Mary Hill Bypass townhouse development gets re-rezoned

It’s been rezoned, sold, revised, and now it’s been rezoned again.

While one councillor expressed some slight disappointment, Port Coquitlam council unanimously advanced a 43-unit townhouse development earmarked for nine vacant lots at the juncture of Harbour Street, Pitt River Road and Mary Hill Bypass.

“We need the housing, certainly,” said Coun. Glenn Pollock at Tuesday’s meeting. However, Pollock noted he was “a little disappointed” the city wouldn’t get the previously approved commercial space and grocery store.

Council approved a townhouse/apartment and commercial development on the site in 2021. However, that developer sold the 100,000 square foot site after receiving approval.

After the previous approval expired in February 2023, the new owners put forth the townhouse development.

The new project consists of 11 buildings containing three- and four-bedroom units ranging from approximately 1,500 to 1,900 square feet.

With approximately 78,000 vehicles crossing the Mary Hill Bypass each day, noise levels are a key consideration in the project design.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation caps noise levels at 35 decibels in bedrooms and 45 decibels in kitchens and hallways.

To quiet that noise, the project includes a sound barrier along Mary Hill Road as well as double layers of drywall in the buildings.

Consulting firm Brown Strachan Associates recommended prospective residents be advised that traffic could: “cause noise and possible vibration, which may be annoying to some individuals.”

The city generally requires a project to be set back 7.5 metres from a street. However, the developer is proposing a 6.6-metre setback at the Mary Hill Bypass and a 3.1-metre setback on Harbour Street.

Due to some of the development being in the floodplain, the city would require a minimum flood construction level of 5.15 metres.

Of the 86 trees on the site, 80 are marked for removal. The developer’s plan includes 98 replacement trees.

The project also involves the developer buying Prince Street, an unopened roadway parallel to the Mary Hill Bypass.