Belcarra Regional Park users may want to time one of their visits this month to the days when Metro Vancouver is seeking public input on plans for the south end of the park.
On July 14 and 16, visitors to the Belcarra picnic area can check out info on a section of the park that is home to seven cottages and the historic Bole House, and provide feedback on the area's future programming and development.
"It's more blank slate, we're not showing options but just asking for feedback at this early stage," said Jamie Vala, Metro Vancouver's division manager for regional parks/central area.
Metro is asking for the public's input after original plans to demolish the cabins were stymied when Port Moody council gave six of them heritage status (the seventh is in Belcarra). But with increasing demand for the park — the number of visitors has increased by 22% in the last five years — Metro is looking for ways to accommodate the growing crowds.
"Growth in the northeast sector is just increasing and we don't anticipate it's going to slow down," Vala said.
Belcarra South residents have been renting their seaside cottages, on the eastern shore of Indian Arm, for decades. They were notified in early 2013 of Metro Van's plan to demolish the homes and they have been battling since then to hang on to them.
A spring 2014 report by Donald Luxton and Associates said the cottages are "the only surviving example of the numerous cottages that lined the shores of Burrard Inlet."
But in issuing the 2013 eviction notice, Metro Van said the cottages are in disrepair and pose a liability. It also noted an interest in expanding the park to create public access to a beach that sits just over a rocky outcrop from the picnic area.
Vala said two plans for Belcarra South, from the 1980s and ’90s, were approved by the board and included opening up the area to the public and establishing picnic shelters, washrooms, access to the beach, a small wharf and adaptive re-use of the Bole House.
The public consultation will ask for feedback in four areas: environmental protection and interpretation; access and amenity improvements; appropriate use of publicly owned structures; and future priorities.
• Public open houses are on Thursday, July 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, July 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., both at the Belcarra picnic area.
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