Port Moody releases draft of Parkland Strategy; council defers approval until after May town hall event

Hamilton Spectator

25-04-2025

As Port Moody braces for a population boom, city officials have released a draft of the long-awaited Parkland Strategy, spotlighting both the strain on current green spaces and the ambitious steps needed to meet future demand.
Staff presented the strategy to council on April 22, but council decided to defer approval of the document until after public input is received from
next month's town hall
on parkland expansion.
The strategy lays out a comprehensive roadmap to expand, enhance, and connect the city's park system by 2050, and is built on three years of public engagements and analysis.
'Identifying the neighborhoods and taking this approach is so easy . . . for us to identify and see where the gaps are,' said Mayor Meghan Lahti. 'So that we can actually make a concerted effort to increase the park space in the areas where it's needed.'
A significant parkland deficit is predicted if the city does nothing. Port Moody's population, estimated at 38,942 in 2024, is projected to surge to between 67,900 and 75,800 by 2050.
Unless significant investments are made, this rapid growth – driven by densification in Moody Centre, Coronation Park, and other neighbourhoods – will stress a park system with very limited room to expand, and rising land prices.
Port Moody currently has a total of 365 hectares of parkland across 47-city owned parks: 79 hectares are actively managed parkland, while 286 hectares is natural parkland (including authorized trails).
That amounts to 3.2 hectares per 1,000 residents today – well above the national average.
However, without adding any new parkland, that figure would drop to 1.5 hectares per 1,000 residents by 2050, and 1.1 hectares per 1,000 residents for actively managed parks.
Moody Centre, a neighbourhood facing the highest level of densification, would have its parkland per capita ratio dwindle by nearly 80 percent. The Glenayre, Harbour Heights, College Park and Seaview neighbourhoods would collectively see their parkland ratio halved.
'While we have rich natural resources in the city, they do not offset the projected increase in demand for actively managed parkland as the city's population grows,' said Erin Embley, Port Moody's director of environment and parks. 'The focus of the parkland strategy is therefore on addressing these growing parks and recreation needs.'
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Targets and costs
The strategy sets an aspirational target of 2.5 hectares per 1,000 residents by 2050, 8 percent of each neighbourhood covered by actively managed parks and trails, and 85 percent of neighbourhoods within a five-minute walk of park access.
To do this, the city plans to acquire at least 22 hectares of new actively managed parkland.
Currently, a single hectare of land in Port Moody is estimated to cost up to $27.5 million, according to 2024 BC Assessment data.
Development Cost Charges (DCCs) – fees collected from developers to help cover the infrastructure needs – are the primary mechanism for funding the strategy.
However, the strategy acknowledges a critical limitation: the growing demand for green space may exceed the revenue that DCCs can realistically generate, especially given escalating land values and the rapid pace of development.
To address this shortfall, the report points toward the city's
recently revised Land Management Strategy
, which includes early acquisitions of key parcels, land swaps, and leasing options to reduce direct financial burden.
'This is why our land management strategy is so important,' said Coun. Kyla Knowles.
Port Moody would also preserve city-owned lands with park potential, and deepen partnerships with the Coquitlam School District through joint-use agreements, which allow for shared recreational access.
The city will use policy and planning tools to secure new parkland or park-like amenities through the development process. This includes negotiating for publicly accessible private spaces in new development projects, leveraging community amenity contributions during rezoning applications, and applying zoning regulations that require park dedications.
Finally, the strategy emphasizes the importance of embedding these goals into the city's long-term capital planning. Future parks will be identified during budget deliberations, and sufficient resources would be allocated for acquisitions, maintenance and renewal of amenities over time.
Neighbourhood assessments
Staff will be also conducting individual analyses on each neighbourhood, taking into account geography, development patterns, community priorities to assess acquisition targets, and where challenges exist.
These detailed assessments will identify specific service gaps and propose tailored solutions, as there are disparities between neighbourhoods.
Embley elaborated on this approach by reviewing several priority neighbourhoods.
She said Moody Centre has an acquisition target of 12.5 hectares, which could take the form of one or two neighbourhood parks, expansion of existing parks and new pocket parks.
Strategies for the neighbourhood include advancing OCP policies to foster more parkland dedication (particularly in the Ocean Front District), and maximizing waterfront access, and pedestrian friendly streets to improve connectivity.
Coun. Callan Morrison said parkland expansions for Moody Centre will be a challenge, as new provincial housing legislation mandating density has increased property prices in the neighbourhood.
'It does not make it easy for us to acquire land in those areas at an affordable price point,' he said.
On the other hand, Inlet Centre, which is home to the incoming Coronation Park development, only has an acquisition target of one hectare, as the area is challenged by limited land availability.
While the neighbourhood has a relatively small amount of dedicated parkland, it benefits from access to a network of greenways and trails, and many outdoor public spaces, according to Embley.
Expansions could include a combination of neighborhood parks and pocket parks, new amenities in these new parks, provision of publicly owned private spaces in future redevelopments, enhanced outdoor areas at the civic complex, and more urban canopy cover and green infrastructure.
For Glenayre, College Park, Harbour Heights and Seaview, an acquisition target of four hectares is being recommended.
While the neighbourhoods have a number of neighborhood parks, including the larger West Hill and East Hill parks, there are gaps in distributions, Embley said.
The area is challenged by high projected population growth and limited opportunities for expansion with larger developments.
Potential neighbourhood parks, pocket parks, and park expansions are being considered where feasible. Access, additional amenities, improving forest canopy are all listed as future priorities.
Coun. Samantha Agtarap highlighted the strategy is a living document, and is therefore subject to change.
'We're actively looking at the metrics and adjusting as we go,' she said. These things are long-term strategies. It's not going to happen overnight. The developments are not going to happen overnight, and economic conditions change.'