Metro Vancouver has voted in favour of pursuing binding arbitration to force the City of Coquitlam to approve its proposed regional growth strategy, fearing the project will be derailed for years if the province doesn't intervene. Metro chief administrative officer Johnny Carline recommended in a special meeting Friday that directors ask the provincial government to step in with binding arbitration, saying Metro has made extensive efforts to accommodate Coquitlam's demands and "a non-binding process would likely be costly, time consuming and futile."

Nine directors, including Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, opposed the motion.

It will now be up to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development to decide whether to have non-binding resolution or binding arbitration on the dispute.

"We have given our very level best efforts and we do not see how a third party involved in non-binding arbitration will help us to unring this bell," said Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, chairman of the regional planning committee.

"If Coquitlam does not like the regional growth strategy having an impact on their regional autonomy, the issue can be addressed through [binding arbitration]."

Metro Vancouver is required under provincial legislation to prepare a regional growth management strategy in collaboration with member municipalities. The long-awaited strategy, which aims to curb urban sprawl, build density around transit hubs and protect agricultural land for local food production, requires consensus from municipalities and TransLink. Municipalities that accept the plan will have a couple of years to develop a regional context statement, which shows how they plan to meet the goals and outcomes of the strategy, thus making it legally binding.

Eighteen municipalities, along with Tsawwassen First Nation, TransLink and the two neighbouring Fraser Valley and Squamish-Lillooet regional districts adopted the plan by the March 22 deadline, with Port Moody and Coquitlam rejecting it. Port Moody, which initially said it couldn't accept the strategy's targets for a population growth in the city because it doesn't have the transit infrastructure to support it, agreed to the plan Friday after striking a deal with the regional district that it would be exempt from the strategy until the proposed Evergreen Line and Murray-Clarke Connector have been built.

"I feel that you have addressed the intent of our objections," Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini said.

But Coquitlam's mayor, whose council voted unanimously to oppose the plan, refused to bend, arguing the proposed strategy has been watered down and is more of a "collection of local plans" rather than a regional plan. Council is also concerned the plan gives Metro too much autonomy over local municipal issues.

Seven out of the nine Coquitlam councillors attended the special meeting Friday.

"I don't think this plan is going to achieve what it set out to do because it's so inconsistent across the region," Stewart said. He suggested Metro should first go to nonbinding resolution -cited in the legislation as the primary way to resolve such disputes -rather than seeking binding arbitration, which he said isn't "prudent or necessary."

And while he insisted that he doesn't want to delay the process, Stewart said the city will ask the minister to use her judgment to go to a non-binding process, which could protract the process.

Binding arbitration takes 100 days; non-binding resolution could take a year or more.

If the minister decides on a non-binding dispute resolution, Coquitlam would have the chance to try to resolve the issue through discussion with the other sides, potentially reopening the agreement.

A binding resolution would become binding on Metro Vancouver and all affected local governments, whether or not they participated in the settlement process.

"This has been difficult. Every council wrestled with it," Stewart said, "but there are issues that have been identified by Coquitlam that can be resolved."

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie argued Coquitlam's objections are fundamental to the role of Metro Vancouver's board and said the only way to handle the issue was through a binding process.

The regional growth strategy, which has been in the works for the past nine years and replaces the outdated Livable Region Strategy, is aimed at accommodating another one million people in Metro Vancouver by 2040, bringing the population to 3.4 million.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com