FAQ

Following the Council adoption of the Moody Centre TOD Area Plan in November 2017, and at the encouragement of staff and members of Council, the majority landowners in the designated TOD Area established the “Moody Centre TOD Master Plan Group” to work on a masterplan for this future neighbourhood.

The local land owners (also know as the Moody Centre TOD Area Master Plan Group) represents:

1. Anthem
2. B.C. Transportation Financing Authority (BCTFA)
3. Beedie Living
4. The Bombelli Family
5. PCI Developments
6. The Stevens Family
7. TransLink
8. The Wildman Family
9. Woodbridge Homes

To assist the team of local landowners, world renowned architects, Perkins and Will, have been engaged to lead the evolution and design process for the Moody Centre TOD Master Plan Area. Pottinger Bird Community Relations will lead the community engagement process to ensure everyone has an opportunity to share their voice.

The goal of Transit-Oriented Development, also referred to as “TOD”, is to focus development in areas of a City with transit, in order to create compact, walkable, and healthier communities that offer value and a greater quality of life for residents. In Port Moody, the City have identified the area surrounding the Moody Centre SkyTrain Station as the Moody Centre Station TOD Area.

The Moody Centre TOD Master Planning Area is bounded by Buller Street to the east, St. John’s Street to the south, Moody Street to the west, and the Canadian Pacifc Railway line to the north. The area today is largely commercial, industrial with a mix of occupied and vacant buildings.

The preliminary masterplan will allow the landowners in the area to deliver on the community’s vision outlined in the OCP including:

• Flexible outdoor spaces 
• Creation urban plazas and mini parks
• Integration of public art 
• Pedestrian and cyclist links to improve connectivity between existing and planned amenities
• Encouraging a range of housing options (i.e. ownerships and rental housing)
• Housing that is accessible, affordable, and intergenerational
• Encouraging upper floors to be set back from St. Johns Street
• Providing weather protection and pedestrian scaled amenities to facilitate walking
• Providing at-grade shops and services creating active edges
• Encouraging a significant amount of employment related uses
• Incorporating landmark features as part of larger scale developments
• Incorporating landscaping to create a softer, green edge to the built environment
• Consideration of view corridors 
• Consideration toward commuter parking and visitor parking for Rocky Point Park.

The preliminary master plan concept envisions a number of land uses and public amenities for the Port Moody community, including:

• Housing that ranges in form, tenure (market and below market rental & ownership options) and size
• Mixed uses shall include office, retail (including a grocery store), and employment (low impact uses)
• Community amenities (urban plazas and mini parks, public art, pedestrian and cyclist links, housing options (i.e. ownerships and rental housing), community serving shops and services, employment related uses)
• New public transit plaza around the Moody Centre SkyTrain Station entrance
• Additional internal plazas within the blocks nearest the station
• New bike lanes to enhance connectivity through the area
• Urban greenway by daylighting Dallas/Slaughterhouse Creek
• A pedestrian/bicycle overpass
• Opportunities for public art
• Spring Street promenade

The Port Moody community have been invited to be involved in the Moody Centre TOD Area Master Plan process since 2019. Community input was central to the development of the plan as it was prepared for submission to the City. Engagement highlights include: 

• September 2019: A series of 6 Stakeholder Discussion Groups hearing from representatives of Community Associations; Economic Development, Environmental Interest; Transportation, Circulation and Public Real; Housing; and Non-Profit and Arts Organizations;
• October 2019: A stakeholder presentation to the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce’s Company of Young Professionals;
• October/ November 2019: Two (2) Community Open Houses in October and November of 2019;
• December 2019: A series of 3 Roundtable Discussion Groups focused on Public Realm and Arts, Traffic and Circulation, as well as Urban Architecture and Design;
• January/ February 2020: Two (2) Community Open Houses in January and February of 2020.; and,
• February/April 2020: Three (3) Community Stakeholder Presentations to the Port Moody Environmental Stewards community, Seniors Friendship Society, and the Board of Directors for the Simon Fraser Student Society.
• August-November 2020: A series of ten (10) Socially Distanced Walking Tours on the site to share a real-time experience of how the proposal intends to revitalize and activate the area.
• September 2020: Community Stakeholder Presentation to the Tri Cities Chamber of Commerce.  
• July 2021: Two (2) Community Open Houses in July of 2021. 

The community engagement process will continue and will include City-run events in the future, including a Public Hearing. 

Yes! Given the significance of the Moody Centre TOD Area, the Planning Group wants to hear from as many people in the community as possible. In July of 2021 the Planning Group hosted two more Community Open Houses to provide updated information about the plan based on our supplementary submission. If you were not able to attend the live sessions, all the information is available here on this website. You are encouraged to hare your feedback via our online comment form.

If you would like to get involved in one of our future engagement forums, or simply want to stay up to date on the project, please join our mailing list by signing up using the form below, or send us an email at moodycentre@pottingerbird.com.

According to TransLink’s 2018 “Transit Service Performance Review” data, Moody Centre has some of the lowest ridership numbers along the Evergreen Line (ranked 49th out of 53 stations). Being located immediately next to the SkyTrain station, the Moody Centre TOD Area is well equipped to incentivize new residents, employees and visitors to use the SkyTrain system, and other alternate modes of transportation (such as car-share or bike-share).

We strongly support the goals and objectives of the Clean BC strategy, and will be integrating them into our long-term design and planning for this TOD community. The BC government has a goal to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and innovation in how we get around will be a major part of that solution. 

Port Moody’s Master Cycling Plan includes four goals (as set out in the master transportation plan in 2015):

1. Increase cycling mode share in Port Moody and the Region 
2. Provide safe and accessible facilities for current and potential cyclists 
3. Attract new cyclists
4. Increase public awareness around cycling as a transportation mode

Our active transportation vision for Moody Centre will support the city in achieving all of these goals.

Families need more choices about how they get around. Cargo bikes, e-bikes and multi-modal amenities will make these mode shifts possible – and we need the infrastructure to support them. We don't want to just do the bare minimum when it comes to active transportation and creating infrastructure that makes it easier for people to get out of their cars – we want to lead. To that end, we are working collaboratively with TransLink and the Ministry of Transportation to help make Moody Centre an active transportation hub in the tri-cities area, one that every member of the communities in the region can use and enjoy every day.

The original application contemplated 13 towers with 6 of those towers over 26 storeys in height.

Based on recent feedback received, one tower on a site not actively engaged in this application has been removed and the height has been reduced on all other towers to sit at or below 26 storeys, with the exception of 3 towers located immediately adjacent to the Moody Centre rapid transit station at the centre of the Moody Centre community. These three towers are proposed for extra heights to enable the inclusion of rental and social housing close to transit and services.

Additionally, as the master plan will be delivering community amenities identified in the OCP (e.g. daylighting of Dallas/Slaughterhouse Creek, urban transit plaza, a pedestrian overpass to Murray Street), these additional heights will help to offset the costly acquisition and delivery of these amenities.

Feedback from Mayor and Council, as well as the Port Moody community has made it clear that employment is a key priority for the City and for Moody Centre. The Planning Group is targeting a new ratio of jobs-per-person of between 0.35 and 0.42. In order to create a vibrant, equitable and complete community the plan requires this mix of diverse employment generating uses, such as office, technology, and light industrial and retail jobs. The plan proposes to deliver employment-generating spaces that bring between 1,785 and 2,285 jobs.