Meadowbrook may be rezoned as Coquitlam moves to dissolve outdated neighbourhood contract

A Coquitlam neighbourhood is about to get out of its contract.

Since 1974, Meadowbrook has developed in accordance with a now obsolete land-use contract.

However, following the provincial government’s 2014 decision to get rid of those land-use deals, Coquitlam voted unanimously Monday to remove the old contract by June 30.

The contracts were once an “amazing idea,” according to Mayor Richard Stewart.

“They didn’t work . . . like many amazing ideas,” he added.

Meadowbrook includes 176 properties located south of Dewdney Trunk Road, north of Greene Street, and roughly sandwiched by Westwood and Irvine streets.

In addition to discharging the contract, council also gave first reading to a motion to rezone the largely single-family neighbourhood to Comprehensive Development.

That change is intended to maintain the neighbourhood character, “while providing flexibility to allow for redevelopment, additions and alterations,” according to a city staff report. Those additions could include allowing for tandem parking, front yard porches, as well as two-family dwellings joined by “shared party walls.”

“Let’s find a zoning solution to the land-use contract challenge,” Stewart said Monday.

The zoning change will require a public hearing and subsequent affirmative votes from council.

A note on land-use contracts

Meadowbrook represents the last land-use contract in Coquitlam.

The site-specific form of land-use regulation was allowed in B.C. in the 1970s. The province moved to terminate the contracts in 2014. While B.C. set a deadline of June 30, 2024, local governments were required to approve the changes by June 30, 2022 to allow for a “grace period” between the approval of new zoning and the termination of the old contract.

Meadowbrook Park would not be affected by the change, the city staff report stated.