Tag: business

Revised Port Moody proposal still poses problems: report

A proposal to construct a six-storey commercial building on the south side of St. Johns Street next to the Spacca Napoli restaurant has now become a mixed-use project that includes 52 residential units with commercial and retail spaces on the ground floor.

But challenges remain.

According to a report by Port Moody senior planner, Dejan Teodorovic, concerns about the viability, height and massing of the project’s previous incarnation after it was reviewed by the city’s advisory design panel, land use committee and council’s committee of the whole, caused the proponent to withdraw their application for zoning amendments and begin anew.

The 52 residential units in the revised version that is also designed by Mara + Natha Architecture, include six affordable apartments that would be available at below-market rents.

But, said Teodorovic in his report, that’s still below the 15 per cent required by Port Moody’s inclusionary zoning policy.

Also, said Teodorovic, the new proposal doesn’t address worries about the future of a mature red oak tree — one of the oldest in the city — at the rear of the property, as well as several other trees that would have to be removed to accommodate construction.

“There is not planned tree retention or room for future mature trees that will mitigate the urban heat island effects and canopy coverage challenges in the St. Johns Street corridor.”

The planner also noted the number of units is a lot to cram onto two single-family lots, “which impact the ability of the development to achieve urban design and livability standards.”

Teodorovic suggested the proponent acquire a third property to lessen the building’s density. The property to the east is currently occupied by a single-family home, while a commercial building with the pizzeria, a butcher shop and the Block 8 Academy child care and education centre is to the west.

Port Moody’s land use committee will get its chance to review the revised application on June 2.

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Port Moody says proposed Anmore development presents ‘significant concerns’

A proposed development that could triple the population of the village of Anmore will have deleterious impacts on Port Moody’s utilities infrastructure, traffic, environment, wildlife, parks and recreation facilities, says the city’s mayor.

Meghan Lahti says a plan by developer Icona Properties to build 2,200 new homes on 150 acres of property the company owns at the corner of 1st Avenue and Sunnyside Road will even increase the risk of a human-caused wildfire by further expanding into the wildland-urban interface.

The draft assessment, to be considered for endorsement by Port Moody council at its meeting on Tuesday, May 27, expands on a preliminary review of Icona’s development proposal sent by Lahti to Anmore at the end of March, along with a request for more time so city staff could thoroughly evaluate several technical studies that weren’t made publicly available until April 10.

While Anmore council agreed to extend its deadline for Port Moody to submit its comments to April 30, several members were irked.

“We can’t let another municipality drive our decisions,” said Coun. Polly Krier.

“They seem to be getting overly involved in Anmore’s business,” added Coun. Kim Trowbridge.

In the latest assessment, that spans 10 pages, Lahti details a number of “significant concerns” with the proposed project, which requires an amendment to Anmore’s official community plan (OCP) along with agreement from Metro Vancouver to expand the region’s urban containment boundary before it can proceed.

More infrastructure for utilities

They include significant expansion of infrastructure like water, sewer and drainage services in Anmore, much of which would have to be built through Port Moody.

But, said Lahti, the village has yet to engage its neighbour to explore how such construction might proceed, where it could occur and how it would be paid for.

“While coordination with the city could be explored if a coordinating or shared project is identified, no such discussions have taken place to date,” Lahti said.

She added Port Moody is currently upgrading water and sewage infrastructure along Ioco Road and any further work to accommodate growth in Anmore would require full resurfacing of the busy roadway.

“If the village is interested in partnering on this infrastructure, time is of the essence.”

Lahti also said an alternate routing of utility services through Bert Flinn Park is a non-starter because of its designation as a park and the risk to environmentally sensitive areas like Mossom Creek.

“Adding an additional 4,500 residents in close proximity to Bert Flinn Park will add pressure on the natural environmental values of this park,” she said.

Strain on road network

Adding so many new residents would also strain the only two roads — Ioco Road and East Road — that connect Anmore to the rest of Metro Vancouver.

Lahti said the routes could only support about 40 per cent of the anticipated traffic the new development would generate without significant upgrades. But physical constraints like topography, property accesses and limited capacity at some intersection make them unfeasible.

Suggestions put forth in the technical reports to ease traffic along the two-lane roadways, like the construction of bus laybys and increasing transit service also aren’t realistic, said Lahti. The former poses safety and livability concerns while Translink hasn’t confirmed any plans for the latter.

A possible private shuttle service operated to link residents of the new development to transit in Port Moody would also have to run all day to be effective, Lahti said.

“Without a realistic and coordinated transportation strategy, the Icona development risks overwhelming the existing network in the area,” she said.

That assessment echoes an independent review of the proposed development’s traffic impacts conducted by Port Coquitlam transportation engineer Alon Weinberger on behalf of the Anmore Neighbours Community Association.

He said vehicle trips during peak hours on weekday afternoons would be almost double the estimate provided in the technical study commissioned by Icona. And the numbers would only increase further on warm summer weekends when visitors from around the region flock to Buntzen Lake and Belcarra Regional Park.

Environment and wildlife also impacted

Lahti said Port Moody’s environment and wildlife would also be negatively impacted by the proposed development, including the water quality of Schoolhouse Creek’s watershed, increased risk of erosion along its banks, decline in forest health because of changes in light availability and fewer trees and a narrowing of wildlife corridors.

As well, Lahti said, Port Moody will bear the pressure of more residents accessing its parks, playgrounds, sports fields and recreational amenities like its pools and arena as the proposed development includes only one park, a 5 km network of greenways for casual users and a 20,000 sq. ft. community centre that likely won’t include a pool or ice surface.

“The future residents will need to leave Anmore to meet these needs,” Lahti said.

As part of its process to consider Icona’s proposal, Anmore also solicited comments from Belcarra, local First Nations, TransLink, Metro Vancouver, Fraser Health, BC Ambulance, RCMP, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and village residents.

Anmore planning consultant Tim Savoie, who recently retired as Port Moody’s city manager, said all interested parties will have more opportunities to provide commentary if the development proposal gets to a public hearing and again if its referred to Metro Vancouver for its approval to expand the urban containment boundary.

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Could Port Moody’s biggest-ever development project get even bigger?

The company building Port Moody’s largest-ever development project wants to make it even bigger.

Dean Johnson, the vice-president of development for Vancouver-based Wesgroup Properties, told council’s city initiatives and planning committee Tuesday, May 20, that it will need to add a seventh residential tower to the six already approved as part of its expansive 14.8-acre Inlet District project in the former Coronation Park neighbourhood.

Johnson said the additional density is required to offset recent changes to rules about development cost charges (DCCs) levied by Metro Vancouver that help pay for regional infrastructure like water, sewers and drainage.

He said those changes will cost the company an additional $30 million for its Inlet District development that currently comprises more than 2,500 new homes in six residential towers up to 31 storeys along with three low-rise buildings, a four-storey office building, as well as a grocery store and daycare facility, all built around a 2.5-acre central park.

“This cost is something we have to deal with in this project,” Johnson said, adding it was unforeseen last July, when Wesgroup achieved final approval from council for the zoning amendments required for the development’s first phase to proceed.

Johnson said if the company can’t build an additional tower, it may have to cut back on some of the project’s amenities to help offset its increased costs. Those include:

  • $6 million towards construction of a new pedestrian overpass across Ioco Road to the Inlet Centre SkyTrain station
  • a 186 sq. m. civic facility for community use
  • $4.8 million of public art
  • more than $8 million in community amenity contributions

Johnson said the seventh tower would be part of a future phase of the project’s construction, which is already underway and is expected to take about 25 years to complete.

Johnson’s preliminary pitch rankled at least one Port Moody councillor.

Haven Lurbiecki said it’s “irresponsible” and accused the developer of “moving the goalposts now.”

At one point during the project’s protracted journey through council’s approval process that commenced when Wesgroup finished acquiring the last of 59 mid-century single-family homes that formerly occupied the site in 2019, the company had hurled a similar charge.

In 2022, Wesgroup’s senior development manager, Evan French, expressed frustration at Port Moody’s implementation of a new inclusionary zoning policy that requires at least 15 per cent of units in dense new developments be affordable rentals shortly after it had received approvals for changes to the city’s official community plan so the project could proceed and just as it was preparing to apply for necessary zoning amendments.

And while those zoning amendments were ultimately passed by council in Dec., 2023, without a requirement for affordable housing units, Wesgroup did provide a letter of intent that it would continue working to secure such a component.

Tuesday, Johnson said those efforts have borne some fruit.

He said a program through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation that provides low-cost financing for the construction of affordable apartments could mean all 288 units in the project’s second tower could become rental apartments, with 20 per cent of them available at below-market rates.

Johnson said Wesgroup had previously tapped into the program for projects it built in other communities like Burnaby and New Westminster.

“We are very familiar with this framework and we’re really excited about bringing this to Port Moody.”

But, Johnson added, time is running short and an endorsement letter from the city would speed the process, a request councillors readily granted.

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The struggle for affordable housing and what it meant when a Coquitlam woman found it

This story was originally published in the Tri-City News Nov. 10, 2024

Frances Stone had never lived in a home that requires a security fob or a building that has an elevator.

Recently, she and her teenage daughter moved into a gleaming two-bedroom-plus-den condo in Anthem Properties’ new SOCO project just off North Road in Coquitlam.

How Stone got there is a study in transformational importance of securing safe, affordable housing.

Stone and her daughter were living in a walk-up rental building in uptown New Westminster when her landlord informed her she needed to move so a family member could move in.

Stone, an addictions counsellor, considered uprooting to Alberta where the provincial government is offering financial incentives to newcomers and rents are much cheaper.

Then a friend told her about a partnership between the Affordable Housing Society and Vancouver-based developer Anthem Properties that would make 18 rental homes in two new condo towers in Coquitlam available at rates geared to tenants’ income.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.(CMHC), that means a tenant pays 30 per cent or less of their gross income for rent.

Secure future

Stone said since moving into her new home in August, it’s the first time in her adult life she’s felt secure about her future.

So much so, Stone said she’s in the final stages of adopting a rescue dog to add to her family, something she’s wanted to do for years but failed to pursue because of her ongoing housing uncertainty.

That’s music to the ears of Stephen Bennett, CEO of the Affordable Housing Society.

He said being able to live in a safe, affordable home impacts every aspect of a person’s life.

“We don’t understand what a lack of choice means for people,” he said. “Because it’s so unaffordable out there, people are stuck.”

Best interests of the community

As municipalities across B.C. strive to attain housing targets recently mandated by the provincial government, they’re also wrestling with the challenge of ensuring those homes can be accessed by a broad spectrum of residents.

“We still have to predicate all of our decisions based on what is in the best interest of our community as a whole,” said Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti about the pressure to approve the construction of more homes.

Bennett said affordability can only be achieved when all levels of government work together to provide necessary funding because the cost of constructing homes has spiralled so high. He said without subsidies and grants from programs through agencies like BC Housing, BC Builds and CMHC, rent for apartments could be as much as $5,000 a month.

‘It can often be a tightrope’

Melissa Howey, Anthem’s vice-president of development, said companies like hers are feeling the pressure as well, as they look to deliver housing stock that meets communities’ needs.

“It is balancing the costs, the availability of density,” she said. “It can often be a tightrope to walk.”

Howey said inflationary pressures and constraints on capital are making that tightrope even tauter.

Inclusionary zoning policies and negotiations for additional density can help spur developers to find creative solutions that will allow them to include affordable units in their projects, but the long process to get approvals means the landscape is always shifting.

“Every municipality operates differently,” Howey said, adding the navigation of those varying procedures comes with more layers of expense.

“It can be a challenge to deliver the other forms of housing in a project at somewhat affordable rates.”

In fact, Anthem recently had to scale back a plan to designate half the 128 units in a rental building its seeking to build in Port Moody to just 13. The company said its original intent proved “financially unviable.”

Complicated process

Bennett said his society is always working to devise new models to help fund affordable units, sometimes pooling financial contributions from several agencies.

But, he said, “to pull all those pieces together is exceedingly complicated and it takes a lot of work.”

Stone said she’s keenly aware of the challenge to provide enough affordable housing.

Prior to losing her apartment in New Westminster, she’d been on the BC Housing waiting list for five years. She said she’d also applied to every co-op in Metro Vancouver but “nothing was available.”

“It was pretty hopeless,” Stone said.

Now that she’s settled in her new home, though, Stone is starting to take advantage of her building’s host of luxurious amenities, like its indoor basketball/badminton court, the games and community room that features a full kitchen, a gym and yoga studio as well as an outdoor garden atop the parkade with seating areas, play structures and several gas barbecues. She said she’s keen to start a podcast that she can record in the building’s special sound room as well.

It’s a lifestyle Stone never imagined for herself.

“I would never have been able to work hard enough to live in a building like this,” she said. “It changes your perception of yourself.”

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‘I took a leap of faith’: From the Coquitlam Express to the Stanley Cup finals

This story originally appeared in the Tri-City News June 4, 2024

A former member of the Coquitlam Express will be part of the Florida Panthers’ effort to win the Stanley Cup when their final series against the Edmonton Oilers begins Saturday, June 8 — by making sure every seat in the team’s Amerant Bank Arena is filled.

But Taralynn Reburn won’t be electrifying the packed house with ice-length rushes or thundering hits on Oilers’ superstar Connor McDavid.

As the Panthers’ vice president of ticket sales and service, Reburn relies on good customer service and building relationships with new fans to help grow hockey culture in South Florida. It’s a tall order in a part of the world where most people’s connection to ice is to keep their margaritas cold.

Fickle market

“This market can be quite fickle,” Reburn said. “Fans traditionally go in the direction of the team who’s winning.”

Fortunately for the BCIT grad who started her career as the director of sales and marketing for the Express from 2009-12, the Panthers have been doing a lot of that; this is the team’s second straight appearance in the Stanley Cup finals and they follow a run of three straight by Florida’s other NHL team, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We’re proving to the NHL that this is a hockey state with competitive teams and we’re a destination franchise that players want to be with,” Reburn said.

Following her stint with the Express, Reburn spent almost two years in sales roles with the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team and more than eight years with the Vancouver Canucks. She said connections she made within the industry led her to Florida in 2022 even though she’d never been there before.

“I took a leap of faith and it has been great ever since,” Reburn said.

It’s also been a lot of work.

Engaging fans

Reburn said engaging fans in Florida requires a constant commitment to make them feel like they’re a valued part of the team’s success with perks like access to the Panthers’ new practice facility in downtown Fort Lauderdale and the organization’s involvement in youth hockey.

“Once people get into the building and see a game for the first time, they’re hooked and love the speed of the game compared to other sports,” she said.

Two consecutive years of Stanley Cup finals has also energized the market, Reburn said.

Panthers’ flags are draped on condo balconies, signs are planted on front lawns, restaurants and bars are tuning in their TV’s to the games.

“There’s a visible increased interest in the team,” Reburn said. “I overhear more conversations in the grocery store now about the Panthers than I ever have before.”

Even though Florida’s opponent is from north of the border, the ex-pat Canadian said she’s all-in to see the Cup remain in America, where it’s been ensconced since 1994.

“I’m 100 per cent Panthers on this one and have even converted a few from the west coast to cheer us on, too,” Reburn said.

But what if the cards had fallen slightly differently and it was her former employer, the Vancouver Canucks, that prevailed in the seventh game of its quarter-final series against the Oilers and then defeated the Dallas Stars?

“I was hoping for a Florida-Vancouver final,” Reburn said. “It would have been an exciting and unique opportunity. It’s just the beginning for this new core of the Canucks and their time will come.”

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‘She will never forget this’: How a mom went to a Coquitlam Express hockey game and ended up at a Taylor Swift concert

This story was originally published in the Tri-City News on Dec. 10, 2024. It proved to be one of the most read of the entire year, generating more then 20,000 page views.

Kylie Wright and her daughter went to a Coquitlam Express hockey game Sunday and ended up at the biggest event to hit Vancouver since the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Wright and eight-year-old Saoirse were the winners of a pair of tickets to Sunday’s final concert of Taylor Swift’s monster Eras tour at BC Place.

Their names were randomly drawn from the 1,450 ticket holders to the game between the Express and the Powell River Kings Sunday afternoon at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.

As well, fans could earn extra opportunities to win by donating $20 to the KidSport Tri-Cities or by winning the Chuck-a-Puck contest that’s held between the second and third periods.

Shortly after the Wrights won, Kylie’s husband picked them up from the arena to get them into Vancouver in time for the concert.

Wright said the whole experience was a thrill, especially as it was the first-ever live concert for Saoirse.

“You made an eight-year-old’s dream come true and she will never forget last night,” she commented on the hockey team’s Facebook page on Monday.

Express general manager Tali Campbell said the promotion that was sponsored by Sussex Insurance was equally exciting for the team.

He said more than 87.5 per cent of the ticket holders to Sunday’s game were new customers and the buzz of fans dressed up, crafting signs and singing to the Taylor Swift music that played during breaks in the play carried all the way to Edmonton where he was with the U14 Coquitlam Hockey Club team for a tournament.

“It was the talk of the arena from teams all across BC and Alberta about the unique promotion we were running,” Campbell said, adding the event also brought in $2,160 for KidSport Tri-Cities.

“As a one-time campaign, this was probably our most successful.”

Swift’s show on Sunday was the last of three sold-out concerts at BC Place and capped the artist’s record-breaking tour that comprised 149 sold-out events spanning five continents over two years.

The Express also ended up winners, 2-1, over the Kings. It was the team’s second straight win after a 4-3 overtime victory over the Chilliwack Chiefs on Saturday

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New Coquitlam hub makes condo shopping a tasty experience

This story was originally scheduled to appear in the Tri-City News

Dinner and a new home?

That unlikely combination for an afternoon or evening out will soon become possible as the developers of a major new project that will eventually comprise 9 towers, including a 27-storey office and hotel building, at the southeaster corner of the Lougheed and Barnet highways launch a new sales centre that includes a restaurant and coffee shop.

The TriCity Pavilion, at 2968 Christmas Way, will feature a sales gallery for Tri-City Central, a new mixed-use development project by Langley-based Marcon and QuadReal Property Group, along with Gigi’s by Ask For Luigi, a high-end Italian restaurant featuring fresh pasta, pizza, Italian wines and cocktails, as well as a new Nemesis coffee shop.

This is Marcon’s third multi-faceted pop-up sales centre and community hub.

In 2022 the developer opened Outpost at 3001 St. Johns St. In Port Moody. It’s sales centre in a strip mall’s parking lot has marketed several projects since, while the adjacent coffee shop offers offers a selection of hot and cold beverages, including craft beers, sandwiches and snacks, as well as showcase space for local products like olive oils from Olive the Best in NewPort Village.

In January, the new Surrey Pavilion featuring a Nemesis coffee shop, opened in the City Centre area.

Marcon’s executive vice-president, Nic Paolella, said the pavilion concept offers a taste of what’s to come in emerging neighbourhoods.

“It’s a living expression of the community we’re building,” he said in a news release.

SUBMITTED
Some of the baked goods that will be available at the Nemesis café in the new TriCity Pavilion in Coquitlam.

Nemesis’ 50-seat Coquitlam location will be its fifth since first opening in Vancouver’s Gastown in 2017.
Founder and CEO, Jess Reno, said it’s an opportunity for the company to bring its “coffee creating culture” to a new, growing city.

“The Tri-Cities is one of Metro Vancouver’s fastest growing regions, and we look forward to working with Marcon once again to bring a new community hub to life with TriCity Pavilion.”

Gigi’s by Ask For Luigi is the first venture in the Metro Vancouver area east of Boundary Road for the Kitchen Table hospitality group that also operates Italian restaurants like Bacaro, Carlino, Di Beppe, as well as Gionvanie Caffé with two locations in Vancouver and another in Toronto, two Mercato di Luigi Italian grocers, and Motoretta gelateria.

SUBMITTED
The interior of the new Gigi’s by Ask For Luigi Italian restaurant that will be part of the TriCity Pavilion and pop-up sales centre in the new TriCity Central project at the southeastern corner of Lougheed and Barnet highways.

Its menu will be designed by culinary director, Chanthy Yen, a former winner on the TV reality show Top Chef Canada, along with head chef Lloyd Taganahan.

“We’re bringing the same heart and hospitality that our Vancouver restaurants are known for to the Tri-Cities,” said Kitchen Table co-founder, Jennifer Rossi.

When Tri-City Central is completed in 10-15 years, it will feature more than 4,000 new condo and rental homes, a park, retail, office and cultural spaces, a childcare facility and possibly a 150-room hotel and conference centre. It will be linked to the nearby Coquitlam Central transit hub by a new pedestrian/cyclist overpass. The project was approved by Coquitlam council in September, 2022.

The TriCity Pavilion is expected to open later this spring, with the sales centre to follow at a later date.

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These competitors on Port Moody’s Brewers Row are joining forces

This story was first published by the Tri-City News

Port Moody’s Brewers Row is getting smaller.

But the number of individual craft breweries will stay the same.

Brave Brewing and Twin Sails are merging. 

The Site B community space and The Fountainhead Network co-working space will also operate under the same umbrella.

Tech entrepreneur Chris Peacock, who’s part of a group that owns Brave and Site B, said the consolidation will to build community through the business partnerships.

“Our reason for being has always been about community and community thrives when the desire to buy, support and say local is paramount,” he said.

Twin Sails’ Clay Allmin said joining forces with Brave is better than the alternative, as the craft brewing industry in British Columbia faces challenges like higher costs and changing consumer tastes. Several breweries have closed in recent years, such as Studio in Burnaby and Broadway in Port Coquitlam, while others like PoCo’s Taylight and Train Wreck on St. Johns Street have changed ownership.

“This consolidation allows us to push forward and scale our ability to offer high quality, locally crafted places and products to our community,” Allmin said.

He added Twin Sails will use Brave’s excess brewing capacity to launch new products while its sales team will be able to help promote and improve distribution of its new sister brewery’s beers.

“This opportunity allows both breweries to get back to their roots of creativity and providing customers a unique experience every time they come to our tasting rooms,” Allmin said.

Mike Arboit, co-founder of The Fountainhead Network, said tightening his alliance with the breweries and the Site B event space with which he shares a warehouse on Murray Street, strengthens the collaborative eco-system he’s been trying to build where work, play and community engagement co-exist and help boost each other.

“This merger will create the time, resources and confidence to grow,” said Arboit, who’s also promoted professional wrestling events at Site B.

The event space was recently granted a three-year extension of its temporary use permit by the City of Port Moody and several members of council said the concept has been such a success hosting gatherings like holiday sales, weightlifting competitions, long-table dinners, wedding receptions and even roller derby, they’d like to see the arrangement made permanent.

Peacock, who co-founded tech start-up Traction Demand that grew to more than 1,000 employees before it was acquired by Salesforce Professional Services, said he’d like to bring the concept to other communities.

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