Port Moody is working to make it easier to reuse or move homes in the way of new developments. But it won’t make the option a requirement.
A report presented to council’s city initiatives and planning committee on Tuesday, Jan. 21, said staff has implemented several initiatives to encourage the recycling of building materials such as streamlining the application process for deconstruction permits and increasing the recycling threshold for demolition deposit fees to be refunded.
As well, Port Moody’s manager of building and bylaw enforcement, Stephen Côté-Rolvink, said the city is also planning to lower the percentage of estimated value a home being moved must have compared to those that will surround it in its new environs from 90 per cent to 60 per cent in the next update of its building bylaw, expected to be ready for council’s consideration sometime this year. He said that might encourage builders to move more homes than the current average of about one a year.
Côté-Rolvink told councillors the reuse of a building “tends to be more of an afterthought,” rather than part of the developer's initial plan.
“Developers often have a structured way to do things,” he added.
But Port Moody’s general manager of community development, Kate Zanon, said the city must stop short of requiring developers to move homes because that “may infringe on property rights” and would be “challenging” to enforce.
Rather, she said, making the city more agile in accommodating aspects of home moves, like planning the route and time of day they can occur, will help make it easier for developers to consider the option.
“We can be very responsive,” she said.
Coun. Callan Morrison said it’s an opportune time for Port Moody to steer builders toward reusing and moving homes they might otherwise demolish as the city looks to densify neighbourhoods like Moody Centre that is mostly comprised of single-family homes, many of them just a decade or two old and in perfectly good condition.
“I would like to see staff have this discussion with developers early in the process,” he said.
Coun. Amy Lubik said Port Moody can also advocate for greater involvement from the provincial government to encourage the reuse of homes.
Côté-Rolvink agreed.
He said the province needs to “step up to the plate” to expand its role in the reuse of homes.
The review of Port Moody’s efforts to encourage the reuse of homes was sparked by a delegation to council in June, 2023, from Glyn Lewis of Renewal Home Development, a company that specializes in working with developers to get homes in the way of new projects relocated to remote communities. In 2024, he teamed with Vancouver-based Wesgroup Properties to move 10 homes from the old Coronation Park neighbourhood the company is redeveloping to the shishalh First Nation near Sechelt.
Lewis said about 2,800 homes in Metro Vancouver are demolished every year, and that number will likely accelerate as communities densify to meet housing targets set by the provincial government. He said moving more of those homes to address the housing crisis that also afflicts remote communities can be 30 to 70 per cent cheaper than building new homes from scratch.
“Why build new homes when we can rescue old ones,” he said.
Jeremy Nickel, whose Nickel Bros. company has moved more than 12,000 homes since it was founded in 1956, said bureaucracy often gets in the way.
“We are fighting the system and the red tape every day,” he said, adding the speeding of processes and financial incentives like density bonuses would encourage developers to save more homes.
“It’s a carrot and stick approach,” said Lewis. “We have to make an economic case to developers.”
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