Is the David Avenue Connector dead? Village of Anmore seeks meeting with Minister of Transportation over controversial roadway

The Village of Anmore does not appear to be giving up on a connector road through Bert Flinn Park just yet.

The Union of BC Municipalities is holding its annual convention in September and Anmore’s council will be requesting a meeting with Minister of Transportation Rob Fleming on the issue.

Coun. Paul Weverink put forward the request at Anmore’s June 4 meeting, to talk about “access from community to community, and a community’s ability to remove that access.”

The former Port Moody council officially killed the David Avenue Connector in 2020, and the right-of-way has since been dedicated as park land.

A right-of-way connecting David Avenue to Sunnyside Road in Anmore has been in consideration since the 1980s to relieve traffic pressure from Ioco Road, which is near capacity.

By a narrowly decided vote in 2020, Port Moody council adopted several bylaw amendments to its official community plan (OCP) which cut out references to the proposed right-of-way, and removed the special-study-area designation from its portion of the Ioco lands, restricting density to the current zoning. 

Port Moody’s cancelling of the roadway has been an issue for Anmore, which is currently considering a massive development on more than 150 acres of the Ioco lands within its jurisdiction.

Icona Properties’ Anmore South project is proposing building 3,300 homes, which could effectively triple the small municipality’s population at build out.

Anmore currently only has access to two roads in and out of its community, and traffic issues have been a major concern voiced by the public and some councillors regarding the Icona Properties’ proposal.

When Port Moody amended its OCP in 2020, Anmore Mayor John McEwen sent a letter to Port Moody council requesting the city reconsider its decision. McEwen said the David Avenue Connector was designed to accommodate regional transportation growth in Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra.

Anmore council was never provided an opportunity to discuss the issue with Port Moody council, contrary to a 2015 memorandum of understanding between the two municipalities, according to the letter.

McEwen said removing the right-of-way from the regional road network would result in untenable traffic on Ioco Road, and impact the emergency responses.

“This disservice to Ioco Road, Belcarra, and Anmore residents will be a challenge for years to come,” McEwen said.

Anmore’s own OCP calls for exploring connector road options, which is a “primary issue requiring further discussion and resolution as part of any future planning and development of the lands.”

The David Avenue Connector has been a politically charged issue for years, and Anmore’s appeal to the province may once again re-ignite tensions.

Former councillor Hunter Madsen and former mayor Rob Vagromov campaigned on “saving” Bert Flinn Park; Madsen spearheaded the opposition group Friends of Bert Flinn Park prior to seeking office in 2018.

But not all of Port Moody council was in favour of removing the right-of-way designation from the OCP in 2020, and the makeup of council has significantly changed.

Current Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti, Coun. Diana Dilworth, and former councilor Zoe Royer tried to defer or defeat the amendments, preferring to see the issue put to a public referendum.