Defiant Port Moody townhouse residents showed up en masse to a pair of heated meetings with their property owners Tuesday to oppose what they feel would be an ugly precedent for the city.

More than 100 residents from Woodland Park, a town home complex containing 200 suites located at 1190 Cecile Dr., attended a pair of information sessions at the Kyle Recreation Centre to oppose the installation of water meters in each of their suites and the monthly billing system that would come along with them.

The proposal represents a partnership between Midwest Property Management and Stratacon, an Ontario-based utility company that installs water, electric and heat and gas meters.

Allan Carr, Midwest's senior vice-president, said Tuesday the proposed system is meant to conserve water and make residents aware of their water consumption.

"Our main purpose in sub metering is to make all our residents conscious of utilities and make sure they're not abusing them. Water is a resource that's being wasted," Carr said.

"It's been proven that consumption goes down when residents are responsible for utilities."

The proposed changes pertain almost exclusively to new tenants in the building while existing tenants would be grandfathered in -- they would enter into the system once their current leases have expired.

Month-to-month residents would be expected to begin paying for their water 90 days from the time the meters are installed.

Under the proposal, each unit in the complex would be charged $59 monthly, a figure based upon water consumption data -- which averages to about $40 per unit -- on top of an $18 charge covering administration, data and metre installation fees.

The payment system for existing tenants is meant to offset any rise in rental increases set out by provincial legislation -- this year's rental increase was four per cent.

Based on that model, an existing tenant who pays $1,000 for rent would have that four per cent -- equivalent to $40 -- waived in lieu of future rental increases, while the $18 administration fee would be deducted as well.

"The net result here is that existing tenants will be paying the amount that he or she is paying today," said Chris Wild, Stratacon's vice president of operations, in an interview with The NOW Thursday. "Really (the meters) are only for new tenants."

New tenants would enter into the proposed system immediately upon moving in.

Previously, Midwest was billed yearly by the city for both the water and sewer services and those amounts were covered by the tenants' rent payments -- a bill that comes to $98,000.

Colleen Rohde, the city's director of economic and strategic development, said the proposal would be the first instance in the city where a townhouse development moved to a private metering system.

She added that a number of calls have come through to the mayor's office and the city's operations department regarding the issue, and the debate will likely make its way into the city's council chambers on Tuesday.

The initial uproar began last Friday when Westwood staff notified tenants of the changes via a handout in each residence's mailbox, and Tuesday's meetings represented the first chance for residents to weigh in with their thoughts.

It took less than 10 minutes for the meeting to get testy after one resident asked the one question that was on everyone's mind.

"If you're charging us $59 a month, Sir, will you reduce our rent by $59?," asked Adrien St. Jacques. "Now that we're going to be paying the water, we want a reduction in our rent."

"If water conservation is the main reason why we're doing this, are you guys going to install laundry taps in all the suites, double sink basins in the kitchens so I can catch my rinse water, low-flow shower heads and low-flow toilets?" one resident asked.

Carr responded by saying, "We will actually look at all that stuff and I have no problem doing that."

Many others were dismayed that the initial notices were sent out only in English, effectively alienating a large portion of those living in the town homes.

The fact that those notices were sent out in English may have contributed to there being few visible minorities in attendance.

A few residents voiced displeasure over the timing of the meetings, which were held at 4:15 and 5:15 p.m., noting they had to either take time off work or make last-minute arrangements for child care.

Other residents maintained the proposed changes violate residential tenancy guidelines.

Ironically, free bottles of water were handed out to residents upon their arrival at the highly contentious meetings.

By the end of the first discussion, Carr apologized to all in attendance and conceded that the information given to residents was not thorough enough.

Modifications to suites allowing the meter installation was slated to begin Monday, but Carr said all bets are off until he goes back to Residential Tenancy Branch officials for written confirmation that the proposed changes are in accordance with the law.

Previously, he had only verbal contact with the provincial body.