Port Moody residents interested in proposed development guidelines for neighbourhoods like the western gateway and Moody Centre should attend Tuesday night's council meeting.
Staff will be presenting the draft official community plan and discussing options for public consultation.
Most of the changes proposed in the draft OCP are in Moody Centre, where the city is pursuing transit-oriented design principles to increase density around the Evergreen Line stations. The vision for areas around the Ioco and Moody Central stations suggests the most significant changes within a 400- and 800-metre radii (or five- to 10-minute walking distance) of the stations, including high-rise towers.
The areas around the stations have been further broken down for detailed analysis into seven sub-groups, with descriptions and concept drawings for: Gateway, Spring Street Promenade, Heritage Commercial District, Murray Street Boulevard, Oceanfront District, Moody Centre and Ioco Station.
Some of the highlights include:
Maximum 12 storeys for mixed-use properties in the 2000-blocks of St. George and St. Johns streets (Gateway)
Improve Spring Street through landscaping, paving options and traffic calming, potential for public open space and encourage integrating Spring Street as part of larger redevelopment projects (Spring Street Promenade)
Protect the heritage district by preserving existing buildings and carefully integrate new development, enhance existing treescape and slow traffic (Heritage Commercial District)
New mixed employment land use designation for Murray Street (south side, between Mary Street and Electronic Avenue), including development of light industrial, commercial, office and residential uses with buildings up to six storeys (Murray Street Boulevard)
Re-connect the waterfront at the Mill & Timber site with the city by creating a mixed use neighbourhood (residential, commercial, marina, light industrial, etc.) using transit-oriented design in a variety of building forms from low to high-rise of up to 28 storeys (Oceanfront District)
High-density mixed-use development within 400 metres of the Moody Centre Evergreen station in a mix of building forms up to 20 storeys (Moody Centre)
Consideration for mid and high rise buildings in Coronation Park (between Balmoral Drive and Guildford Way) of three to 30 storeys on certain lots, multi-family housing up to four storeys in 3300-block of Dewdney Trunk Road and in the 3200-block of St. Johns Street (around Moray Street), mixed-use developments of up to 12 storeys on the north side and up to six storeys on the south side (Ioco Station)
Another change from an earlier OCP draft should please many Newport Village residents, who voiced strong opposition to any significant height increases at the Heritage Mountain Shopping Village.
The latest draft now calls for building heights of no more than four storeys, down from the six that were suggested in an earlier draft.
Public feedback, including open houses and an online comment option, could be scheduled for April, according to the staff report.
To see the full text of the OCP draft, visit http://www.portmoody.ca/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=3627
