‘Nothing has happened,’ Hazel-Coy resident calls for movement, transparency on neighbourhood plans

After 25 years of talk, it’s time for action.

That was the message from Hazel-Coy resident Warren Fox on Monday, as he addressed Coquitlam council regarding the long-gestating plan for his neighbourhood.

“Can we light a fire and get some things going?” Fox asked.

Shaped like an octopus hailing a cab, the Burke Mountain neighbourhood borders Pinecone Burke Provincial Park on its eastern side.

As recently as 2020, the neighbourhood plan was set to be finalized and approved by council by September 2022.

The plan – tentatively set to include a school and enough houses and townhomes to support a population of 2,750 – has yet to be approved.

There are about 15 resident-owners left in Hazel-Coy, “and that number’s declining,” Fox told council.

“I’ve been in this area for 28 years and I’m the youngster,” he said, noting some neighbours have been there since 1966.

Due to uncertainty abut the future or the neighbourhood, some residents could end up selling their properties “at fire-sale prices,” Fox said.

Fox said his discussions with the city regarding Hazel-Coy started in 1997.

“We’re still here 30 years later. Nothing has happened,” Fox said. “Work has been done but no progress has been made.”

Coun. Trish Mandewo said it was at one of her first meetings as a Coquitlam councillor that she was told certain neighbourhoods wouldn’t go forward until Hazel-Coy was done.

“I’m still hearing that same narrative today,” Mandewo said.

Fox, who was speaking on behalf of the remaining Hazel-Coy residents, said the timeline on the city website shifted from September 2022 to the future.

“We were most distressed to find that the timeline on the website had changed,” he said, adding that communication with city staff has been “minimal.”

Coquitlam’s director of community planning Genevieve Bucher said staff would take responsibility for better updates on the website.

However, the neighbourhood planning process has been complicated by the need to have the most up-to-date information regarding the wildfire risk around the urban-forest interface, Bucher explained.

Coquitlam also been studying land-use options, including schools and parks, and working with Kwikwetlem First Nation on the plan, according to a city staffer.

An update is set to come to council soon, according to Coun. Dennis Marsden.

“We hope to get this resolved in the very near term,” he said.

All the current houses remain on original septic systems, some of which date back to 1966, according to Fox.

Tentative plans for the neighbourhood also include an extension of Oxford Street and a new reservoir for water service in the northern higher elevations.