Port Moody group wants more SkyTrain stations – Jennifer Mcfee
Coquitlam NOW – Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Two is not enough.
That’s the message from a group of Port Moody residents and merchants who hope to see three SkyTrain stations pop up in the city along the Evergreen Line.
Currently, two stations are planned in Port Moody along the 11-kilometre track — one near the West Coast Express station and a second in the Ioco area.
However, the Port Moody Western Station Committee would like to see a third station built to serve the west end of the city.
Committee chair John Grasty said this third station could create a west-end gateway to Port Moody, while also boosting environmental and economic benefits.
“The citizens that live in that area have been underserved for far too long. They have very little in the way of services — transit and commercial,” said Grasty, a Port Moody resident and real estate agent.
“I think it’s going to help revitalize Moody Centre. I think it’s an opportunity to develop an arts and cultural centre for the City of the Arts and preserve the heritage character of Port Moody.”
This additional station would encourage commercial development and help integrate isolated parts of the community, Grasty added.
“The most important thing is to let TransLink know that the people in the west end of Port Moody are willing to do what it takes to get their station there,” he said.
“I’ve heard it from dozens of people that they want the services there. They don’t want to be driving into Burnaby or driving into Coquitlam to get their services.”
To garner support, the Western Station Committee is gathering signatures on public petitions posted at Closet Addiction Boutique on Clarke Street and Joe’s Atlantic Grill on St. Johns Street.
“We want to show that the people of Port Moody are behind this. It doesn’t matter whether they live in Newport Village or on the north shore. We want to pull this together with citizens of Port Moody for them to help support their neighbours in the west end,” said Grasty, adding that the group will also make a presentation at the May 26 council meeting.
“Inevitably, it’s going to help revitalize the area and make Moody Centre a better place. Everyone would benefit from that.”
TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie said public input is always welcome, whether it’s through petitions, e-mail, letters or presentations.
“We’re early enough in the process that fundamentally a lot of things could be still on the table. We would entertain all thoughts and suggestions certainly at this point because the design isn’t in place,” Hardie said.
Groups or individuals can also sign up online to speak as delegations at TransLink’s board meetings, with the next dates set for June 5 and July 16.
“We’re certainly a way out from having the final design in place,” Hardie said.
“One of the things the board is focused on right now is closing the funding gaps because unless we do that, we can’t build the Evergreen Line.”
More information on the Evergreen Line, including contacts for comments, is posted online at www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca.
© Coquitlam Now 2009
Copyright © 2009 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Ken Hardie says, “One of the things the board is focused on right now is closing the funding gaps because unless we do that, we can’t build the Evergreen Line.”
This contradicts what we were told on February 26, 2009, by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell, and then again on February 28, 2009, by Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon, federal Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Minister James Moore and TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast, that, “Construction of the Evergreen Line is scheduled to begin in 2010…”.
Prendergast had better get Hardie back on the right Evergreen track.
A third station in the west makes sense if the city wants to promote growth and developement and to provide services that are currently not available to those who live in the west part of Port Moody. Surely the city council can see the wisdom in this proposal.
Where do you want the 3rd station – that’s the question. I’ve lived in Port Moody for 15 years in the Easthill area and choose it for it lush greenier & quiet evenings. I don’t want skytrain destroying this!
People in my area choose it because of it serenity – let’s keep it that way.
Each of us will likely have reasons for not wanting Evergreen in our own back yard.
Environmental and technical studies currently underway will somewhat dictate where this station can’t go.
In the end some compromises will be necessary to allow for the inevitable growth planned in Port Moody, and to fill the gaps in services required.
Thanks for commenting Simon.
I often use the 97 bus, which to my understanding is one that the Evergreen Line is intended to replace, and have found the stops at St John’s at Queens (Starbucks) and St John’s at Barnet Highway/Albert Street (Port Moody Secondary School) to be two of the busiest stops on the route. If you hit the stop at St John’s at Barnet Highway/Albert Street just before or after the school starts/ends, even the articulated buses are often not enough to take all the passengers waiting at that stop. So it is almost unbelievable to me that a station in that area is not a given for the Evergreen Line.
I live in the College Park area of Port Moody, and if no station is put in this area, this $1.4 billion project will be of no earthly use to me or thousands of other people living or going to school on the western side of Port Moody. And the option of the 97 bus will probably also be removed, so we’ll just have get back into our cars.
Thanks for your comment George. It is similar to other feedback members of the Western Station committee have heard from many of your neighbours.
If you should come to support our delegation at the Council meeting Tuesday night (at Glenayre Community Centre), please introduce yourself to us, and you’d be welcome to join us.
There is another option, relocating WCE station closer to NewPort village where the most riders are, or west closer to Barnet hwy