Steve Milani
City Councillor 2018-2022
Attend the OCP Town Hall!
Port Moody - It’s Time to Speak Up!
Are you frustrated with traffic and unchecked development?
11 towers are already "APPROVED!"
9 MORE are part of Council's plan for Moody Centre.
Have you filled out surveys, attended info sessions, written to Council, only to be ignored?
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Let’s show Council that our community will NOT be silenced.
JOIN US at the Official Community Plan (OCP) TOWN HALL:
Wednesday, April 16 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Where: Port Moody City Hall
Learn more: https://engage.portmoody.ca/portmoody-2050
Your voice matters. Your vote matters.
Let’s pack the room and demand real representation.
Share on social media, invite your friends, knock on your neighbour’s door. LET’S SHOW UP!
Port Moody’s future is in our hands.
#PortMoody #OCP2050 #YourVoiceMatters #TrafficAndDevelopment #StandUpPortMoody
Sign the Petition!
I encourage everyone to read and sign the petition calling for an investigation into Councillor Diana Dilworth’s potential conflict of interest as a member of Port Moody's City Council. In addition to her duties as a councillor, she works as a registered lobbyist for the development industry, which raises concerns about her ability to serve impartially in her role as an elected official responsible for making decisions that impact city planning and development. She has consistently supported projects from developers who pay membership fees to belong to the association she represents in her lobbyist role.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-conflict-of-interest-on-port-moody-city-council
34-36-40 STOREY TOWERS!
City Council seems hellbent on slaughtering Moody Centre with residential towers with NO PLANS to update the surrounding road network. Write in or attend the Public Hearing at City Hall on Feb. 4th to have your say. I will be there. Feel free to introduce yourself so we can all sit together in the theatre. If you cannot make it in person, there is an option to participate in the webinar but you have to register. You can do that here: https://www.portmoody.ca/en/city-hall/public-hearing-information.aspx#Attend-the-electronic-public-hearing:~:text=Attend%20the%20electronic%20public%20hearing
Alternatively, you can email clerks@portmoody.ca with a submission in writing before 12 p.m. on February 4, 2025. Please include “Bylaws 3475, 3473, and 3474” in the subject line.
Additional information can be found on the Public Hearing webpage.
Twin 39 Storey Towers Go To Public Hearing!
Public Hearing Called!
Two 39-storey towers (pictured) for Moody Centre are going to a Public Hearing on November 12th at 6 PM. This is the beginning of the infamous WALL OF TOWERS slated for Moody Centre depicted in the council’s new TOD framework policy. This project passed the first and second readings faster than you can brew your morning coffee. The mayor moved it along so quickly that she messed up the process and had to subsequently call an emergency meeting of the council to correct her mistake. Again, at lightning speed, it's going to a public hearing! I have to ask, what’s the rush?
Port Moody belongs to its residents, not developers! Let’s stand together to protect the Port Moody we love.
40 Storeys Coming to Moody Centre?
Time for you to chime in!
The current City Council is now pushing for 14 TOWERS in the area around the SkyTrain station (known as the TOD) after recently approving a new policy. Yes, I said 14 towers. It was 12 but that has been expanded on by this development happy Council. To put it in perspective, this Council is entertaining development applications at DOUBLE THE HEIGHT mandated by the province. Your assistance is needed NOW by filling out the comment forms on the City’s Engage platform. Here are the links to both projects:
2 x 39 Storey Towers:
https://engage.portmoody.ca/60-williams-st-and-3006-3010-3020-spring-st-ocp-amendment
3 Towers - 32, 34, and 38 storeys:
More Traffic Coming to Moody Centre?
Is this your Port Moody?
Feb. 20, 2024 - This application by Beedie Living is currently being discussed at tonight’s City Council meeting. Three towers up to 38 storeys and one low-rise building complete with 1200 parking spaces to help make local traffic even worse. It will be interesting to see what the council members say knowing that public engagement is 82% opposed according to the staff report.
On Your Side
Council's responsibility is to consider the interests and well-being of the public and the City. While I always appreciated what a diligent developer could bring to the table, I was there to negotiate on behalf of the residents in good faith.
Thoughtful Growth
Moving forward, we should only approve projects that thoughtfully add to our quality of life and the local economy. Port Moody is already denser than Coquitlam with 1,389 people per square kilometre compared to Coquitlam's 1,262 residents per square kilometre. With a current population of 33,535 and current instream applications adding another 32,307 residents if approved, our population is set to exceed 65,000 residents, effectively doubling our current population and far exceeding our 2041 growth target of 50,000 residents. These numbers are not imaginary or made up as some might have you believe and can be viewed on page 10 of this Report to Council prepared by staff and uploaded to the City's website.
Our goal should not be to become a bedroom community of highrise condos as that would not be a complete community, nor would it be financially sustainable. Do we really need over two dozen additional concrete towers in the center of the city causing gridlock? Most people I ask that question respond with a resounding, “No!” We should be encouraging housing that does not come at the expense of the environment or a livable community. Let's encourage less dense, more human-scale missing-middle building forms which are more environmentally friendly, more economical to build, and ultimately, more affordable.
Community Facilities
With growth comes a need for expanded amenities/facilities, perhaps one day, even an indoor pool. At its current population, the City is already way behind in terms of facilities to service its residents as stated in the official Growth Consideration table. In fact, over $50,000,000 of improvements are needed to simply catch up to where we should be, while in excess of $100,000,000 in amenity/facility upgrades are needed to meet the needs of 50,000 residents. Yes, one hundred million dollars plus! After that, the cost increases exponentially with every 10,000 new residents. It would make sense then to maintain existing facilities to the highest standard to ensure they can continue to service the needs of residents for many years to come.
Kyle Centre plays an integral role in the community, yet its regular maintenance has seemingly been deferred indefinitely. Despite professional recommendations, previous Councils had not approved the funding needed to maintain the tarp-covered Kyle Centre adequately which caused its exterior to deteriorate from exposure to the elements to the point where it would soon be beyond repair. Residents deserved better so to rectify this, I wrote a Report to Council seeking support to authorize the necessary repairs to the centre’s building envelope, ensuring that it would remain viable to serve the community for many years to come. Included in the report was an option for a hidden portal on the east side to facilitate future expansion. I am happy to report that on July 26, 2022, a majority vote to proceed with the restoration of the building envelope and expansion portal was achieved; Cllr Dilworth opposed it. Work will begin shortly on restoring the building envelope at a priority-one level!
UPDATE: The newly elected Council revisited this item and voted AGAINST repairing Kyle Centre as per the engineers' recommendations so it remains a tarp-covered disgrace and is a constant reminder that the majority of the current Council does not appear to have the best interest of the residents in mind when making decisions at the council table.
Economic Growth & Traffic
Economic growth and traffic go hand in hand. If jobs are not available close to home, most people will drive to work which creates more traffic. Moving forward, let's design the city to lessen this nasty side-effect by making it a place where we can live, work and recreate. Building more condos where jobs used to exist will only exacerbate the problem by putting more cars on the road. It’s time to put the focus on the creation of local job space.
Our city has been blessed with an incredible wealth of resources that drive interest in the area, and we need to harness this for the future prosperity of Port Moody. Let’s leverage Moody Centre’s proximity to rapid transit, fiberoptic internet connectivity, local eateries and parks to attract anchor tenants in tech, research, post-secondary, health and other sustainable industries. More local job opportunities will lower the number of people that need to commute, resulting in less traffic on our roads, a healthier tax base and more quality time for Port Moody residents to spend enjoying their community.
Prioritizing Parks
Port Moody residents love their parks, big and small, so let's enhance and expand them as the city grows. Let's plan for an expansion of our beloved Rocky Point Park to the west so it will be able to keep up with the increasing demand of a constantly growing population in Moody Centre. According to the 2021 Census, Moody Centre is where the majority of growth is occurring. The wear and tear on Rocky Point Park is considerably higher than in other parks because it is right on the water surrounded by beautiful vistas in every direction. It is also within easy walking distance to rapid transit so it also attracts droves of daytime visitors for special events such as the Golden Spike Festival and Ribfest. Another major draw is Brewers Row, which brings in visitors seven days a week from all over Metro Vancouver and beyond.
To reduce the burden on Rocky Point Park, let’s ensure that any future development west of the park is set back from the water, allowing restoration of the shoreline and expanded park space for our residents and future generations to enjoy!
Community First Task Force
Within a week of being elected in 2018, I set out on foot one cold evening on a mission to identify every dead street light in Moody Centre. I tied a yellow ribbon around each one because they had no serial numbers to track their location. That evening I tagged approximately 30 dead street lights. Once they were repaired, the pedestrian experience improved immensely with all of the charming heritage-style lampposts now providing for a safer and more enjoyable experience. It turns out that my mission identified a need to create a maintenance plan for light standards in the city which was finally implemented this year.
In January of 2020, a child was struck by a car while crossing Clarke St at Elgin St. even though that intersection had been previously identified as being in need of a proper crossing. In fact, the Mayor had brought a report to Council two years prior on this very issue. A new safety task force will attempt to expedite addressing these issues rather than having them tied up in bureaucratic red tape for years.
If elected, I will form the first-ever Mayor's Community First Task Force. Its purpose would be to quickly address safety issues identified by residents such as trimming back hedges to improve sightlines near pedestrian crossings, repainting crosswalks, installing pedestrian-activated flashing crossing lights, upgrading lighting fixtures and adding physical bicycle lane barriers throughout the city. The east-bound bike lane on Murray St, for example, is in dire need of delineators to help keep cyclists safe as there have been far too many close calls. Paint is not protection.