Tag: development

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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Review says traffic impact of massive Anmore development proposal underestimated

An independent review says a technical study commissioned by developer Icona Properties underestimates the impact the company’s proposal to build 2,200 new homes on 150 acres of property it owns in south Anmore will have on traffic along Ioco and East roads.

The study, by Vancouver-based Bunt & Associates, is one of several technical reports recently submitted by Icona as part of its application for amendments to Anmore’s official community plan (OCP) bylaw that would be required for the project, that could triple the village’s population, to proceed.

Alon Weinberger, the founder and principal of Port Coquitlam transportation engineering company Evolve, said Icona’s development proposal could generate up to 1,328 vehicle trips during peak hours on weekday afternoons. That compares to an estimate of 750-850 new vehicle trips in the Bunt & Associates’ study.

Weinberger completed his review on behalf of the Anmore Neighbours Community Association that was recently formed to reflect “a desire for residents to have a clear, coordinated voice” in the future of the village. The group is hosting its own town hall about Icona’s development proposal on Thursday, May 8, from 6 to 8 p.m., at Anmore Elementary School (30 Elementary Rd.).

Weinberger said Bunt’s study also doesn’t account for high traffic volumes on warm summer weekends when visitors flock to Buntzen Lake and Belcarra Regional Park nor does it consider the increased number of cars using East Road on weekday afternoons when parents pick up their kids from Eagle Mountain Middle and Heritage Woods Secondary schools at Anmore’s border with Port Moody.

Active transportation options unrealistic

Weinberger said an assumption by Bunt’s report that some of the increased traffic generated by Icona’s proposed development could be eased with better active transportation options is overly optimistic.

Weinberger said while Bunt’s study claims peak weekend traffic volumes along Bedwell Bay Road occur in the fall, a previous count completed in 2020 for the City of Port Moody and Metro Vancouver indicates the connector from Ioco Road to Belcarra Regional Park and Sunnyside Road on to Buntzen Lake is busiest on Saturdays and Sundays in June, July and August, with as many as 11,700 vehicles travelling between Crystal Creek Drive and White Pine Beach Road on August Sundays. The count was part of a study examining congestion, parking violations and safety concerns along the narrow, winding route.

A report presented to Port Moody council in June, 2022, recommended construction of a separated multi-use path along one side of Bedwell Bay Road and First Avenue, converting the intersection at White Pine Beach into a mini-roundabout as well as the implementation of a small on-street parking area with pedestrian access to the floatwalk across Sasamat Lake and dedicated parking for emergency vehicles.

According to the report, the improvements would cost about $10 million. They’ve yet to be built.

In his review, Weinberger said the lack of safe pedestrian facilities, Anmore’s hilly topography and size, along with the village’s remoteness and absence of street lighting make it unlikely active transportation options would mitigate vehicle use by much.

“I do not agree that any vehicle trip reduction made for active transportation will be achievable in Anmore,” he said, adding a small reduction of about 10 per cent might occur as some residents stay local to take advantage of amenities like a small commercial strip and new recreation centre that are part of Icona’s development proposal.

Roads not used equally

Weinberger said the traffic report submitted by Icona also assumes an equal distribution of vehicles using Ioco and East roads to get to and from Anmore.

But with the former the most direct and quickest route to Port Moody’s services, shopping and mass transit connections, that’s also largely free of stop signs and speed bumps, Weinberger said a 75-25 split at peak hours is more realistic.

“East Road provides the best access to the middle and high schools, as well as destinations in the northeast area of Coquitlam, but is a slower route from the development to Port Moody,” Weinberger said, adding the eastern-most route is busiest during the school pick-up period between 2-3 p.m. on weekdays and would only get busier as Anmore’s population grows.

In his review, Weinberger said evacuation procedures should also be examined in a separate traffic impact assessment as the forested environs of Anmore, Belcarra, Sasamat and Buntzen lakes are “prone to wildfires with very limited access.”

The village hosted an open house on April 24 to give Anmore residents a chance to review the latest iteration of Icona’s development proposal, as well as its accompanying technical studies on traffic, water and sewage infrastructure, environmental and economic impacts.

A community survey on the development’s preferred land use components is also open to residents until May 4.

May 26 public hearing

A public hearing is scheduled for May 26 and could be extended to the following night if there’s demand, prior to council’s consideration of third reading of the OCP bylaw amendments.

But one Anmore councillor criticized the timeline when it was adopted on April 1.

Doug Richardson said it seemed needlessly accelerated, especially as Icona’s technical reports weren’t available for public scrutiny until days later.

“If this takes until December, who cares,” he said.

A request by Port Moody for more time to conduct its own review of the technical reports was also rebuffed by a majority of members on Anmore council.

“I’ve always said we look forward to broader regional development, but what about hearing from Port Moody about the traffic impacts to Anmore of its development,” said Anmore Mayor John McEwen, adding representatives from the neighbouring community were free to attend the open house or provide an official response during the public hearing.

Added Coun. Kim Trowbridge of Port Moody’s request, “They seem to be getting overly involved in Anmore’s business.”

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What caused concrete shoring wall to collapse at a Coquitlam construction site?

This story is an amalgam of stories that appeared on consecutive days in December, 2023, after the collapse of a shoring wall at a Coquitlam construction site was caught on video and posted to social media.

An engineering professor says insufficient engineering or sloppy workmanship could have been responsible for the collapse of a temporary shoring wall at a Coquitlam construction site.

But the company building the 41-storey condo project at the corner of Foster Avenue and North Road says it followed proper protocols.

Nobody was injured when the wall cracked and gave way last Wednesday, Nov. 29, sending a torrent of soil and rock cascading into the deep excavation.

Dr. Perry Adebar, a professor of structural engineering at UBC’s department of civil engineering, said he noted the lack of a welded wire mesh that’s used to reinforce such temporary walls when he viewed a video of the failure that was captured by a witness and posted to social media the next day.

Adebar said the shotcrete, which is a form of concrete that’s sprayed into place, may also have been too thin or applied poorly.

Shoring walls are common

Adebar added temporary shoring walls are common at large excavations as they prevent the soil on the sides from collapsing inward.

Stepan Vdovine, the vice-president of executive operations for Vancouver-based developer Amacon, said the shotcrete was supported by a standard eight—guage wire mesh.

He said all the work at the site was done “with appropriate permits, consistent oversight and monitoring,” adding, “the contractors on this project are some of the most experiences trades and engineers in the regions who oversee the vast majority of large scale residential projects.”

Adebar said shoring walls are typically built in stages.

“You excavate a certain depth hole with straight sides and then you work off the ground within the hole to build the shoring walls around the sides of the excavation,” he said.

“Then, you excavate further and repeat. Eventually you have a deep excavation.”

Soil anchors drilled into walls

Adebar said the shoring wall is stabilized by soil anchors, known as “tiebacks” or “soil nails,” that are drilled into the sides of the excavation.

Adebar said a light wire mesh is used to keep the sprayed shotcrete in place against the soil while it’s still wet and steel plates anchor the tiebacks to the shotcrete. He said the apparent lack of such a mesh allowed chunks of concrete to peel off the wall, releasing a large amount of soil into the excavation.

Adebar said at the end of the video, the visible tiebacks still seem to in place, so it’s unlikely the collapse is a result of their failure. He said observations of the first cracks in the wall by workers who were onsite that day may provide clues why it broke away.

WorkSafeBC said its officers attended the site and are conducting an investigation.

Last Friday, Dec. 1, the city of Coquitlam said it’s also requiring the developer hire a third-party geotechnical engineer to supervise repairs.

No more nightly repairs

Monday, the city announced those repairs would no longer continue through the night, although Foster Avenue remains closed between North Road and Whiting Way to allow heavy trucks and equipment to come and go. The 157 transit bus has also been rerouted.

Further alerts for local residents are being posted to a special website the city has launched.

Doug Vance, Coquitlam’s building permits manager, said the city relies on developers to take the lead on issues related to their construction sites.

As well, the construction of temporary shoring walls is not regulated by the BC Building Code.

Engineers and Geoscientists BC (EGBC), the profession’s regulatory body in the province, said it sets standards for the ethical conduct and practices of professional engineers, geoscientists and engineering companies.

If an investigation determines those standards have not been met, said EGBC spokesperson Megan Archibald, the regulator could take action through its own investigation and discipline process.

Sanctions can include suspension of an engineer’s EGBC registration that allows them to practice in the province, a requirement to complete educational courses and a review of their professional practice. Egregious violations can be punished with outright cancellation of EGBC registration along with fines.

UBC’s Adebar said as repairs continue at the site, a geotechnical engineer will be able to estimate how much additional movement of soil could occur and how that might impact nearby properties.

On Friday, city works crews were called in to stop water leaks at the site.

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Massive Anmore development proposal sparks tensions

When I returned to the Tri-City News in 2017, I was assigned to cover civic affairs in Port Moody, with occasional dips into the neighbouring villages of Anmore and Belcarra. They’re the three smallest communities in our coverage area. But they’ve proved to be anything but sleepy.
For four years, Port Moody was governed by a mayor under the cloud of a sexual assault charge. There was a raw sewage crisis on the grounds of a school at the border between Port Moody and Anmore. Development pressures have sparked division.
And now, in the twilight of our publication, a war of words is percolating.
This story first appeared in the Tri-City News.

A request by Port Moody for more time to comment on a massive development proposal in Anmore has drawn a sharp rebuke from the village’s mayor.

John McEwen said the village has already gone above and beyond by extending an invitation to its municipal neighbour to provide input on a proposal by Icona Properties to build 2,200 new homes on a 150-acre property the company owns at the corner of 1st Avenue and Sunnyside Road. 

He said similar consideration wasn’t extended to Anmore when Port Moody made the decision in 2020 to remove the David Avenue right-of-way through Bert Flinn Park, eliminating the possibility of building a third road connection to the village.

As well, McEwen said, the city has never asked Anmore about the potential impacts to its traffic from several new developments near the Moody Centre and Inlet Centre SkyTrain stations that could bring more visitors to təmtəmíxʷtən/Belcarra Regional Park and the Buntzen Lake recreational area.

“I’ve always said we look forward to broader regional development, but what about hearing from Port Moody about the traffic impacts to Anmore of its development?”

In a letter dated March 26, Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti said city staff hadn’t yet had a chance to review several technical studies examining the proposed development’s impact on traffic, transportation infrastructure, sewer and storm water systems as well as surrounding watersheds and ecosystems so they could provide comment by Anmore’s March 26 deadline.

She then highlighted several areas of potential concern the city has about the development proposal, including:

  • the need for a new agreement to connect the new development as well as the rest of Anmore to the regional sewer system that currently ends in Port Moody
  • clarification on how the new development will receive water and potential impacts on a 2018 agreement that connects Anmore to the city’s water system
  • traffic congestion on Ioco and East roads and the possible effects on Port Moody master transportation plan to reduce the dependence on cars to get around
  • impact to environmentally sensitive areas, fish habitats, wetlands, wildlife corridors as well as neighbouring steams and forests

In February, Anmore council approved an engagement plan for Icona’s proposal. It includes consultation with neighbouring communities, First Nations, TransLink, Metro Vancouver, Fraser Health, BC Ambulance, RCMP, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, as well as village residents.

Planning consultant Tim Savoie, who recently retired as Port Moody’s longtime city manager, said it’s still early days for such consultations and all interested parties will have several opportunities to provide “detailed technical analysis.” 

Savoie said the majority of the technical studies have been submitted to village staff and are currently being reviewed before being made publicly available.

He added Port Moody is welcome to attend future open houses about the development proposal as well as provide official responses during a public hearing or during referral to Metro Vancouver should it get that far.

“It’s just one of the first opportunities to provide comment.”

McEwen said Lahti’s letter pretty much made Port Moody’s feelings about Icona’s development proposal be known already.

“I’ve never seen a letter of this detail.”

Anmore Couns. Kim Trowbridge and Polly Krier agreed.

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

“We can’t let another municipality drive our decisions,” added Krier. “It’s important for us to stay in our lane and a neighbouring municipality stay in their lane.”

But Coun. Doug Richardson, whose motion to grant Port Moody the 60-day extension didn’t even get a seconder, said it’s important the communities remain “good neighbours,” adding the city will likely feel the greatest impact should the village eventually decide to let Icona’s development proposal proceed.

Anmore council then voted to receive Lahti’s letter for information.

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