Tri-City residents have until Wednesday to give feedback on a proposed land-use change by the Port of Vancouver for its newly acquired property in Port Coquitlam.
Last fall, the authority bought the 17.65-acre parcel at 1305 and 1375 Kingsway Ave., by the Mary Hill bypass, that’s currently designated as “heavy industrial.”
Now, it wants to change the site use to “industrial” — that is, for light- and heavy-industrial activities — though there are no plans at this time for future development.
“This designation is the most appropriate for the property’s existing and future use,” said Port spokesperson Danielle Jang in an email to The Tri-City News today (Thursday).
The public consultation on the PoCo property comes as the Port of Vancouver also seeks redesignations for six other sites it has snapped up over the past year, in the district of North Vancouver, Delta, Richmond and Surrey.
The listed price for the PoCo site was about $39.9 million, according to a report by Avison Young, and it was previously occupied by Canada Drayage, a transport company, and Consolidated Fastfrate Inc.
In June, the city’s smart growth committee received an information report about the Port’s plans; the authority also held an open house June 28 at the PoCo Inn and Suites Hotel.
“Our focus is on protecting what industrial land is left in the Lower Mainland because studies show the region is going to run out of trade-enabling land within the next decade,” said Tom Corsie, vice president of real estate at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, in a news release. “Our trade-enabling land strategy includes advocating for industrial land protection, acquiring industrial land to meet the needs of growing Canadian trade and maximizing the use of our existing port lands.”
The outreach comes four years after the agency updated its land-use plan, a vision for the use of port lands and waters for the next 20 years. Any changes to that plan require public consultation and adoption by the board of directors, as required under the Canada Marine Act.
To give feedback by Aug. 15, visit porttalk.ca/landuseplan, email landuseplan@portvancouver.com or call 604-665-9092.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
