Some commuters might say the corner of Ioco Road and Barnet Highway can be a parking lot.
Soon, it will be —temporarily.
At its meeting last Tuesday, Port Moody council approved a temporary use permit that will allow TransLink to turn the vacant lot next to the Inlet SkyTrain station at the busy intersection into a storage area for the next 14 months.
The lot will be used to park construction vehicles and equipment as well as trailers from the neighbouring U-Haul rental depot and parking for staff of Westwood Honda while TransLink builds a new storage facility for 30 to 40 SkyTrain cars just west of Falcon Drive in Coquitlam.
André Boel, Port Moody’s manager of planning and development, said the visual impact of the site will be dampened by wrapping the 1.8-metre chain-link fence that will surround it, which would become a public art display, perhaps of large photos submitted by local artists.
In his report to council, Boel suggested the cost of the artwork, as well as printing and installing the wrap, could be shared by the permit’s applicant and $1,500 from the city’s artwork reserve fund but Mayor Rob Vagramov questioned that strategy.
“Why spend city money on artwork?” he said as council approved an amendment to require the applicant to pay the full cost for the art installation. “If we’re going to be fencing off and screening something, I would consider that a basic consideration that there be artwork and we should expect that from the applicant.”
Boel said while the site will have to be graded and a driveway built for access from Ioco Road, he anticipated disruption to the flow of traffic and residents in nearby Suter Brook village will be minimal. He also said the city will work with the applicant to ensure the site stays tidy and the storage of construction waste will not be permitted, adding construction is expected to start “soon.”
