Developers holding open house on proposed 26-storey St. Johns street tower
The development is currently in its ‘initial review’ stage
Port Moody residents seeking to learn more about a development application for the 26-storey mixed use building on St. Johns Street can attend a community information meeting on May 14.
Anthem Properties, the developer, is hosting the session from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Moody Elementary School gymnasium. The City of Port Moody is also seeking feedback on the proposal via an online survey.
The application includes 325 market rental units, more than 32,000 square feet of employment space, and a pedestrian plaza that would connect St. Johns Street to Spring Street.
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The proposal also includes a two storey podium on Spring Street and a six storey podium on St. Johns Street, as well as an underground vehicle and bike parking.
Suzanne Smith, Port Moody’s general manager of community development, told the Dispatch in an email the application is currently in the initial review stage, collecting comments from staff, the city’s Land Use Committee, early input from council, and this open house for public input.
Staff will provide these comments to the applicant with any issues for them to fix, before it proceeds to council for consideration of first reading of the bylaw.
Port Moody council’s early input
At a March 18 meeting, some Port Moody city councillors said the building design wasn’t “inspiring.”
“I hope there’s some room for improvement there,” said Coun. Diana Diliworth.
While the developer increased the number of three-bedroom units (as requested at a land use committee meeting in early March), some were disappointed that didn’t include any affordable housing.
City staff pointed out that for a certain portion of the building, $2 per square foot is collected for the affordable housing reserve fund.
“A contribution to the affordable housing reserve is great, but it’s not going to help the residents of this building. And I find that unfortunate,” said Coun. Kyla Knowles.
Councillors also commented that the application only had three allotted car share spaces.
Coun. Haven Lurbiecki said she struggled to give specific input on the building, saying it is part of a 14 tower development plan “that is 100 percent not [Official Community Plan] compliant.”
“I just want to reframe this. The public will not be able to provide input, at a public hearing on this tower development, that is part of a 14 tower development plan adopted by this council, they have also not been engaged on.”
Mayor Meghan Lahti disagreed with Lurbiecki, saying “This is OCP compliant, and its based on the OCP that was previously passed by a previous council. And we may in fact being moving forward with a different vision, but at this point, this is where we are at.”
She also added that this building does fall into provincial mandated densities, which requires cities to densify in certain transit oriented areas.
