A consortium of property owners, builders and developers is hopeful Port Moody council can come together the same way they did so a massive redevelopment of the city’s commercial core can move closer to realization.
Rob Blackwell, the executive vice-president of development for Anthem Properties, said a decision by council Saturday at an extraordinary meeting of its committee of the whole to work out its desires for the project in a workshop before bringing them to the public — and the consortium — for further consultation will be more constructive than dropping a series of bullet-point demands and suggestions.
Blackwell said a motion introduced by Mayor Rob Vagramov at the Jan. 21 committee of the whole meeting that outlined several requests of the consortium to scale back and alter elements of the master plan for the neighbourhood next to the Moody Centre SkyTrain station threatened to derail the project.
“The best way to work through things is through face-to-face discussion,” Blackwell said. “That’s how things get done, working towards a common, thoughtful priority list.”
Among the requests in Vagramov’s motion, which he called “non-binding,” were: a call to scale back the project’s density; a reduction of the number of towers to be built as well as their height; a “significant” increase in the market rental and non-market rental components; more green space; and more emphasis on creating “high-value” employment opportunities.
Blackwell said some of the requests in the motion would make the project economically unfeasible without the dense residential component of about 3,800 homes on the 23-acre site.
The consortium’s proposal anticipates about $125 million in amenities to the city, including: a pedestrian bridge linking the neighbourhood to Rocky Point Park; the daylighting of Slaughterhouse/Dallas creek to Murray Street across from the park; more than 400 affordable housing units; the transformation of Spring Street into a commercial “high street;” improved cycling and pedestrian infrastructure; and jobs for about 1,400 people, of which more than half could be in the education and high-tech sectors, if early discussions with post-secondary institutions like Simon Fraser University bear fruit.
Blackwell conceded the project is a tough sell that appeared nearer impossible when the Jan. 21 meeting adjourned abruptly after a protracted and often-acrimonious debate amongst councillors.
But just as the consortium of large developers and small, individual property owners was able to come together over nearly two years of discussion that also involved city staff, Blackwell said he’s hopeful council can sort through its differences and reach a consensus his group can work with.
“We think council needs to agree what their direction is," he said, adding his group held an open house Tuesday to update residents on its plans and will host another on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the gym at Moody elementary school.
Blackwell said ultimately the process is about finding a vision that all parties share.
“What everybody wants to do is create something for the future that everybody is proud of,” he said. “Getting there can be a difficult journey.”
