About 35 more parking spots will open this month in downtown Port Coquitlam to ease the parking crunch around the Port Coquitlam recreation complex rebuild.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the city’s committee of council voted to spend $20,000 to construct — and maintain over two years — a temporary gravel parking lot at 2266 Wilson Ave., a grassy city-owned property where the former public health building used to be.
The money for the new lot will come out of the city’s parking reserve, which currently has about $2.3 million, according to a staff report. No trees will be cut for the parking lot and a buffer will be planted on the east side, to protect the Donald Street pathway.
The move for a new lot comes in response to a growing number of complaints by neighbours, tradespeople, facility and library users and public transit commuters upset about the lack of places to park since the $132-million project began.
Mayor Brad West said he, too, has found it tough to find parking in the downtown core recently. “The parking has really now become an issue,” he told the committee, adding, “We are trying to make life as easy as possible for people using the facility.”
Last month, parks and recreation director Lori Bowie, the rec centre liaison for council, acknowledged the parking challenges but said bylaw staff have been as “flexible” as they can given the constraints around the construction zones.
Still, over the past year, the municipality has issued 90 tickets related to parking violations in the area.
Meanwhile, city managers are now working with design-builder Ventana to see if the site of the current Terry Fox Library could also be turned into a temporary parking lot once that building is demolished later this year; more parking relief may also come if TransLink allows the city to use its West Coast Express station parking lot after hours.
The city plans to open two new ice rinks as well as the new Terry Fox Library, in the 205,000-sq. ft. building, later this summer or in early fall while the multi-purpose rooms are set for a later fall opening; the leisure pool and fitness centre is scheduled for a year-end or early 2020 launch.
The new rec centre is being funded in part by a $12.5-million federal government grant; the $25 annual parcel tax levied against PoCo property owners will end next year.
• Visit portcoquitlam.ca/reccentre for up-to-date information about the construction.
In other PoCo news:
A 4,000-sq. ft spray park will open in August in one of Port Coquitlam’s biggest parks.
Construction on the $375,000 project, which also includes other improvements at Castle Park, will begin this month.
The spray park will be located near the washroom building on the north side of the 27-acre green space in the Citadel Heights neighbourhood.
No work will take place on July 1 for the city’s Canada Day celebrations.
The work is being funded through the capital reserve account and development fees.
