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CITY OFVANCOUVER

Kensington-Cedar Cottage CityPlan Committee

Meeting Notes

Kensington-Cedar Cottage CityPlan Committee Meeting
Thursday, June 1, 2006
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood Pub (Dickens Room), 3728 Clark Drive, Vancouver

Chairperson: John Buckberrough

1. Welcome Sunset CityPlan Committee and Additions to the Agenda (John Buckberrough)

2. Guest Speaker: Proposed Changes to the City's Development Cost Levies (DCLs)

Thor Kuhlmann, a Planner with the City of Vancouver, presented and received the Committee's feedback on the proposed changes to the City's DCLs.

Thor Kuhlmann explained to the Committee that on April 20, 2006 City Council received a report about proposed changes to the DCL system. Council asked City staff to consult with key stakeholders and report back. He explained that he was seeking the CityPlans Committees' comments and feedback on the proposed changes.

For a copy of the report: http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20060420/documents/pe9.pdf

As the City of Vancouver grows new residents increase the demand for parks, childcare, affordable housing and engineering utilities (transportation, water supply and sewerage/drainage). To help provide these growth-related facilities, the City collects Development Cost Levies (DCLs) from new developments. The City is currently proposing changes to its DCLs for two reasons:

a. Presently, one, two and three unit housing projects do not pay DCLs, even though they have growth costs. Representatives from the community and the development industry have told the City that this housing should pay its fair share of growth costs.

b. The City's current DCL rate would be unfairly high for low and medium density housing forms such as single family housing, duplexes and the emerging Neighbourhood Centres housing (sixplexes or row housing).

Proposed Changes
If implemented, the changes to the City's DCLs would be:

The introduction of DCLs for residential development containing fewer than four units (presently DCL exempt):

Base the residential DCL rate on project density, as follows

Residential Growth DCL Rate

Development up to 1.2 floor space ratio (FSR) $1.75 per square foot

Development at greater than 1.2 FSR $6.00 per square foot*

*$6.00 is the City-wide rate; rates vary in sub-areas.

Ensure that additions of less than 500 square feet made to residential buildings containing fewer than four units would not be required to pay the new DCLs (all other additions would still pay DCLs).

An economic review was conducted on the potential impact that the proposed DCLs would have on the economic viability of low and medium density housing in Vancouver. Thor indicated that the review found the DCLs would not reduce the affordability of new housing in Vancouver.

Following the presentation Thor distributed a comment sheet indicating that he needed feedback by June 9, 2006.

Summary of the CityPlan Committee's comments

(a) Committee asked if the DCL rate would be different for a homeowner compared to someone who renovates a house for resale?

Thor indicated that the same DCL rate would apply to everyone if the renovations added more than 500 sq.ft. of additional floor space (additions under 500 sq.ft. would be exempt from DCLs).
Some Committee members felt that the new DCL rate placed an unfair burden on homeowners trying to add an addition to their home to accommodate their family and felt that it was not necessary to apply an additional charge to homeowners renovating their own house.

(b) The committee asked if the money collected through DCLs goes back into the community that received the development or if the DCL money is redirected to amenity deficient neighborhoods?

Thor explained that DCLs may go back into the community but the amenities may not be directly adjacent to the developed site.
Some Committee members indicated that they would rather see DCL money directed to amenity deficient neighborhoods while other Committee members felt DCL money should only be directed to the community that receives the development.

(c) Committee members were concerned that the proposed DCLs would raise the cost of ground oriented housing in Vancouver and were concerned that these costs would be passed on to the buyer or renter.

(d) Committee raised a concern that the new DCLs would cause an increase in one type of housing stock?

(e) Committee was concerned that the new DCLs would have a negative impact on the City's ability to provide subsidized housing; however, Thor explained that DCLs are not applied to subsidized housing projects.

(f) The Committee inquired about how much additional money the proposed DCLs would generate for the City?

Thor indicated that the proposed DCLs would generate an additional $3 million dollars a year. In addition, he indicated that currently 80% of amenities are paid for through DCLs.

(g) A committee member pointed out that currently the commercial taxes are very high in comparison to the residential taxes and questioned if the proposed DCLs were being developed in an effort to balance the tax burden. Thor responded that the DCLs and tax rates are separate issues.

3. Guest Speaker: Rezoning Application / Inquiry for King Edward Village

Joanne Baxter, a Rezoning Planner with the City of Vancouver, presented the details of a proposal to add an additional storey to the northwest residential tower (currently 16 storeys; proposed 17storeys).

Joanne Baxter reviewed the proposal for King Edward Village (Kingsway & Knight) and reiterated to the committee that this was a preliminary meeting. The proposal:

To increase the height and Floor Space Ratio (FSR) by adding one additional floor (approximately 6,091 sq.ft.) to provide 7 residential dwelling units in the northwest tower.
Proposed height 17 storeys (existing CD-1 By-laws allows 16 storeys).
Request for additional density and height is based on the developer's need to achieve a successful lease agreement for the provision of a grocery store in the King Edward Village development.
***Note: there is a Restrictive Covenant registered against the property which does not allow a supermarket or grocery store more than 3,500 sq.ft. or a drugstore more than 6,000 sq.ft. The Restrictive Covenant is in place until 2013.

Committee's Feedback

(a) Some committee members indicated that a grocery store was part of the original deal and they do not want the developer pressuring them for additional density in exchange for something that was part of the original deal.

(b) The committee indicated that they would like to see architectural drawings depicting what the additional storey would look like and how it would impact views and shadowing.

(c) The committee is concerned that the towers seem to be progressively getting taller and taller and that the development already looks like a mega project.

(d) The committee wanted more information on how an additional storey would secure a grocery store on the site.

(e) Some committee members were concerned as to how a grocery store would impact Famous Food's business (local grocery store).

(f) The committee thought that the City was going to negotiate with Safeway to have the covenant removed and they are curious about what happened with those negotiations.

(g) Some committee members said that the whole process feels corrupt because of the years of work the community put into developing the designs and now the developer is coming back and asking to change the plans that they had all agreed on.

(h) The committee agreed that they needed more information about the proposal and requested that the developer come to their next CityPlan meeting to discuss the proposal.

4. Meeting with the Mayor: The New Sustainable City Housing Initiative (John Buckberrough / Kirsten Baillie) and CityPlans report to Council

John indicated that the Mayor had invited the CityPlan Chairs to discuss the Mayor's Sustainable Housing Initiative. John was pleased with the meeting and the Mayor indicated that he wanted to increase densities in the city in an effort to make Vancouver a more sustainable city.
The Mayor indicated his intent to develop, in consultation with the public, some overarching guidelines/principles which would form a housing charter for the city. The Mayor's housing initiative would be for the whole city and the Neighbourhood Centres program and Visions would continue as separate programs in consultation with the Mayor's housing initiative.
The Mayor would like to hold a Housing Forum to seek public input in 2007.
CityPlans is preparing a report which they will take to Council seeking direction on how planning resources should be allocated (such as the Neighbourhood Centres Delivery Programs, Local Area Planning etc). The report can be watched on the live-feed on June 27 and the public can speak to the report on June 29. The report will be sent to the Chairs of the CityPlans Committees or can be viewed on the web. Alternatively, give Kirsten your contact information if you would like a copy of the report.

5. Transportation Plan Progress Report 2006 — a presentation by Lon LaClaire, Strategic Transportation Planning Engineer

The Transportation Plan is a comprehensive, city-wide plan that set transportation mode share targets for the year 2021, outlined major initiatives, and established Transportation Policy for the City. This presentation will highlight what has been accomplished since the approval of the plan in 1997. Ten years later, the City is reflecting on progress made and considering next steps to the future.

Mr. LaClaire will provide an update on particular initiatives including:

Reducing speed limits on residential streets to 40 kph.
Reducing waiting times for pedestrians at traffic signals.
Initiating traffic calming on selected collector streets with less than 10,000 vehicles a day.

If you are interested in these and other transportation issues in the City of Vancouver, or in your neighbourhood, please join us on:

Monday, June 26, 2006
6:30 – 7:30 pm
Hastings Community Centre
3096 East Hastings Street
(Refreshments provided)

The City is interested in hearing from citizens about what in our transportation system is working and what is not. After the presentation, Mr. LaClaire will be available to take your feedback. If you wish to see a complete copy of the Transportation Plan Progress Report, please visit http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/plan/index.htm.

6. Safety / Diversity Fair (Chris Taulu)

Chris explained that the CPC would like to have a safety fair at Broadway and Commercial. The fair is scheduled for late September in conjunction with the Transit Showcase Project. A tentative date was set for Saturday, September 30, 2006.
CityPlan Committee agreed to allocate $500 for the fair.
A committee to help organize the safety fair was formed and Jason (MOBY), Denis (Dickens Group), and the City (Kirsten) agreed to help organize the event.

7. Update on the roadwork at Kingsway and Knight (Kirsten Baillie)

Kirsten reported that the City Engineering Department is extremely busy due to the large number of roadwork and development projects currently underway.
The medium from Inverness to Knight Street is scheduled to start late September 2006 and construction will take a couple of months due to the rail tracks that run down Kingsway which make the construction more difficult.
The medium from Knight to Perry Street will be done once the development at Kingsway and Knight is complete.

Committee's Concerns

(a) Concerned that the project is going to run out of money before the street improvements are done.

(b) The business owner of the Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House is trying to continue the momentum for positive change that the Neighbourhood Centre Delivery Program started but other businesses are reluctant to participate because they don't think the City is on board because of the delays.

8. Public Information Meetings on Highway Oriented Retail (HOR) Policies and Guidelines

June 5 (Monday)
7:00-9:00 pm

June 6 (Tuesday)
7:00-9:00 pm

Scottish Cultural Centre
Hebridean Room
8886 Hudson Street Vancouver

Henderson Elementary School Annex
Gym
801 East 54th Avenue
Vancouver

9. Updates on Community Initiatives

Community Clean-ups

Reported that the various community clean-ups were very successful with lots of volunteers. Volunteers noticed that they collected considerably less garbage than previous years and contributed that to a greater level of community involvement and ownership of public spaces.

MOBY Block Party

(i) The MOBY block party was a huge success with 4 bands, a DJ, face painting, cob-shed demonstration, the Community Policing Centre, and Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House all coming out. In addition, an elementary school came out and sold some plants which was a big success.

(ii) MOBY is noticing significantly less garbage on the site since the garden has been built. The garden plots are expected to be completed in the next 2 weeks and the water lines have been built. Construction of the cob-shed will begin this month.

Dickens Annex held a successful Spring Fling raising $7,000 to support programs and enrichment activities.
Cedar Cottage Community Carnival is on June 3 from 10am-4pm (free admission).

10. Developments (Kirsten Baillie)

1401 East 28th Avenue is the first development in the emerging Neighbourhood Centres housing / zoning.

11. Next Meeting (John Buckberrough)

September 7, 2006 at Trout Lake Community Centre

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Questions or Comments? E-mail: cityplan@vancouver.ca