Future development of the Ioco lands raises important issues for the region and it's not just the loss of tax- and job-generating industrial lands that is a concern.
Whether the large swath of land in Port Moody and Anmore is kept industrial or converted to residential use, it's important to understand there are many concerns about access, transportation, services, infrastructure and the environment, and any development there will have a huge impact on The Tri-Cities and the entire region.
Last Friday, Metro Vancouver directors gave initial approval to making the area a special study area, permitting a lower voting threshold at the Metro board if a change to the land-use designation is required.
Now, it's up to the city of Port Moody - and the village of Anmore, where 150 acres of the 232-acre Ioco property is located - to work together to make sure any development is sustainable within the larger community.
Although we are some time away from knowing the specifics of what will be proposed for the site, it's fair to say that the development will transform that corner of the region. Currently, Imperial Oil is seeking interested parties to buy the land and development. So far, the idea is to build a mix of single-family and low-density multi-family housing. But how many families would move in, how many cars would drive in and out of that rural road system daily for school, work and recreation?
Probably a lot, and it's hard to believe any master-planned community that far away from the core of services in PoMo and Coquitlam town centres will be well-served by transit.
And what about schools? Coquitlam has already seen what it's like to build a master-planned community without schools. Guess what? Build it and kids will come. Anmore elementary is not large enough to take the numbers of kids that could move in to the area and taxpayers aren't going to put up with more (free) busing to other schools.
It's reasonable for PoMo to want fewer hurdles to planning for an area that has long been considered for future residential development. But with that power comes the responsibility for ensuring that the property is developed both sustainably and affordably.
