29 July 2005
CP Rail Roasted at Open House
Pitt Meadows - While much of the material from Tuesday
night's Pitt Meadows open house on transportation had been rehashed, there were several interesting
new developments that came up.
First, we learned Annette Code, president of the Pitt Meadows Heritage Museum and Society, does not
want an overpass at Harris Road. It's partly because she loves going for walks in the area, but she is
also terrified of heights.
After most of the public questions or comments directed at Mayor Don MacLean or the representatives
from CP Rail, the Gateway program and TransLink, there was serious clapping going on.
Following Code's comments, there was dead silence within the Old Recreation Hall as the crowd tried to
wrap their brains around the concept of not building a bridge based on one person's fear of heights.
People were equally puzzled when Code, a former school trustee, took the stance that Pitt Meadows
residents should have known what they were getting themselves into when they looked at moving into the
area.
Code has lived in Pitt Meadows since 1974 and says she was well aware that a CPR intermodal yard could
be coming to the community.
"When you moved into Pitt Meadows and you came to look at a house, did you not go over the
railway tracks?" asked Code.
Before Code, it was pretty much a free-for-all, with residents taking their turns
blasting CP Rail communications representative Rick Poznikoff, who responded admirably given the tough
crowd.
They implored Pitt Meadows council to think "outside the box" in coming up with a way to
build an overpass/underpass at the Harris Road crossing.
Colin Leyh has lived in Pitt Meadows for four years and said he would like to see council become more
aggressive in lobbying the provincial government, the federal government and CPR to help out with
funding for an overpass/underpass.
At the start of the CPR discussions, MacLean said it will cost roughly $15 million to build a crossing
at Harris Road, essentially restricting any other capital projects from being built for quite some
time.
"I'm sorry but $15 million is a drop in the bucket for these other groups," said Leyh.
Frustrated Pitt Meadows resident Don West came up with an interesting concept when he suggested that,
perhaps, CPR should be worrying about building their tracks under or over Harris Road, as opposed to
the district having to build their own solutions. That idea was quickly shot down by Poznikoff, who
listened, but didn't offer up much in the way of solutions.
When asked how many trains passed through the Harris Road crossing on a daily basis, Poznikoff
estimated the number to be around 35 trains per day, including the West Coast Express.
About six or seven of those trains are intermodal trains, he said.
"But the eastbound ones leave before people wake up," said Poznikoff.
"They leave at 3:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.," interrupted Leyh, who said the trains often wake
him up in the mornings.
Emergency response concerns were brought up on several occasions and Poznikoff said CPR is committed
to working with the municipality in that regard.
"Our idea is to move products and not to bother the public," said Poznikoff. "If we
can, we'd love to increase the speed (of our trains) and maybe that's something we need to look at,
but not at the sacrifice of safety."
Some residents even asked for a question relating to whether residents want a crossing at Harris Road
to be included in the upcoming referendum.
TransLink representative Doug Friesen gave brief presentation on the Golden Ears Crossing and Gateway
program representative Don Wharf, gave a brief presentation on the Pitt River Bridge.
Mandy and Lee Mendoza recently moved to Pitt Meadows three weeks ago, after leaving Coquitlam because
they felt it was too congested. They had lived in Pitt Meadows about 10 years ago and have always
loved the community.
"We're just concerned about the traffic but we're glad that the horse manure is not as strong as
10 years ago," said Lee. "Do you know why that is?"
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