Port Moody is now a transit-oriented development city

Impacts of the transit-oriented development legislation on Port Moody. (City of Port Moody/Government of BC)

“The whole city is basically up for redevelopment,” said Port Moody city councillor Haven Lurbiecki during Tuesday’s public meeting.

Port Moody City Council was reviewing City staff’s report outlining the implications of the Government of British Columbia’s various new legislation relating to catalyzing new housing supply and improving housing affordability, with municipal governments now required to adopt the necessary bylaws to align their policies with the provincial government.

Of special interest during the deliberations was the impact of the transit-oriented development (TOD) legislation, with two 800-metre-wide TOD circles extending around the two SkyTrain stations that serve Port Moody — Moody Centre Station and Inlet Centre Station.

You might also like:

As stipulated by the TOD legislation enabling greater residential density, areas within the inner 200-metre-wide radius from a SkyTrain station would see minimum required allowances of up to 20 storeys in height and a minimum allowable floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is up to five times larger than the size of the lot. Areas within the middle 400-metre-wide radius would see minimums of up to 12 storeys and up to 4.0 FAR, while areas within the outer 800-metre-wide radius would see up to eight storeys and up to 3.0 FAR.

Additionally, minimum vehicle parking standards will not be applied for residential uses within these circles.

The pair of 800-metre TOD circles emanating from both SkyTrain stations span an east-west distance of about 2.5 km to as far west as Kyle Street and to as far east as the Port Moody-Coquitlam municipal border. For reference, Port Moody’s jurisdiction is about 5.5 km long from east to west, and it has a total land area of 26 sq km (10 sq miles). A portion of both circles also extend across the municipal border into Coquitlam.

City of Port Moody’s land area. (Google Maps)

port moody transit oriented development tod area map

Impacts of the transit-oriented development legislation on Port Moody. (City of Port Moody/Government of BC)

But the properties do not have to be completely within the TOD circles to be under these higher-density policies. As noted under the legislation, any property parcel that is even partly within a circle area is deemed wholly within the catchment area of the higher TOD built form. It should also be emphasized that this TOD legislation only applies to properties with zoning that enable residential uses.

Currently, the vast majority of the areas impacted by the TOD legislation within Port Moody see low-density residential and commercial uses, as well as light industrial uses. The city’s total population is approximately 37,000 residents.

Additionally, the separate legislation enabling small-scale, multi-unit housing within single-family neighbourhoods also has its own transit-oriented development stipulation, as it enables at least six units on a single-family parcel within 400 metres of a bus stop served by a frequent bus route, with such parcels having a lot size greater than 3,013 sq ft.

port moody small scale multi-unit home map

Impacts of the small-scale, multi-family housing legislation on Port Moody. (City of Port Moody/Government of BC)

SkyTrain Inlet Centre Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

SkyTrain Moody Centre Station. (Kenneth Chan /Daily Hive)

But City Council was highly apprehensive to the new legislative directives mandated by the upper level of government, and expressed a willingness to join other concerned municipal governments in pushing back against the provincial government.

Lurbiecki asserts Port Moody has become “a poster child of why applying a one-size-fits-all approach to land use will not work well in all communities.”

“Yes, we have two SkyTrain stations, but we’re only 10 sq miles. We have one main road corridor in and out because we’re sandwiched by an inlet and a mountain. And this one corridor is almost completely covered by the provincially mandated density circles,” said Lurbiecki during the meeting.

“The requirements are disproportionate, I feel, on such a small city. It will impact us more than any other city I think in this province… We’re going to get so many applications from this legislation that we have never even dreamed of before. But the good thing about that is we can be picky, we’re not going to be desperate for applications.

Similarly, city councillor Kyla Knowles called the TOD legislation “really amazing” in the context that “it is a big deal and it is going to have a disproportionate effect on little Port Moody with our two SkyTrain stations on one [arterial] street within 10 blocks.”

Over the years, various previous and sitting elected officials of Port Moody have been hesitant with the idea of introducing more density to their jurisdiction in part due to their assessment of transportation infrastructure challenges.

Although the city is served by two SkyTrain stations, built as part of the Millennium Line’s Evergreen Extension, the growing traffic challenges on the arterial route of St. Johns Street/Barnet Highway — a key thoroughfare linking the Tri-Cities to the rest of the region — through Port Moody have been a major concern for municipal officials. Port Moody’s previous mayor even suggested a third SkyTrain station should be considered near the western end of the city as a condition of enabling higher-density development.

“There is enormous opportunity here in Port Moody, and the irony of this legislation is that in a sense, it is actually tying our hands and making it more difficult for us to envision a Port Moody that we might want as opposed to what the provincial government might want,” continued Knowles.

During the meeting, Mayor Meghan Lahti says she has “never seen any provincial statutes that have been so transformative and significant” for Port Moody.

“I don’t think we understand the actual impact it’ll have… you can’t just draw a line on a map and say everything in here needs to be this way. It just doesn’t make sense,” said Lahti, who also expressed concerns about the potential legislative impacts on the municipal government’s ability to raise development-driven revenues to cover the growing cost of amenities and infrastructure for accommodating the growing population.

As well, the mayor raised concerns over the possibility that school capacity and healthcare services will not keep up with Port Moody’s significant population growth as a result of the new provincial policies, and that the city could lose some of its limited industrial uses to residential redevelopments.

City staff have noted that they have paused their planning process to amend their Official Community Plan (OCP) to focus on creating the bylaws to meet the provincial government’s legislative requirements. Instead, the amendments to the OCP, which is also a provincial requirement, will be performed by the end of 2025 at the latest, in accordance to the deadline given by the province.

Additionally, Port Moody is amongst the first 10 cities under the provincial government’s Housing Supply Act, which stipulates that Port Moody’s municipal government must push a minimum of nearly 1,700 homes towards a state of completion and occupancy over the five-year period ending in 2028.

Moody Centre TOD Area Master Planning Group Port Moody

Conceptual artistic rendering of Moody Centre Transit-Oriented Development in Port Moody. (Moody Centre TOD)

60 Williams Street 3006-3020 Spring Street Vancouver SkyTrain Moody Centre Station PCI Developments

Artistic rendering of 60 Williams Street and 3006-3020 Spring Street, Port Moody. (Perkins&Will/PCI Developments)

Although the TOD-related bylaw changes will not be enacted until early this summer at the latest, Port Moody is already seeing a number of significant high-density, mixed-use developments.

There is a growing cluster of high-rise rental housing development proposals immediately adjacent to Moody Centre Station, which is also a major bus exchange and served by the West Coast Express. As part of the Moody Centre TOD Area Master Planning Group consortium, the major proposals to date include two towers with 857 rental homes and a grocery store by PCI Developments, three towers with nearly 1,000 condominium homes by Beedie Group, and a yet-to-be-defined significant rental housing project by the provincial government on a site closest to the transit hub.

Immediately adjacent to Inlet Centre Station, Wesgroup Properties is building Inlet District (previously named Coronation Park) — a 15-acre project of six towers with about 2,600 homes, including approximately 2,500 condominium homes and 100 market rental homes. The developer is proceeding with the redevelopment’s first phase.

Near the western edge of the city, Edgar Development is building its 24-acre Portwood neighbourhood, featuring about 2,000 homes including 1,600 condominium homes, 138 market rental homes, and 328 below-market rental homes in partnership with BC Housing.

However, progress has stalled on the largest neighbourhood-sized project — the redevelopment of the Flavelle sawmill on the waterfront, which is within the TOD circle of Moody Centre Station. Based on the previously approved OCP amendments, Flavelle Oceanfront District will have up to a dozen towers up to 38 storeys, with 3,400 homes plus substantial office, retail/restaurant, and creative industrial uses.

3060-3092 Spring Street 80-85 Electronic Avenue Port Moody Beedie SkyTrain

Artistic rendering of 3060-3092 Spring Street and 80-85 Electronic Avenue, Port Moody. (Perkins&Will/Beedie Living)

inlet district coronation park port moody wesgroup first phase

2024 artistic rendering of the first phase of Inlet District in Port Moody. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Wesgroup Properties)

portwood woodland park 1142 cecile drive 300 angela drive port moody

2023 artistic rendering of the Portwood (Woodland Park) redevelopment in Port Moody. (Edgar Development/Acton Ostry Architects)

Artistic rendering of the Flavelle sawmill redevelopment. (Flavelle Oceanfront Development)

You might also like: