Port Coquitlam is about to get a nunnery along one of its main streets.
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, the city’s committee of council advanced a development variance permit (DVP) for the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver (RCAV) to build a house at the northwestern corner of Shaughnessy Street and Fraser Avenue for nuns working at Our Lady of the Assumption school and church.
The consolidated property, at 3127 Shaughnessy St., has already been cleared of its two single-family homes.
For the construction, RCAV is asking the city to vary the front yard setbacks and the maximum building depth regulations in the zoning bylaw, as well as the works and services requirements in the parking and development management bylaw.
Similar setbacks are planned for the lands to the south on Fraser Street, where an apartment development is being proposed, wrote Bruce Irvine, PoCo’s director of planning and development, in his report to the committee.
If the RCAV bid is approved by council at its next meeting, off-site works along Shaughnessy and Fraser would be needed, Irvine wrote.
Our Lady of the Assumption School is a co-ed elementary that started in 1982; it serves more than 240 students in kindergarten to Grade 7 under the leadership of its parish priest, Father James Hughes; assistant pastor, Father Babu Mathew; and principal Rosaleen Heffernan.
The school operates under the Catholic Independent Schools of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
