A plan to build a community on Coquitlam's Burke Mountain - the same size as Pitt Meadows - will be considered for first bylaw reading within the next month.
At Monday's council-in-committee meeting, city managers presented the final draft document for Partington Creek, a neighbourhood on the eastern side of Burke that, when built out, is expected to accommodate up to 15,000 new residents.
The 595 acres will also be the commercial and recreational hub for the mountain.
Jim McIntyre, Coquitlam's general manager of planning and development, said there have been some refinements to the Partington plan since December following public consultations, including an open house in February that drew 236 people.
Among the feedback gathered included concerns about the location of Star Creek Park, a 3.7-acre site in the centre of Partington that has now shrunk in the draft plan to a 2.2-acre rectangular park with surrounding townhouses.
Last week, the five owners whose property lands on Star Creek Park (one on Pollard Street and four along Upper Victoria Drive) requested council defer the Partington plan until the issues were resolved, city planner Ryan Perry told the committee.
But councillors said big, open green spaces are required on Burke - and especially in Partington, where the terrain is sloped and there are few flat sites.
Coun. Brent Asmundson, a Burke resident, said density will be tight in Partington as most residents will live in multi-family homes. "They won't have back yards," he said.
Coun. Craig Hodge, also a Burke homeowner, said council has to look at the needs of current and future residents who will expect amenities close by.
Hodge said he'd also like to have more "green streets" - a common front lawn - for Partington homeowners like the one on Watkins Avenue, in Upper Hyde Creek.
And he'd like the city to reconfigure on-street parking to avoid the jams now happening in the neighbourhoods of Upper and Lower Hyde Creeks, and Smiling Creek (secondary suites are allowed in Burke single-family homes that don't have a covenant).
Asmundson said the city has made "some mistakes" in planning the three neighbourhoods, specifically with parking and driveway let-downs; however, he was pleased to see Partington will have wider streets that will improve traffic flows.
Meanwhile, the draft plan also calls for more density in Baycrest - an area where residents had previously resisted multi-family units - as well as bear corridors. Partington, which has agricultural land to the south and fish-spawning streams, will have better provisions for garbage and recycling pick-up to prevent human/bear conflicts, the committee heard.
Mayor Richard Stewart also asked city staff to rename Upper Victoria Drive, which he said will be confusing as the area grows, while Coun. Mae Reid pressed to meet with School District 43 officials to designate the three elementary and a middle school sites.
The committee unanimously passed the draft Partington plan following a 90-minute discussion (councillors Linda Reimer and Selina Robinson were absent); city council is expected to consider first bylaw reading in early June with a public hearing scheduled before the summer break, McIntyre said.
When built out over the next 20 years, Burke Mountain is expected to have 20,000 more residents. For more information on the Partington plan, visit www.coquitlam.ca/partington.
