Oakdale is a small community within Coquitlam West that is approximately 500 homes. During the Burquitlam-Lougheed Official Community Plan update, residents of Oakdale were very concerned with any changes to their beautiful residential suburban community that they loved. They successfully lobbied to be left out of the plan.
They watched the surrounding areas sell and develop. Friends and family sold for significantly more than their properties were worth, and the extra money changed lives. They began to realize this may be a missed opportunity and possibly underestimated the benefits of land assembly.
Residents began lobbying again, but this time for more density in their area. Now they wanted much more density than was previously planned. To realize that potential residents reached out to the ApartmentBlocks team to help them unify their voice to the City of Coquitlam and maximize the area’s potential.
The ApartmentBlocks team engaged residents and provided information on the potential changes and benefits they could expect. Their experience is unparalleled in shaping community plan updates from successful involvement in the Burquitlam-Lougheed and Metrotown plan. By creating letters that expanded on and provided additional context to the city’s online surveys, residents could explain to the City staff the reasoning for their choices behind supporting more density.
The following letters the team curated provided an extensive list of Community benefits as to why the increased density positively impacted the area and must be implemented with the Oakdale land use update. This list included:
Safer with more eyes on the roads and sidewalks to prevent crime and vandalism that has been spreading since the launch of the Burquitlam SkyTrain Station.
The two letters totalled over 50 signatures from residents within the Oakdale Community and were directly implemented in the plan.
After advocating for more density, the residents could start working with the team to form land assemblies. Entire city blocks assembled, and neighbours began to receive those life-changing offers they had heard about from friends and family within the original Burquitlam-Lougheed plan. With the team’s Proactive approach, developers were bidding on these assemblies and successful negotiations led to most of the area being sold within a few short years. The end result was many happy homeowners and hundreds of lives changed!