A well-attended town hall meeting on the proposed Fremont connector sent this message to Port Coquitlam city council: Keep it away from Cedar Drive.
For 90 minutes Tuesday evening, area residents lined up at the microphone to voice their opposition to a connector running up Cedar to Burke Mountain in Coquitlam, where 20,000 more residents will move over the next decade.
Cedar Drive is already dangerous, many cautioned, and a connector route would pose an even greater risk if hundreds of extra commuters per hour were to filter from Lougheed Highway and the big-box Dominion Triangle to Burke Mountain.
They spoke about speeders now on Cedar Drive, a road that's used by kids and parents walking to and from the three area schools; some residents also said they have almost had collisions or have seen vehicles in the ditch.
"If I try to do 50 km/h until I get home, I will be honked at the entire way," said Martin Jordanov, a Cedar Drive homeowner and father of two children.
Added a mom: "Walking a stroller and a toddler is dangerous. You are putting lives at risk."
Mayor Greg Moore moderated the meeting and tried to reassure the approximately 300 attendees that council wanted to hear all opinions before it makes a decision on the Fremont route this spring, prior to the start of the review of the official community plan, a document that will guide growth for the next decade.
The city is proposing three possible alignments north of Prairie Avenue to the Coquitlam border: Cedar Drive, Devon Road and under the BC Hydro lines (east of Fremont Street).
The city of Coquitlam wants the latter to link directly with its Fremont Street while the first two options were put on the table last year by PoCo city council.
But as Cedar Drive appears to be an unpopular choice, so is the decision to even have a connector.
Many in the crowd booed when Laura Lee Richard, PoCo's development services director, said Coquitlam wouldn't be paying for the road, which could cost up to $30 million (not factoring in the environmental and expropriation impacts).
"Why are we building roads for Coquitlam?" an attendee asked.
The mayor also took heat from another resident for "not standing up for PoCo."
Moore countered that PoCo is geographically hemmed in by Coquitlam and, as a result, it has "zero control" over Coquitlam's population growth.
"They want to work and shop. Are they just going to use Coast Meridian Road and David Avenue?" Moore asked.
(Coquitlam Coun. Craig Hodge, who was at the town hall, told The Tri-City News later the two cities need to work together to build a regional road network.)
Moore was also grilled over the outdated traffic counts presented at the meeting, which were from two years ago, when the Fremont connector in Dominion Triangle opened. Area streets are busier now, some residents said, especially Burns Road (city staff say both Burns and Cedar will be upgraded over the next few years, at a cost of $2.7 million).
And residents wondered why Fremont would be four lanes south of Prairie and two lanes to the north; staff said the width was based on growth projections.
Still, there were other concerns about the Devon Road option. Located in the Agricultural Land Reserve and noted as a "Special Study Area" in the Regional Growth Strategy for Metro Vancouver - of which Moore is the board chair - Devon doesn't line up with Fremont on the Coquitlam side and, therefore, the connector would be jagged. Attendees complained that route would fragment existing farmland, run into DeBoville Slough tributaries and harm habitat.
The third option - under the power lines, east of Fremont - got little mention.
"I really don't like any route," said an Inverness Street homeowner, calling on the city to hold a referendum. "I don't see any good solution here for any of us."
Moore said council was open to suggestions, not just the options on the table.
The Fremont connector has been on the city's books for years. In 2005, Coun. Mike Forrest moved a motion to have the alignment resolved north of Riverside Drive.
The deadline to have your say on the Fremont connector study is Friday, Feb. 13. You can take an online survey at portcoquitlam.ca/eastfremont.
@jwarrenTC
