A small Metro Vancouver municipality could triple in population — but not everyone's happy about it
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In 1987, residents of the village of Anmore voted to become their own municipality within Metro Vancouver, with the stated intent of "maintaining the rural character," as the incoming mayor put it at the time, distinct from the quickly developing Tri-Cities to the south.
Thirty-eight years later, the municipality is in a debate over whether that character can — or should — be preserved.
"I always wanted to move up here because I like the rural ambiance and I like the quiet … feel of the community. And I believe everybody here feels that same way," said Neil Lyons, a director with the Anmore Residents Association.
"Once we start going down that road of urbanization, it's just a matter of time before we're just like Port Moody."
Lyons and his group are against the development proposal known as Anmore South. It's a 151-acre plot of land owned by Icona Properties, currently zoned for one-acre lots with single detached homes.
But Icona wants Anmore to amend its Official Community Plan (OCP), and is proposing to build 2,200 units of housing, in forms ranging from single family homes to apartments up to six storeys high.
It would also have some commercial developments and sports fields, along with linking up Metro Vancouver's wastewater system to the entire municipality, which currently runs on septic.
It's an ambitious proposal that could triple Anmore's population if an OCP and subsequent rezoning submission were to be approved by council.
And unsurprisingly, it's unleashed a fierce debate.
WATCH | Proposed development causing community division:
Anger in Anmore over proposed development
12 hours ago
Duration 2:54
'They like their lifestyle'
To the developer, the proposal is just part of the natural evolution for the Anmore region.
"I think they like their lifestyle. And I'm sure when my parents moved to Port Coquitlam in 1970 and it was 19,000 people, they liked that sort of semi-rural character that it had," said Greg Moore, the CEO of Icona and former mayor of Port Coquitlam.
"But we've all grown as a region, and anyone in this region I think has to expect to grow."
Moore argues the possible commercial amenities and sports fields will let Anmore residents spend more time in the community instead of driving down to Port Moody — which has expressed concerns about current and past iterations of the plan given the additional traffic demands it could put on its roads.
Meanwhile, Anmore Mayor John McEwen says the smaller home sizes would create a younger population in a village where the median listing price for any property is currently $2.8 million.
"Young kids that went to school here, now they're in their early 20s, early 30s and want to buy a place they can afford," he said.
"So there needs to be diversity here to make it a complete community."
Rural, or just suburban?
The Anmore Residents Association argues that the proposal is being fast-tracked, and has pushed for a referendum for any changes to the Official Community Plan. But council hasn't indicated an interest in that process, which traditionally is used for financing questions on big infrastructure projects, not land-use decisions.
That means it will likely fall to council to vote on an OCP change, perhaps as early as next month.
All four councillors ran in the 2022 election unopposed, while McEwen was handily re-elected against a candidate who campaigned on maintaining the status quo zoning.
Most of council has indicated support for the broad strokes of the idea, but they admit the community is divided over the particular merits of the proposal.
"It's split. There's no question it's split," said Coun. Kim Trowbridge.
"The people who are opposing this development [are] opposing it for their own personal reasons. We as council members don't have that luxury. We have to think about what's good for the community … and the future."
Outside Anmore's municipal hall, members of the Anmore Residents Association have been waving signs that say "Rural to Urban, go to Referendum."
Trowbridge argues that's an inaccurate description of the proposal — and what Anmore is today.
"We're not trying to urbanize Anmore. It's not rural now, it's suburban now. It's just big mansions on big properties that probably don't make a lot of sense to the rest of the world," he said, speaking at his house on Tuesday.
He then paused to look around his palatial home, in a room next to his indoor pool.
"I'm somewhat embarrassed about the house that you're sitting in, on property that just houses two people. It's not really very realistic these days."
Everyone agrees Anmore is different from much of the rest of Metro Vancouver.
The question is to what degree it should remain that way.
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