Maple Ridge council has again put on hold a plan to put up a 150-unit condo complex in the 22100-block of Lougheed Highway, until it hears what it wants from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and that is having the existing Salvation Army building removed.
And the Ridge Meadows Ministries arm of the Sally Ann is open to finding another location.
Council, on May 8, stalled a rezoning application for a four- or five-storey condo complex with studio, one- and two-bedroom suites, until designs are complete for the nearby intersection of 222nd Street and the Haney Bypass at Lougheed Highway. The application appeared in April, but was defeated at first reading, then brought back to council this week and put on hold – allowing the application to be re-activated at any point.
“It was deferred until there’s a plan that we accept for the intersection,” Coun. Gordy Robson said Wednesday.
“What they’re proposing now, according to our engineers, is not an improvement of the intersection at all.”
An initial proposal by the ministry called for only creating a double right-hand turn lane from Lougheed Highway on to 222nd Street, requiring only a few metres of frontage of the Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries building, which offers shelter, transitional housing and meal programs.
Council wants the province to buy the entire Salvation Army property, tear down the building and create a better intersection.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is improving intersections along the Haney Bypass, at a cost of about $22.3 million, which also involves federal money.
Robson wants to coordinate the condo development, which will take place on seven lots on the south side of Lougheed Highway, with the intersection improvement.
City and ministry engineers met Thursday to try to work out a design and Mayor Nicole Read is optimistic about an agreement.
“I think our staff are awesome. I think we will see a good outcome out of this,” Read added.
“We need traffic flow. We are moving goods and citizens. That is an inter-regional highway. We have got to create flow. That has to be our goal.”
She is less concerned with how the condo development fits with the changes to the corner.
The Salvation Army could relocate to Burnett Street as part of an application by B.C. Housing to build an 85-unit supportive housing and shelter project.
The B.C. Housing application comes to council on May 22.
Robson said council’s consideration of the Burnett proposal, bypass improvements and proposed condo complex are not connected.
“Our council decision is about the highway. Anything that the Salvation Army wants to do about homeless is a totally separate issue and they have not proposed to us that they’ll close, so we don’t have a question.”
Read also said there’s no connection between the Salvation Army moving and the application for the supportive housing and shelter complex on Burnett Street.
Council will make the best decision it can on the housing application, she added.
“Ultimately, we need the intersection done. That should have nothing to do with the Burnett application. At the end of the day, we need to make the best decision, provincially and from the city’s perspective, for that intersection. That’s a long-term issue for the good of the community,” Read said.
Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministry Darrell Pilgrim said there currently are no plans to sell the building.
However, he added, the Salvation Army is open to moving.
“We are willing to work with the community and move if we can find the right location to still do all the services that our community needs.”
