Port Moody mayoral candidates answer residents’ questions

Tri-Cities Dispatch asked Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti and challenger Coun. Haven Lurbiecki to answer a series of questions about city issues. Candidates were asked to keep each response to about 100 words. Their answers are presented below.

**Meghan Lahti (incumbent mayor)**

Lahti said she has lived in Port Moody for 38 years. On the housing mix, she said claims that the city has approved too many studios and one-bedroom units rely on a 2021 model. Last year’s completions included 35 studios, 210 one-bedroom units and 247 units with two or more bedrooms. She said council introduced and is enforcing family-friendly unit requirements during this term; of 492 homes completed last year, 247 had at least two bedrooms. She said the city should now focus on seniors’ housing and continue encouraging it through tools such as amenity contributions and incentive policies. The city has approved considerable affordable and market rental housing, she said, because those projects are financially viable for developers at present. She believes the city is on the right path toward the right mix.

On population growth over the coming decades, Lahti said the province has mandated growth through Bills 44, 46 and 47, and the city must find a way to accommodate it. She supports moderate growth, with the greatest density near transit and low-rise housing, infill and townhomes elsewhere.

On affordable housing in major developments, she said city policies have evolved to require 15 per cent affordable housing, with tenure requirements and family-friendly homes. Inclusionary zoning is the minimum expectation, she said, but applications have been reduced where the city receives amenity contributions beyond expectations, such as parks and gathering spaces, child care, pedestrian overpasses, daylighting of creeks, or recreation facilities such as a seniors’ centre or new library facilities.

On balancing housing with employment and industrial land, Lahti said council has decided to preserve the western portion of Murray Street for employment and light-industrial zoning. The Flavelle oceanfront proposal includes 100,000 square feet of new light-industrial space. The former Andres site, previously planned for mixed-use development, is returning to industrial use, alongside the vacant former Reicheld industrial site. She said the city recognizes the need to retain and expand industrial lands and continues to look for opportunities.

Asked about the scale planned for Moody Centre and Inlet Centre, including towers that could exceed 26 storeys, Lahti said there is no plan for 14 40-storey towers in Moody Centre. The framework was removed from the Official Community Plan (OCP) on July 25, 2025, she said, calling claims to the contrary deliberately misleading. She supports density near SkyTrain with a 26-storey cap, while allowing the city to negotiate community amenities such as daycares, grocery stores, green space and employment space in exchange for further density. The province requires the city to allow 20 storeys within 200 metres of the station, she said. That is the floor, not the city’s preferred height, and the starting point for negotiations.

Lahti identified the Ioco Road and Barnet Highway intersection as the city’s most challenging bottleneck. Council approved widening the overpass, which should be completed in 2027 and clear the worst chokepoint. A dedicated rush-hour lane is to follow by 2028.

Asked what she was most proud of from the previous term, Lahti called the 2022-26 council one of the most functional and results-oriented councils she has worked with. She said she was proud to bring together a diverse mix of independent voices through good governance and leadership, enabling council to develop the strategic plan that guided its work over the past four years. She said setting a vision, developing a work plan and getting the work done allowed the city to accomplish a great deal.

Lahti said she has accepted campaign donations from developers, as well as from many residents, businesses, family members and friends.

Port Moody recently approved a 3.95 per cent tax increase. Lahti said council spent its first three years making up for two years of austerity COVID budgets, which removed positions and services that ultimately had to be restored after the pandemic. She supports the established one per cent Asset Management levy as a way to fund much of the city’s Asset Management Investment Plan (June 2026). Going forward, she said, she is committed to core services and a council-led, line-by-line service review. Council has already made some of those changes: in the 2026 city budget, it implemented $2.7 million in corporate budget reductions, delayed capital hires and paused specific levies, bringing the finalized tax increase below four per cent. The initial forecast was 8.65 per cent, she said.

Lahti said the city is doing a good job protecting trees and waterways through its Tree Protection and Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) bylaws. She said Port Moody ranks among the region’s best for tree canopy, at 58 per cent. Some residents are concerned that possible ESA bylaw changes could affect property rights; she said the current council has pushed back against those changes and maintained the status quo.

On homelessness, Lahti said people experiencing serious mental health and addiction issues need a real plan, resources and commitments, and that this is a provincial responsibility. She said the province is pressuring the city to provide municipal land and funding for low-barrier supportive housing on St. Johns, next to a planned daycare and schools, as well as a homeless shelter. Port Moody does not have the specialized wraparound services needed to address this serious health issue, she said. She identified Eagle Ridge Hospital and Riverview lands as more appropriate options for such services.

Asked whether she supports Flock- or Axon-type surveillance cameras, Lahti distinguished Flock, which she said is widely used in the United States, from Axon body-worn camera technology, which she supports. Port Moody Police began using body-worn cameras in 2026, an important milestone, she said. Mounted on officers’ uniforms, the cameras record interactions for evidence and accountability. Officers will activate them as soon as practical during interactions and will not record continuously when they are not responding to a specific incident.

Lahti’s top priority for the next term is Kyle Centre. She said the city should build a new 39,000-square-foot centre, plaza and expanded park rather than patch a 1977 building. The project would replace 11,100 square feet and set aside room for affordable seniors’ housing. Conceptual design is funded, and the earliest completion would be late 2028. Her second priority is the library, followed by neighbourhood parks in areas without one within walking distance.

Lahti said voters entrusted her with council leadership in 2022. She promised good governance, moderate and smart growth near transit, completion of the OCP, restoration of the shoreline shuttle, last-mile transportation options and affordable housing. She said she delivered those promises and more, and that Port Moody needs experienced, independent leadership that brings people together. If re-elected, she said, she will continue that work.

**Haven Lurbiecki**

Lurbiecki said she has lived in Port Moody for the better part of 20 years, with a few breaks while attending school, and has always chosen it as her home. She said the city is not building the right housing mix. Citing the city’s reporting to the province, she said Port Moody has approved about 8,500 units, including almost 5,000 studios and one-bedroom units—five times the provincial five-year target for those unit types. Only about 30 four-bedroom units have been approved, she said. She called for a shift toward family-sized, livable homes, while catching up on infrastructure and creating local jobs that help people afford to live in the city. She said the city should stop building “shoebox condos.”

Lurbiecki said she was the only councillor to vote against the new OCP, which projects a population of 74,300, nearly double today’s population. As mayor, working with a Port Moody Voice council, she would repeal the 14-tower Moody Centre plan, revisit high-rise plans for the Oceanfront District and generally lower density in the OCP, with specific changes informed by community engagement. Growth near transit makes sense, she said, but that does not mean endless condo towers. Port Moody needs family housing, employment opportunities and infrastructure that keeps pace, she said. She argued these changes would reduce projected population growth while better meeting community needs.

On affordable housing in major developments, Lurbiecki said Port Moody’s inclusionary housing policy sets below-market and non-market housing targets for larger developments, including a 15 per cent target for below-market rental housing. She said she has pushed for the policy to be applied, but the current mayor and council majority have too often accepted less. A policy is only as effective as its enforcement, she said. Port Moody Voice would explore establishing the requirements through a bylaw to make them harder to waive. Any exceptions, she said, must deliver clear, measurable alternative benefits, rather than be granted simply because a developer says the numbers do not work. The city must ensure completed projects meet the community’s housing needs, she said.

Lurbiecki said the balance has been lost, with the current mayor and council majority prioritizing condo towers in Moody Centre over protecting employment lands. Port Moody Voice would repeal the 14-tower plan and prioritize a Business and Jobs District around SkyTrain and West Coast Express. The group envisions office, institutional and other employment-generating space to support year-round economic activity. She called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create local jobs, diversify the tax base and reduce pressure on residential property taxes. Transit-oriented development should create complete communities, she said, not just more condos.

Lurbiecki opposed the scale and density envisioned for Moody Centre and Inlet Centre. She said she was the only councillor to vote against the 14-tower framework allowing towers up to 40 storeys. She brought forward a motion for a referendum on tower heights during this term, which council rejected 6-1. Community engagement has repeatedly shown residents prefer more moderate, mid-rise development, she said. The Housing Needs Report shows that tall towers with small units are not meeting needs, she added. Port Moody Voice supports development that reflects community preferences and needs, with housing, jobs and amenities. She said 40-storey towers are not needed to negotiate appropriate developer contributions or build a complete community.

On transportation, Lurbiecki said many candidates agree there is a problem, but the solutions matter. Adding lanes to St. Johns or Murray would attract more vehicles through induced and latent demand, eventually worsening congestion, she said. Port Moody Voice would instead prioritize local traffic by improving left-turn throughput onto Ioco Road from St. Johns and Murray, addressing eastbound bottlenecks, and introducing real-time signal coordination and adaptive traffic management. The city should make existing roads work better for Port Moody residents rather than spend their taxes primarily to move regional traffic through the city, she said.

Lurbiecki said she was proud of standing up for residents and her record on council, including calling for a referendum on tower heights, pushing for greater transparency at city hall, and advocating for a real Rocky Point Park expansion not tied to more towers. She said she has consistently brought residents’ concerns to the council table, often as the lone voice and lone vote. She is running with a Port Moody Voice team to turn that advocacy into action and change the city’s direction.

Lurbiecki said she does not accept campaign contributions from developers. The Port Moody Voice campaign has shown that a strong, grassroots and fully funded campaign can run without relying on developer funding, she said.

She said municipal taxes for an average household rose about 28 per cent over the current council term, which she called unacceptable and unsustainable. She called for line-by-line spending scrutiny, stronger financial accountability and better long-term decisions. A key part of her plan is to diversify and expand the commercial tax base through local business and employment development, rather than rely so heavily on residential taxpayers. Residents deserve quality services, properly maintained infrastructure and responsible management of their tax dollars, she said.

Lurbiecki said strengthening the Tree Protection Bylaw was a positive step, but significant mature tree loss had already occurred. She opposed the Coronation Park development partly because hundreds of mature trees would be lost. The bylaw should protect the urban forest without placing a disproportionate burden on individual homeowners while still allowing large developments to clear-cut, she said. She said she successfully brought forward a requirement to review the strengthened bylaw’s effectiveness after one year to ensure it is doing its intended job.

On homelessness, Lurbiecki said the issue is complex and driven by unaffordable housing and gaps in mental health care, addiction treatment and support. Visible homelessness is less prevalent in Port Moody than in neighbouring communities, she said, but some residents are homeless or at risk. Municipalities cannot address the issue alone; regional collaboration and accessible provincial services are essential. She said low-barrier housing is unsuitable for Port Moody because of a lack of adequate local wraparound services. Port Moody Voice’s platform focuses on prevention, connecting vulnerable residents with regional supports and housing policies that serve different income levels. Its proposed Community Clinic could improve access to family doctors and care for vulnerable residents, she said.

Lurbiecki said she was not aware of a proposal to introduce this technology in Port Moody and that privacy would be her initial concern. Public safety matters, but so does protecting residents’ rights, she said. If a proposal came before council, she would want a clear understanding of its purpose, privacy implications and safeguards, along with meaningful public consultation. A Port Moody Voice council would ensure major projects have community support before moving forward, she said.

Lurbiecki described the next term’s top priority as getting Port Moody back on a better path. That means repealing the 14-tower framework, updating the OCP and starting work on a Business and Jobs District to create local employment. The city also needs more family-sized housing, infrastructure that keeps pace with development and tangible progress on expanding Rocky Point Park, she said. Underlying those priorities must be a more transparent, accountable city hall that listens to residents and follows through on commitments.

Lurbiecki said she has spent four years advocating for residents at the council table, often as the lone vote on decisions that will shape Port Moody for generations. She has listened, challenged decisions and stood by her principles, she said, but one vote is not enough to change the city’s direction. She is running for mayor alongside four Port Moody Voice council candidates who share a commitment to a better plan for the city. Together, they want to restore trust, protect what makes Port Moody special and deliver results. She asked residents to help bring about that change.