Coquitlam Councilor Chris Wilson Discusses Densification in Coquitlam

Chris Wilson is serving his second term on Coquitlam City Council and currently chairs the City's Economic Advisory Committee and is Vice Chair of the Universal Access-Ability Advisory Committee. An advocate of improved housing affordability, Mr. Wilson has pushed for increased subsidized housing with developers and supports greater access to rapid transit.

In this, our second interview with councilor Wilson he discuses the make up the new council with councilors May Reid and Terry O'Neil retiring, two new positions were opened up and were hotly contested in the last civic election. These positions were filled by Steve Kim and Trish Mandewo who have brought new perspectives to council.

Over the last couple of years council has been working to densify the region around the new city center located around the last three stops of the Skytrain Evergreen line. These plans were started well in advance of the Skytrain construction with the construction of the new city hall which was completed in 2001. Since than this region of Coquitlam has seen rapid development including including the addition of several high-rises, primarily for residential living.

As with most of Vancouver, Coquitlam city council has embraced densification as the solution to our growing population. Not everyone embraces the resulting changes to the region but if managed properly, the region should be able to accommodate an increase in population while still maintaining an abundance of park space and other amenities required to keep up with the rapid population growth.

A prime example is Coquitlam's Town Center Park which has seen the addition of a public plaza, a stage, and washroom facilities, while maintaining an abundance of green space and Lafarge Lake which now hosts events like Lights at Lafarge which draws people from allover the Lower mainland on an annual basis.