Homeowner's prediction of living in a `development hell' come true
A Coquitlam man whose home sits at the end of a street where blocks of detached homes are being replaced by towers says his predictions of living “in development hell” have come true.
Large trucks have been speeding down one road, missing a tight corner and sharply applying air brakes, Ian Dowdall says.
Some workers are making U-turns on the homeowners' driveways and churning up lawns. Garbage and debris are starting to accumulate and some workers are pushing the limits of permitted work times.
“Our neighbour's teenage daughters are scared to walk up the road because of the constant flow of trucks. They had one bulldozer in the snow wipe out and trawl their front yard, taking out a tree.”
His family has been living in their beige-coloured bungalow for two decades. As Postmedia reported in August 2023, they were originally under contract to sell their home to a developer as part of a land assembly of nine houses on their block. But after the city planned a new road that cut it off from the rest of the eight houses, the developer dropped them from the sale.
The city has said Dowdall can join four homes across the street to form a land assembly, but these houses face Harmony Creek and any future development would require construction being set back away from the creek for environmental reasons.
There has been little indication that any developer is interested or has a timeline for that.
In the meantime, behind Dowdall's home and soon beside it, 45 homes are being torn down and replaced with six-storey apartment buildings and a 35-storey residential tower. In all, the area has 21 construction sites at various stages of either seeking approval or breaking ground.
The city says it is trying to do more to ease the disruption.
Andrew Merrill, the City of Coquitlam's general manager, planning and development, says the volume of construction has doubled since 2018, often as infill development within existing neighbourhoods, to meet provincial housing growth mandates. And he said in a statement “there can be elevated impacts on established neighbourhoods as construction activity, by its nature, is disruptive and can result in negative impacts on nearby residents.”
The city has a Good Neighbour Development policy that outlines expectations for developers and includes bylaws and regulations related to construction noise, trades parking, material deliveries, littering and unsightly premises, as well as stream and drainage protection.
Two city construction-site officers, who are specially trained building inspectors, monitor construction sites, liaise with builders and ensure compliance with the policy, said Merrill.
In November 2023, Coquitlam city council directed staff to strengthen its approach by beefing up neighbourhood outreach and enforcement and getting better access to information about construction and traffic management plans. The city has held specific meetings with developers to reiterate expectations and changed parking regulations with high construction activity to prohibit daytime parking on one side of the street, said Merrill.
But months later the situation hasn't improved much, according to Dowdall and the few other homeowners left.
Some workers start hovering outside on the street in front of their homes 30 minutes to an hour before the permitted work time start of 7 a.m. on weekdays, running their concrete trucks and “revving their engines,” said Dowdall.
“I am fed up with confronting workers ignoring the restriction,” he said, adding that construction hours are already extensive at 13 hours on weekdays and eight hours on Saturdays.
He adds that requiring big stickers or window notices on vehicles showing the name of a developer, the construction address, site supervisor and phone number would help keep workers accountable.
Another homeowner across the street, Greg Snelling, said workers “are getting away with whatever they can. We're not blaming the person pouring cement or driving the truck. It's the uppity-ups who are not enforcing the policies.”
Dowdall has written to the city with a list of suggestions, including that if a developer is “building a highrise on someone's property line, then shield them from the work. Build temporary barriers that protect two-storey views of the site and implement a no-activity zone around their home.”