Coquitlam council wants the brakes tapped on prospective plans for a massive makeover of Coquitlam Centre until its own city centre neighbourhood plan is completed.
Morguard Investments has begun collecting feedback for the first phase of its project, as well as the huge project’s long-term possibilities, with an open house earlier this week and an “engagement centre” in the mall.
Mayor Richard Stewart, however, admonished Morguard representatives appearing before council-in-committee Monday for presenting its Phase 1 plans for nine towers on 16 acres in the northeast corner of the nearly 60-acre site to council at the same time they were shown to the public.
“Try to keep us in the loop as much as possible,” said Stewart, who pointed out the city is just in the early stages of developing its city centre plan for not only the mall site but the surrounding area as well.
“From a planning perspective, we want the public to offer their opinions of what they see for the centre of their downtown. I think we might have got off on the wrong foot, so let’s back up and see what the neighbourhood plan is that still has to come to fruition.
“I urge you to work closely with council and staff so that we have everyone on the same page.”
Geoff Nagle, Morguard’s director of development for Western Canada, told council, “We are here to work with yourselves, we’re not coming in here with pre-set plans. We fully expect this to be a catalyst to your downtown.”
In an interview following the session, Nagle said the timing for the planning is always going to be a negotiation.
“We think we’re in complete alignment with the overall intention of the city centre plan and the densification of the urban core of the city,” said Nagle.
Morguard, which represents the owners Pensionfund Realty Ltd., is calling the master plan project Coquitlam Centre Unlimited because of the property’s unlimited potential, said Nagle and Margaret Knowles, Morguard senior vice president of development. But Stewart thinks the name gives the impression Morguard will have the ability to do whatever it wants, which he objected to “because we intend to put some limits” to the project.
“We’ve seen the success of that shopping centre and what’s built around it,” said Stewart. “I want to make sure our residents are coming along with us, and not the alternative. I recognize the semantics here, and the meaning you want to attribute to it, [but does the public understand that?]”
Several councillors echoed Stewart’s sentiments about premature plan presentation especially when it comes to determining traffic pattern changes and future retail. Some also emphasized Morguard should include office space in addition to residential and retail, especially since the mall is serviced by the Lincoln SkyTrain station.
Coun. Dennis Marsden said he envisions in the long-term more people getting off SkyTrain during the morning rush hour to work than getting on to commute to jobs elsewhere.
“We manage a lot of office space across the country, and it’s tough. Office development is tough,” said Nagle. “We need to attract that office user to Coquitlam.”
But Coun. Chris Wilson thinks if they build it they will come.
“We totally believe office can be viable to anybody that builds it,” said Wilson. “Office leads to more sales of condos.
“Morguard is in the best position to build office because you can build all the ancillary parts that go with it … Please let us know what you want us to do to make those things [office, hotel] happen in this area.”
Morguard expects it will take up to 60 years to complete the project. It isn’t in a hurry, said Knowles, because the mall has seen a 6.6% sales productivity increase.
“Unlike many centres today that are undergoing changes, Coquitlam Centre is doing better than ever,” said Knowles.
Despite that growth, moving ahead with the first phase has been spurred by the closure of the Sears store in the northeast section of the mall.
“We think it’s a great transition piece to what we’re looking for,” said Nagle of Phase 1.
• The engagement centre on the second floor of the Best Buy wing will be open until Saturday. Nagle said about 250 to 300 people have dropped into the storefront to give their feedback since it opened Dec. 6. An online survey can also be filled out at coquitlamcentreunlimited.ca.
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