Port Moody Coun. Rick Glumac wants to see the city's heritage reserve fund reserved for its original purpose: purchasing park land.
At Tuesday's council meeting, he opposed a recommendation to expand the scope of the fund to include the purchase of heritage-related projects and buildings, saying the city needs to focus on expanding its park assets, particularly in Moody Centre, given the anticipated growth in that area over the coming years.
"I'm concerned we may have a situation where the entire amount of the fund goes to strategic land purchases or... to heritage conservation, and those are all good things but then money may not be available for park land," Glumac said.
The original 1995 bylaw was created to set aside 15% of land sales to buy park land. A 2008 amendment increased that amount to 30% and expanded the scope to allow for "strategic land purchases."
Staff suggested the latest amendment to permit the purchase of heritage improvements on the land, such as a heritage house, or other heritage-related purchases.
Coun. Diana Dilworth echoed Glumac's concerns, adding she found it "offensive that we're basically mutating the bylaw that was put in place specifically for land acquisition."
She said adding heritage building purchases dilutes the original intent of the bylaw.
The fund has gone from $220,000 up to about $3 million in 2010; it now has about $1.9 million.
Council approved first three readings of the recommendation in a 4-2 vote, with Dilworth and Glumac voting against it (Coun. Bob Elliott was absent).
