Final phase of Anmore South engagement plan approved by council

Anmore residents will finally be able to delve into the nitty gritty details of the largest development in the village’s history.

On Feb. 4, Anmore council unanimously approved the third and final phase of its community engagement plan, which includes an open house, and the release of a raft of technical studies for the development.

“We finally have a proposal in front of us,” said Coun. Kim Trowbridge. “The days of conjecture and guessing and all of that are behind us, which I think is very healthy, and I’m anxious to hear feedback from the open house.”

After Icona Properties presented three land-use options for the 151-acre site on the southwest border with Port Moody, Anmore council opted for a less dense approach, endorsing a vision for 1,900 to 2,200 new homes, rather than the 3,500 originally proposed.

Where the second phase of engagement focused on selecting preferred land use, the third phase will be more quantitative, dealing with traffic, transportation, utility, environmental, financial, property tax, service, employment and commercial impacts.

Staff are expecting to finish reviewing drafts of these technical studies in the next three weeks, which will then be released to the public.

Apart from the open house, the engagement plan includes a community survey to gauge community priorities, as well as discussion with the village’s advisory committees and community groups.

Consultations are also set to take place with the Coquitlam School District, City of Port Moody, Village of Belcarra, First nations, TransLink, Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Fraser Health, BC Ambulance, the RCMP and all property owners within 100 metres.

Staff said the final phase will be information heavy, and the open house will allow residents to put questions to experts on the details of the studies.

Mayor John McEwen pointed out that council has been discussing development of the Anmore South site since it was designated as a special study area in 2007, but now it has a plan with actual data.

He said it would be a loss if only single-family homes ended up being built in the area.

“I think the key thing that we have to remember is, this land is going to be developed at some point,” McEwen said. “I’ve said very publicly, I certainly don’t want it to go RS-1 the way some areas of the other village have.

“I’m looking forward to getting all that data and then being able to make my analysis.”

Coun. Paul Weverick agreed it was time to move forward, and he was looking forward to digging into the data through the environmental committee.

“I’m glad to get to this point,” Weverick said. “It’s not speculation anymore.”

Coun. Doug Richardson said he wanted a task force assembled containing all parties affected by the development, stating that Icona Properties discussed this in June, but it has never occurred.

He added that he would also like to see a town hall be held.

“People want to ask questions, and you can’t in a public hearing, you can only make comments, and they want to hear what other people are asking,” Richardson said. 

Staff, however, said that a public hearing and open house would be sufficient, as there is a lot of information the village needs to communicate to residents.

An informal survey with residents over the summer did not rank town halls as a preferred form of engagement, according to staff.