The Editor,
Re. "Port Moody OCP on display" (The Tri-City News, Nov. 13).
A friendly reminder is in order respecting Mayor Mike Clay's comments last week that Port Moody's draft official community plan has "too little density at the Moody Centre SkyTrain station and too much density at the western end of town."
Having sat in initial stakeholder meetings and participated in most of the public consultations, I remember being told by the Evergreen Line executive project director Dave Duncan and the engineers and community relations staff, in response to the many public questions for justification of a Moody Centre station location, that it would not require too much density around it.
We were told that ridership at the Moody Centre station was a longer term consideration and that ridership numbers weren't required because in the short- to mid-term, it would serve as a transit hub, with many riders arriving from afar by bus and West Coast Express.
At the same time, survey after survey has shown that folks in west Port Moody have been shortchanged for the density they need to support both existing businesses in the adjacent heritage district as well as key amenities such as grocery and drug stores that they lack for their daily requirements.
The city has known about these shortcomings since before it commissioned the gap analysis more than a decade ago, so now there should be full support to proceed with an OCP that offers some hope and relief for the past neglect.
John Grasty, Port Moody
