A church and banquet hall planned for Port Coquitlam's Dominion Triangle received overwhelming support from the people who spoke during a public hearing on the development Monday night.
Most of the residents who attended the meeting were parishioners with Riverside Community Church, the proponent.
"Our programs have outgrown the size of our building," said Derrick Sanderson, a youth pastor at the church, which is currently located at Lougheed Highway near Coast Meridian. "I'm looking forward to the new facility."
The development breaks up the property at 2220 Fremont St., 579 Nicola Ave. and 570 Dominion Ave. into three parcels.
One area would have a principle church building, including a small book store and a cafe with a maximum of 20 seats.
The second area would hold a commercial banquet facility with a floor area of 9,149 sq. ft. that would be capable of holding up to 600 seats. A third area would be developed by ConWest and contain seven acres of industrial space.
David Earhardt, a parishioner, said the development will not only offer a place of worship for members of the church but a facility the rest of the neighbourhood can enjoy.
"Yes, it is a church," he said, "but we are very committed to the idea of the church being part of the community."
All of the councillors present voted in favour of the development (Mayor Greg Moore recused himself from the proceedings because his wife works for the church and Coun. Dean Washington was not present for the meeting).
Coun. Mike Forrest noted that while the city will not receive the same tax revenues it would have had the land been developed completely as industrial, there are non-monetary benefits that come with the church proposal.
Even with a reduced number of industrial acres, it is estimated that 200 jobs will be created when the development is built out, including the seven acres of industrial land still included.
"It's a balancing act," Forrest said. "It's presented here in some balance and we hope to get some of the outcomes we expect from the [industrial portion of the property]."
Fourth and final reading of the proposal will take place at a future council meeting.
POCO EARNS 1.93%
A sluggish economy and historically low interest rates are being blamed for weak returns from the city of Port Coquitlam's investment portfolio.
In 2012, the city managed a rate of return of 1.93% on the more than $93 million it has invested in term deposits - funds that will eventually be used for future capital projects.
That is slightly higher than the 1.85% return the city received the previous year but is a long way from the 4% to 5% range achieved prior to the recession, according to a report outlining PoCo's investments for 2012 that was brought before the finance and intergovernmental committee on Monday.
But while investment returns have not been great in the last few years, Richard Wells, the city's interim director of corporate services, said the funds are keeping pace with inflation.
"If the inflation rate is going up 2%, we are equal with our purchasing power," he said.
Since 2008, when PoCo's investment returns hovered around the 4% mark, the city's portfolio has not broken 2% per year, hitting an all-time low of just under 1.5% in 2010.
