Feb 14,2006
Committee of the Whole
5.1 Noons Creek Drive Traffic Safety Study Update
5.2 Glenayre Traffic Calming - Questionaire results
5.3 Traffic Safety Committee - Terms of reference
Regular Council Meeting
Public Input - Belcarra Resident and Port Moody resident opposed to Camp Howdy development road access.
4.2 Heritage Revitilzation Bylaw 2688 Adoption
- final adoption of bylaw for Appleyard/Soofi house , 2714 Clarke , carried unanimously
4.3 Pesticide Use Control Bylaw 2685 amendment and related ticketing bylaw 2686
- carried unanimously
5.1 Road Access - Belcarra Park - Camp Howdy Development
-Motion by councillor Lahti:
THAT Council deny the request from the Village of Belcarra to approve the proposed dedication of a road right of way through Port Moody’s portion of Belcarra Regional Park which would facilitate access to the proposed development on YMCA lands;
AND THAT the GVRD be requested to consider purchasing the land
Moved and carried, Councilor Clay voting against
YES, I voted against ! Not because , however, I support this development. In fact, I think it would be a horrible thing to lose Camp Howdy and that this land needs to be somehow preserved.
I voted against this motion because it was not addressing any of the cities concerns. While this development may go away, future development in Belcarra and Anmore will continue to have an impact on the traffic and safety on our streets. I feel we missed a chance here to FORCE Translink and the GVRD to fulfill their mandate to be a regional body and to work on regional issues. It is NOT the responsibility of Port Moody city council to evaluate development applications in another municipality - we dont do this in Coquitlam or POCO or anywhere else, and if the concern is 'flow through' traffic increases, then we should be addressing this at the level responsible - the GVRD and GVTA. I would have liked to have seen our concerns returned to Belcarra - basically If they could meet our concerns (David avenue extension perhaps?) and satisfy the regional body (GVRD) that they were living up to their committments under the LRSP, then they should be running their village as they see fit. Yes, it is sad that Belcarra council did not seem to be listenting to their residents, and sadder yet that those residents were flocking ot Port Moody city council for help - this should not happen, and the residents there should remember this come election time !
6.1 Murray Clarke Connector Task Force - Membership
- members appointed - see minutes.
6.2 LRT Task Force Amendment to Terms of Reference
- increased number of members from 8 to 9
6.3 Evergreen Line Update - URS Report
- this was basically council endorsing a report from URS with general design guideline requirements and neighbourhood impact for the LRT line. The report with amendment (see below) was endorsed by council to be forwarded to Translink and also a request to translink to consult with the city LRT task force in their public consultation process, and that council prefers a fourth station in Port Moody.
I was very surprised to see this report included an option for moving Westbound traffic from St Johns onto Clarke street - with the Murray Clarke connector, we were supposed to be 'taking back' Clarke Street, and this report was just putting the same volume right back down there again. I asked council to amend the motion to reflect that this is NOT something the city is in favour of.
6.4 Fee waiver request - Gleneagle dry grad
- Gleneagle secondary requested and received a fee waiver for their use of the Port Moody Arena for their dry grad event.
6.5 Grade 5 Active Communities
- council suported the Active Communities Initiative to allow Grade 5 students to participate in fee based recreation services (skating, swimming, etc) free of charge.
6.6 Smart Choices Membership Extension
- council failed to move or second a staff recommendation to continue our membership in the Smart Choices Society.
This does NOT terminate our membership, it now just remains 'open' as no decision has been made either way.
7.1 Resolutions of Committee of the Whole
- see minutes
7.2 Ratification of Finance Committee recomendations.
- see minutes
I voted against three of these issues:
1) Ioco United Church Grant - I felt that this $ 5000 grant should have been funded from another source , such as the heritage funds. There are many grant requests and many other churches and putting this request through the grant process opens up a 'can of worms' in my opinion.
2) Ecological society - finance had reduced the amount of this grant due to the $ 5000 grant to the Ioco church. I felt that we could restore some of the grant to eco. society if we addressed the Ioco church grant elsewhere.
3) Arts Connect - same as ECO SOC. , this group had requested substantially more than they were being allocated, as they were allocated only what was left over after the other groups were given their grants. I wanted to see more given here.