The Editor,
The city of Port Moody included a community opinion question on the ballot for Saturday’s election. Council wants to know if the public agrees with the “proposed sale, partial sale or lease of the former fire hall and existing works yard sites to pay for community improvements.” I agree with the concept but will vote No. Here’s why.
Location and size are key issues. The closer land is to a SkyTrain station, the more valuable it is. The city owns a large portion of the parking lot at the Moody Centre Station — 2.4 acres that is literally at the SkyTrain’s doorstep. The former Fire Hall and Works Yard sites are 400 m from Inlet Centre Station. The city land at Moody Centre is larger than either the fire hall or works yard sites. A larger site closer to SkyTrain provides more flexibility in terms of design, access points and open space.
There is a good reason lands along Burrard Inlet, from Old Orchard Park to Rocky Point Park, have been reserved for civic purposes. These lands are now parks, sports fields, pathways and civic facilities, all connected by the Shoreline Trail. Other cities can only dream of owning as much contiguous shoreline land as Port Moody.
Since the idea is to leverage private development to fund civic amenities, the city land at the Moody Centre Station is ideally suited. That site is surrounded by private properties ripe for re-investment along St. Johns and Spring Streets. We are told 16 land owners are eager to develop the area.
My aim with this letter is to support council’s idea: to leverage the value of city land to build civic amenities that meet our growing community’s needs. Investing in a civic building and/or seniors’ housing on the fire hall and works yard site makes sense. I applaud council for tackling this. But selling the fire hall site is not a wise choice when there is a much larger parcel next to Moody Centre Station.
Leveraging land to raise money for public amenities makes ample sense. What makes no sense is to carve out a key piece from one of the most important land assembly success stories in the Lower Mainland. Public lands along our shoreline should remain public. While I support using land as an asset, I encourage Port Moody residents to vote No to the specific question about selling or leasing the former fire hall and works yard sites.
Gaetan Royer, Port Moody
