The Editor,
Re. "Vagramov resolution defeated; Port Moody council to work together on Moody Centre guidelines" and "This is why Port Moody's mayor demanded a rare Saturday meeting — and how much it could cost" (tricitynews.com).
To Port Moody council:
I'm incredibly disappointed that three of you did not see the need to temper expectations of the Moody Centre transit-oriented design consortium.
The preliminary draft of the proposal by that group of land owners and developers goes far beyond anything ever discussed through years of public consultation.
The draft and the tacit endorsement of three of you is extremely disrespectful to all those who've spent hours (and years) providing feedback. It's disrespectful to the residents of Moody Centre. It's no wonder people get so jaded.
The amendment made in 2017 was pushed through and more than doubled the densities and heights approved in the 2014 official community plan (OCP); for example, from maximum 12 storeys to 26 or more.
This new proposal blows the roof off the contentious 2017 amendments.
Coun. Diana Dilworth, I'm especially disappointed in your theatrics, including your heated statement that the proposal was not to be discussed Jan. 21. Wrong, council could receive for information or choose to provide direction.
Now we're in a pickle, as I see it. You've given carte blanche to the consortium to continue planning a concept that completely ignores the OCP (and years of resident input). It's stunning.
Thank you, Mayor Rob Vagramov and councillors Hunter Madsen and Steve Milani for your attempts to respect public input and set more reasonable goals, which, as you said, were non-binding, but in my opinion part of what you were elected to do. Perhaps the bullet points could have been tweaked or turned into just one asking the consortium to scale back considerably with the OCP in mind.
Instead, what happened at Saturday's committee of the whole meeting sends a message to the consortium and to others that our official plans and consultation are meaningless.
So very disappointed.
H. Mason, Port Moody
