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PCI Developments has submitted a rezoning proposal to the City of Port Moody to build two residential towers in the city’s Moody Centre neighbourhood.

The buildings are a part of the parcel that makes up the and would be located adjacent to the area’s SkyTrain station.

According to the development would consist of two 39-storey residential towers on a single podium designed for commercial and amenity use. Combined, the towers would provide 857 new secured rental homes, with five per cent being below market rates.

PCI will build a 40,000-square-foot grocery store on the second level of the podium and more than 15,000-square-feet of retail.

The development will provide 605 parking spaces with 423 of those designated for residents, 166 for general commercial and visitor use, eight spaces for the artist studio and another eight for MODO care share.

The site encompasses 60 Williams St. and 3006-3020 Spring St. As it sits, the site consists of warehouses, parking and drive aisles.

PCI is also proposing to “daylight” Slaughterhouse Creek, which runs directly through the proposed site and discharges into the Burrard Inlet.

, daylighting streams means to uncover water sources that have been covered generally by human activities.

“Vancouver was once a temperate rainforest with a vast network of natural streams and creeks. As the city developed and grew, many streams were directed into pipes, filled in, or diverted to manage rainwater and wastewater,” the city writes.

Benefits of daylighting streams include enhancing the natural environment, improving air quality, cooling temperatures, creating habitat, increasing tree canopy and native plant species, capturing carbon and providing a pathway for rainwater drainage, among others.

According to PCI, 94 per cent of Slaughterhouse Creek is currently underground due to previous development. If the development moves forward, it could once again be a part of Port Moody’s topography.

As Port Moody’s epithet is “City of the Arts,” PCI has proposed to build a more than 4,000-square-foot artist studio “fronting the new daylit creek and Golden Spike lane extension,” reads the proposal.

The development will also be part of the Moody Centre Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Master Plan, which was adopted in 2017 and developed in part with PCI. However, the plan is still waiting implementation via an official community plan amendment.

The TOD plan is made up of many different landowners who own properties around the Moody Centre SkyTrain station. These include the Government of British Columbia, the Bombelli Family, PCI, Beedie Development Group and Anthem Properties Group Ltd., among others.

The TOD’s adoption means the chosen area will focus on developments of mixed-use, compact communities built around public transportation.

Part of that commitment is realized through PCI building an urban plaza adjacent to the SkyTrain station on the Williams Street parcel. It will also build a new pedestrian overpass to Murray Street.

The overpass will connect to . The Murray Street development is a 12-storey mass timber mixed-use project with 207 rental homes, 8,400-square-feet of mixed employment space, 15,800-square-feet of green space, 1,000-square-feet of artist space and 149 underground parking spots.

Once the application for rezoning is approved, PCI estimates construction will take roughly 30 months.

“This proposal has been informed by over five years of extensive community engagement and collaborative work with city staff, local property owners, residents, the province, TransLink, local businesses and community organizations,” the company writes.