My thoughts on development in Moody Centre: Moody Centre has struggled for years to sustain their commercial and retail businesses, because it is mainly comprised of single family homes. We understand that there is a need for concentrated growth to create a vibrant economy. The need to increase the density has always been recognized but the question is how much is enough and how do you do it? I am not in favor of placing high density in Moody Centre for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that we don’t have the infrastructure to support the proposed 15,000 additional people in this neighbourhood, including public amenities, parks space, transportation, etc. Unfortunately the development levies garnered from such developments will not be able to provide what is needed for these additional people. I do believe, however, that modest growth with medium density can be accommodated and will be welcomed in the area. Having said that, the issue has been discussed with a very narrow focus and in my mind it is a much broader and complicated issue. Our community has gone from relying on over 60% industrial tax base when I first was elected in 1996, to a mere 14% today. The reasons for this are varied – some of the money has been lost due to Provincial downloading, Federal government no longer providing industry grants, some of the businesses have closed or relocated, and some have downsized. Our commercial and retail sector has not replaced these industrial taxes, and we have not done a good enough job of replacing it, so it has become the burden of the residential homeowners to make up the difference. This is one of the main reasons why our taxes are so high in Port Moody. This is a trend that will continue if the present OCP is advanced. With the expansion of PCT, their tax contribution will almost triple, from 1.2 million to 3 million, however, if we change the zoning on the old Andres Wine site we will lose over 1 million dollars, and if we plan and encourage the shut down of the Mill and Timber site, we will lose over 1 million dollars in tax revenue. (The Mill and Timber site, by the way, employs several hundred full time workers and is a 24 hour a day operation.) The money lost by converting this land to residential/mixed-use will never be replaced with the new development because it costs the city money to build the new infrastructure required to service these residents - not only the public amenities, parks, etc. as mention above, but also the sewer, water, and general ongoing city operation of the additional neighbourhood stock. You may have read that Metro Vancouver has rejected our OCP on the basis that the Regional Context Statement (Amendment 1) is not aligned with the policies in our own OCP as well as those of the region in relation to industrial land. The context statement is an accompanying document that outlines how and where we will accommodate growth. Our own OCP policies state that we will “discourage the conversion of existing industrial lands for residential or other uses” whereas later in the same document as well as in the context statement, we have identified the Mill and Timber and Andres Wine sites as ‘special study areas’ that will accommodate residential and mixed use with towers of up to 26 stories high, etc. As a result, Metro Vancouver has rejected both of these ‘special study areas’ for a number of reasons including: · Protection of the supply of industrial lands · Goods movement - the idea that the loss of these industrial lands may restrict access to multiple modes of movement potential · The risk of proliferation of subsequent 2040 amendments · Redesignation of the lands would impact industrial lands to the west Specifically related to the Andres Wine site the following: · Deemed an inappropriate land use because it is not close enough to amenities (rapid transit, etc.) and was too close in proximity to heavy industry I guess, in short, I support moderate growth in Moody Centre. I do not support the development of the Andres Wine site into residential – I would encourage the development of light, clean or high-tech industry on that site, so that we can diversify our tax base. In addition, I do not think that we should be encouraging the Mill and Timber site to change zoning or redevelop because they are a viable and important contributor to our local economy and tax base. If and when the Mill and Timber site is no longer contributing in this manner, we should work with the owners to develop something that is in keeping with medium density and one that also has a variety of zoning on it to ensure that our tax base remains healthy. As an aside, I believe it is very possible and realistic to bring in a high tech industry or a business park that will stimulate jobs in Moody Centre .
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 17:41:17 +0000
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