In an emergency meeting Tuesday night, Port Moody city council officially and unanimously refused Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy (RGS), ending weeks of tough talk among councillors who panned the plan.

Port Moody stands alone as the first municipality to reject the strategy, with 20 other municipalities having already accepted it and Coquitlam city council to vote on it Monday.

The 30-year growth strategy sets out population density targets for all Metro Vancouver municipalities and pairs them with agreements to provide infrastructure to those municipalities once the density goals are met.

Port Moody rejected the plan, however, due to what the mayor and council say is a lack of consideration in the RGS for transit and transportation requirements in Port Moody and the entire region.

Council passed the resolution refusing the RGS but suggested an amendment to the plan saying that TransLink must commit to building the Murray-Clarke Connector and Evergreen Line SkyTrain in Port Moody before PoMo will accept the RGS population and employment density goals.

Mayor Joe Trasolini told The Tri-City News that councillors felt they had to take a stand on the RGS for the whole Tri-City area, which, he said, will only grow more and more congested without a regional transportation plan included in the growth strategy.

“The people of the north-east sector have been kicked around long enough on transportation issues and God knows we’ve taken our share of growth,” he said.

“Even an elementary school kid would know that there has to be a connection between planning growth and planning transportation links.”

Port Moody will now enter into mediation with all parties involved in the Metro Vancouver board’s RGS, including the province, TransLink and  other municipalities, to try to resolve the impasse.

tcoyne@tricitynews.com