Port Moody OCP moves to next stage
by Staff Writer – The Tri-City News
posted Apr 9, 2014
http://www.tricitynews.com/news/254599961.html
Port Moody’s Official Community is set for the next stage of public input after first and second readings were approved Tuesday.
On Tuesday, April 22, a public hearing will be held on the controversial document.
It’s been a long process for the OCP, which began with a public feedback process in February, 2012, and, during its passage through the city bureaucracy, brought a range of issues to light, including concerns about development on the waterfront, how tall buildings should be around transit stations and the future of some neighborhoods
Couns. Zoe Royer and Rick Glumac opposed first and second reading, but it was passed with a majority of council approving it.
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Port Moody OCP gets preliminary OK
Jeremy Deutsch / Tri-Cities Now
April 11, 2014
http://www.thenownews.com/news/port-moody-ocp-gets-preliminary-ok-1.951276
Meeting upon meeting and discussion after debate on Port Moody’s official community plan (OCP) is finally drawing to a close.
On Tuesday, city council approved the first two readings of the plan, considered a vision for the next 30 years.
The next stage for the several-hundred-page document is a public hearing at the next council meeting before final readings.
For more than a year, city council has been working on the OCP in anticipation of the Evergreen Line’s arrival. The document, which guides land use, servicing and the form and character of any new development, identifies seven distinct Evergreen sub areas, mostly within the City Centre area.
The first two readings gave council members another opportunity to offer their thoughts on the plan that’s been months in the making.
Couns. Rick Glumac and Zoe Royer voted against adopting the OCP.
Royer said she agrees with 85 per cent of the plan, but argued it doesn’t properly reflect the issues of jobs and employment. “I don’t believe a reasonable amount of density is the enemy. I do believe poor planning is,” she said, adding she does like what the plan calls for in the western part of Port Moody.
Glumac said he has concerns the draft could leave the potential for a developer to come forward with a proposal that’s out of character with the city.
“If we have the will to make some kind of statement here then we should, I feel, in regards to that potential of the character of Port Moody changing too drastically,” he said.
While other councillors acknowledged there are aspects of the OCP they don’t like, they said they support the overall document.
Coun. Gerry Nuttall argued the OCP is a broad vision for the future, not a rigid document that cannot be changed until the next five-year review. He called it a “living document,” meaning anyone with a proposal that does not conform to the OCP could ask for an amendment, which would still have to go through a public hearing process to get council and public input.
“Nobody on council expects that the OCP will look the same in five or 10 years,” he said. “Council and the residents in the future will determine what course is best for Port Moody.”
Coun. Diana Dilworth said she doesn’t agree with everything in the plan but didn’t want her issues to be a deal breaker, pointing out the OCP would be implemented by 10 councils over the years.
“Quite frankly, I don’t want to hamstring those councils in being very prescriptive in telling them they have to do what we’re doing here in 2014,” she said.
Coun. Rosemary Small also suggested she’s not totally happy with the document, but was still voting it through. “I think it’s a pretty darn good vision,” she said.
Coun. Bob Elliott said he was elected to represent the entire community and what’s best for taxpayers, while Mayor Mike Clay pointed out aspects of the plan he likes outside of the development discussion, including items such as pedestrian corridors, bike lanes and environmental protection initiatives.
“I think it’s a great document,” he said.
Moody Centre Community Association 