Coquitlam city staff are looking at ways of limiting the size of retaining walls developers are allowed to build as home construction on Burke Mountain moves into steeper terrain.
With the hilly slopes in the area, staff forecast that some new developments may require walls as high as 12 to 14 m, which could hurt the visual attractiveness of the neighbourhood, according to a report.
“Frequently, the solution is to go to extensive and fairly high retaining walls,” said Jim McIntyre, the city’s director of development services. “In some areas, these retaining walls are quite obvious and significant in height.”
Residents have already been complaining about recently built retaining walls in the Partington Creek area and staff said they are working with land owners to find alternatives for future projects.
In the long term, guidelines for steep-slope development will likely be needed along with bylaw changes to increase city oversight for hillside construction.
McIntyre added that the ownership and maintenance of the retaining walls is something staff will also consider as they examine regulation changes.
“Some of the land may be undevelopable,” Coun. Mae Reid said. “I think that is one of the realities we may have to come to.”
Other councillors expressed frustration with the fact that some of the larger retaining walls have already been built on Burke. During a council-in-committee meeting on Monday, Coun. Chris Wilson asked staff why some recent projects with high barriers were approved.
City manager Peter Steblin said while staff takes some of the responsibility, he put part of the blame on the developers.
“It is not just our responsibility to deal with that,” he said. “It is the applicant.”
Currently, development is not permitted on sites with grades of 35% or more.
There is also a height limit for retaining walls of 1.2 m but that does not apply when retaining walls are part of a planned subdivision application, something staff called a “policy gap” it intends to fix with new regulations.
Mayor Richard Stewart said developers need to do a better job of taking the steep-slope environment into account when designing their projects. He noted that mountainside homes cannot be built in the same manor as developments in flatter parts of Coquitlam.
“It is more than just problematic,” he said. “Developers wanting a flat lot is something we should almost prohibit [on a mountain].”
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