Port Moody's beautiful North Shore Forest (outlined above) must be made a park, not be destroyed by a massive subdivision call Neighbourhoods 3&4. Photo credit:Airphoto 85
On February 26th, Port Moody needs you to add your voice to the already large number of Port Moody residents who oppose development plans for Neighbourhoods 3&4. Here are some of the concerns that Council continues to brush aside and ignore:
By Kathleen Thomson - Special to WCWC
Neighbourhoods 3&4 development plan has been rejected by the public from day one.
With 6800 existing homes in Port Moody (approximately 20,000 residents) and an additional 4400 homes already approved by Council, many of which are under construction, our city can't handle more development. When completed, the existing approved housing will increase Port Moody's population by two-thirds.
Crushing development like we see in Coquitlam's Westwood Plateau would ruin our lovely city.
Local citizens are fed up with the excessive rate of urban expansion, the clearcuts marring our mountain sides, and the apartment towers already planned for the head of the inlet.
Port Moody City Council’s proposed "Neighbourhoods 3 & 4" urban expansion, if allowed to go ahead, will bring traffic jams, cause deforestation, destroy hiking trails and wreck sensitive wetlands.
Put bluntly, the increased urban sprawl will lower the quality of life for Port Moody residents. So far, concerns of local citizens have only succeeded in stalling this development. Now it is time to pull the plug on it. Already, on a per capita basis, there is more opposition to this proposed development than there was to the proposed development of North Vancouver's Cove and Mountain Forests... and there the citizens stopped the development and are making the area a park!
Port Moody residents don't want more traffic congestion and the continuous nightmare of high density living.
Members of the public are alarmed about the negative impact of increased traffic on local roads and increased densities without adequate provisions for public amenities. Citizens cannot afford the increased taxes it will take to pay for them.
In terms of recreational hiking opportunities, the proposed housing development plan completely discounts and eliminates the beautiful existing trail system within the North Shore forest. The ill-conceived plan offers in its place a set of connected concrete sidewalks, steps and footpaths adjacent to private back yards.
The plan sacrifices environmental assets.
The most vocal criticism of the development plan comes from citizens concerned about preserving the North Shore's present forest-dominated environment. They've seen the downside of reckless urban development that has occurred in nearby Coquitlam and do not want to repeat the same mistake in Port Moody. Based on the poor track record of tree retention in existing Neighbourhoods 1&2—where trees shown to be protected by each development plan were nonetheless removed or severly damaged by clearing crews—Port Moody residents are not fooled by fancy brochures from their city government saying that half of the green space will be left untouched.
The Plan would destroy precious wetlands.
Despite the proposed setbacks and other mitigating efforts, the weltlands will not survive as viable ecosystems. Wetlands are complex hydrological systems. There is no conceivable way to build roadways and surround these sensitive area with hundreds and hundreds of houses without destroying their natural biodiversity.
Since the housing development can never be made environmentally friendly, the best thing to do is to leave the land as it is—a second growth forest and associated wetlands—and make it Port Moody's "Stanley Park."
