirmed that work taking place on the BCG portion is being carried out by Imperial Oil as part of its obligations in the agreement, which is confidential.]
Robert Simons, president of the Port Moody Heritage Society, said the state of these two buildings is a major worry and although the roofs are protected with tarps, he fears the damp and cold are slowly rotting these 1921 wooden buildings.
Paint is peeling and when a party was planned for Cooper's 100th birthday, the idea of holding it in the community hall, home to dances as late as the mid 1990s, was quickly abandoned.
"It's still in reasonably good shape," Simons said, noting that the hall contains a basement with a full kitchen and a stage, as well as a sports court, "but a lot of work is needed."
Simons and Jim Millar, curator of Port Moody Station Museum, fear that the sale will virtually split the townsite in half, without any long-term plan for reusing these buildings.
Below, the waterfront as seen from the Imperial Oil-owned portion of the townsite, at right, the groceteria, which heritage society members would like to see renovated and re-opened, along with the nearby community hall [not shown].
THE VISION
The two men would like to hear from Imperial Oil about its plans (its portion has been retained as a buffer zone for work related to the shipping of refined petroleum products) and are eager to hear from BCG about its half of the property.
There were once 81 houses on the townsite but when the refinery closed in 1995, most were removed. One is at Old Orchard Park, a few were relocated to Anmore and the mill manager's house is now a bed and breakfast in Port McNeill, according to Miller.
The loss of so many buildings is why the townsite never received national heritage status, and he and Simons worry about what the future holds for the remaining structures.
One scenario would be to group them together and reuse them for the community- but for that to happen, a lot of work, and negotiation, would be required.
On BCG's side of the townsite, along 2nd Avenue, one section of houses is intact, as is the lawn bowling green, and you can almost imagine a new neighbourhood, with children running to the green for a game of pick-up soccer. Across the street, Ioco school, owned by School District 43, remains empty and boarded up, although Ioco Church to the south is still in use and hosts a daycare.
Could Ioco townsite ever be brought back to life? Architect Cheng says yes but much work must be done first.
"There's a lot of serious questions to be asked," he said. "I need to link them all together and come up with a comprehensive plan."
