Coquitlam residents with concerns about the proliferation of large, new homes in their neighbourhoods are invited to join the city at an information session next week.
The event will be an opportunity for the public to see the various options that can be adopted to help guide the development of new single-family homes in certain areas of the city, Jim McIntyre, the city's general manager of planning and development, told The Tri-City News.
"We want to get information out there and we wanted to share that with the community," he said, adding that staff "want to hear from folks."
The construction of large homes has been an issue in some parts of Coquitlam, particularly in established areas in the southwest, such as Austin Heights, Burquitlam-Lougheed and Maillardville as well as Ranch Park and Harbour-Chines.
McIntyre acknowledged that it is a difficult issue for some residents, who have expressed concerns that the much larger homes are changing the character and feel of neighbourhoods.
"Hopefully, this will be an opportunity to inform [residents] so they are in a better position to offer other suggestions," he said.
The input from the information session will be compiled and used as staff work on providing recommendations to council on how to approach the large homes issue. McIntyre said he expects a report to be available this month before planning staff begin work on potential zoning amendments during the summer months.
Large homes have been an issue across the Lower Mainland as many people try to maximize the value of their property. For example, Port Moody just adopted new zoning amendments to regulate house height, siting and size.
The changes come nearly a year after residents in the Ioco Road corridor spoke out about "monster homes" that were beginning to overshadow smaller, older homes.
Coquitlam's information session will take place on Tuesday, May 12, between 4 and 8 p.m. at the Centennial Pavilion (629 Poirier Street). For more information go to www.coquitlam.ca/largehomereview.
