The Colony Farm Sustainability Plan hit a snag on its path to the Metro Vancouver board after Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam expressed frustration with their lack of involvement.

The draft plan proposes significant changes for the regional park, including large-scale farms, an agricultural “sustainability academy,” a wildlife management section and an integrated area that supports both agriculture and wildlife.

Additional trails would enhance recreational uses at the park and the allotment for community gardens would be increased while new fish habitat is being proposed as part of a Port Mann construction trade-off.

As a whole, the cost of the project is estimated at about $29 million.

It’s a far-reaching plan, one that councils in Coquitlam and PoCo say they should have been involved in developing.

Neither have seats on Metro Vancouver’s parks committee and while staff have been part of some Colony Farm discussions, the two councils have only recently learned of the plan — within the last two to three weeks. (The Tri-City News published a full-page feature about the process on Sept. 18.)

“At this point, I suspect they’re a little red-faced about it,” said Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart. “Clearly, the host community has to be involved in this kind of an ambitious plan for a regional park inside the city.”

The draft plan was set to be discussed at an upcoming Metro Vancouver board meeting, at which the parks committee was hoping to get the green light to begin a public consultation phase. It was pulled off the agenda to give the two cities a chance to provide their input.

Metro park planner Will McKenna said the councils hadn’t seen the draft plan yet because an initial endorsement was first needed from the Metro board.

PoCo Mayor Greg Moore said his city’s concerns include the high cost of the project considering there was “no definitive answer” on where that money is coming from.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been trying to have the Sheep Paddocks trail opened and there hasn’t even been money to get that link opened,” he added. Moore said he’s wary of a proposal that would make agriculture a regional matter when it’s a provincial and federal government responsibility.

Burke Mountain Naturalists’ Elaine Golds (who is also The Tri-City News’ Green Scene columnist) raised additional concerns with both councils this week. “It focuses too much on agriculture and not enough on wildlife habitat and recreation trails,” she said.

Having a commercial agricultural operation in a regional public park is far from ideal, she added.

Both mayors said the draft plan offers significant benefits and they’re looking forward to both council and the public having a say in Colony Farm’s future.

“It’s a very creative way to address many issues, from farming education to urban farming to wildlife conservation, as well as attempting to increase fish stocks in the Coquitlam River,” Moore said.

“It’s one of the jewels of the Lower Mainland but it’s not polished,” Stewart said. “As we densify our neighbourhoods, we want to make sure people have a connection to the Earth if they want it.”

McKenna said that public consultation meetings were originally going to start this fall but will now likely be moved to January or after the Olympics.

spayne@tricitynews.com