Shell Condo

What will a 26 story condo on the Shell Station site just before the underpass at Lions Park and Shaughnessy do to our traffic in Port Coquitlam?

MAKE IT WORSE!

The condo developer says there will be LESS traffic than when the Shell Station was last in business in 2004. How can 161 condos, 5 townhouses and 2 new businesses on this one site have LESS traffic?

The answer is – IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.

Right now there is no additional traffic generated by this vacant site and traffic is a mess in this area. This is the wrong project for this location.

Let PoCo City Council know you want them to vote NO on this project during the public hearing on March 10th, 7pm at City Hall.

THE REPORT – click on the link to open up a PDF copy of the report to council. At the Council meeting of June 25, 2007 one letter of support from Townline (the folks wanting build a two condo / multi-retail / mixed use / possible Wal-Mart between Costco and the Pitt River Bridge) was received along with one letter against the project from a PoCo citizen. Here are the copies. At this same meeting, 11 people (including myself) spoke against the project and 1 person – the developer’s representative – spoke in favour. So as you can see, you are not alone in being against this project.

SO HOW DID COUNCIL VOTE? – The motion to move the project to third reading was passed by Council with only Councillor Forrest voting NO and Councillor Wright absent.

WHY IS THIS PROJECT GOING BACK TO PUBLIC HEARING? – There is a much longer version that the City can provide but the short version is that there was an error – “a text amendment” – required for the project. As well, after more precise measurements of the site were taken, there is a variance of 473 feet so this item needs to return to public hearing.

WHY DID THE CITY NOT NOTIFY ME OF THIS PUBLIC HEARING? – The City only has to send a notice to residents and businesses within a certain radius of a project – I believe it is 150m – so you most likely did not get such a notice. The City also has to take out an ad in the local paper but the ads are so convoluted and not “citizen friendly” that one usually skips over the ads altogether. If the ad read, “We are considering putting a 26-story condo on Shaughnessy where the Shell Station used to be – what do you think?” this would be more effective in getting folks to pay attention. Instead, the ad on page A6 of the Wednesday, March 5th Tri-City News looks like a poorly photocopied map with impossible to read notes.

WHAT NOW? – If you cannot make it out to the Public Hearing on March 10th write an email to the Mayor and Council which will be included in the official record for the Public Hearing. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number.

Here is a quick email you can copy and paste into your email program if you like:

Port Coquitlam Mayor and Council,

I want to encourage you to vote NO on the redevelopment of the former Shell Gas Station at 2789 Shaughnessy into a 26-story condominium.

The 161 condos, 5 townhouses and 2 new businesses proposed for this site will create further traffic chaos in the area. This will only serve to limit the traffic flow to our downtown and clog up our overburdened roadways. In short, this is the wrong project for the wrong location.

Thank-you for your consideration.

Regards,

If you like the above note (or would like it better with a few of your edits) you can CLICK HERE to have it appear automatically in your email program with the Mayor, City Councillors’ and City Clerk’s email addresses already in place. Be sure to put your name, phone number and mailing address at the end of your email.

For a listing of the Mayor and Councillors’ contact information CLICK HERE.