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Port Coquitlam council sides with developer

Don't go with planning department recommendation to cut driveways in proposed townhouse complex in half
Mosaic development
An overhead artist rendering of Mosaic Home's proposed 37-unit townhouse complex on Raleigh Street in Port Coquitlam.

Port Coquitlam council has sided with a developer against the recommendation of city planners about the number of driveways a proposed project will be allowed to have.

Mosaic Homes wants to build 37 townhouse units on Raleigh Street at Gail Avenue, just north of Lougheed Highway. Although the townhouses facing Raleigh will have underground parking, Mosaic proposes the 18 on the east side have their own at-grade garages with space to park a second vehicle on the outdoor apron.

A planning department report said having 20 driveways along the lane, including one to the underground parkade and another to the visitor parking lot, would create interruptions to traffic flow and increase the risk of a collision in the lane, which is used by other residents of Raleigh and Lancaster streets.

City staff suggested Mosaic purchase the lane and make it private or, alternately, reduce the number of driveways from 18 to nine and make changes to the site design to increase underground parking.

In a July 3 letter to the city, Mosaic vice president of development Luciano Zago wrote that it would be in the best interests of both Mosaic and PoCo for the city to retain ownership of the lane. He also said cutting the number of driveways in half would “have adverse impacts on urban design, traffic flow and future development in this neighbourhood block.” 

“Staff’s desire to optimize safety is understood, and we are willing to explore other mitigation strategies to provide safe circulation through the lane,” Zago wrote. “Though we have shared and discussed our rationale with staff at great length, we remain divided on the best way forward.”

Zago told councillors at the July 23 committee of council meeting that the laneway units are expected to fetch a lower sales price than the ones that front on Raleigh, and putting the parking for those townhouses underground would increase the price by $90,000 to $100,000 per unit.

“I appreciate where staff is coming from but it is counterintuitive to say it’s safer if they own [the lane] than if we own it,” Coun. Darrell Penner said at the meeting. “All of us are aware what underground parking costs are and to shift this underground, that is going to shift the cost.”

For the parking to go underground, the purchaser of the new home would be the loser, said Coun. Dean Washington. “Someone always pays at the end.”

While the council committee did not include that recommendation, it did approve four other conditions recommended by staff, one of which the city and developer have yet to come to terms on despite lots of discussion.

The city is negotiating with Mosaic to pay for a traffic light to be installed at Raleigh and Lougheed that would deal with the increased traffic to an already busy intersection from the development as well as future ones in the area. Council agreed to the staff recommendation to establish a latecomer agreement requiring future developments to contribute to installation of the traffic signal.

“This area is an absolute mess right now for traffic. Is it really fair to have one developer with a small amount of units having to front the costs when we know there are going to be other developments?” Penner said. “I agree there should be a certain amount from the developer. They should pay their fair share, but it’s all about how we do business in our community.”

ggranger@tricitynews.com