Kensington-Cedar Cottage - Cityplan Meeting Minutes
Minutes from September 14, 2000 Meeting
Meeting Notes of the Kensington-Cedar Cottage CityPlan Committee
Thursday, September 14, 2000
7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Trout Lake Community Centre
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In Attendance:
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By Invitation:
Frank Ducote (Planner, City of Vancouver)
Grant Miller (Rapid Transit Office, City of Vancouver)
Kevin Van Vliet (Engineer, Solid Waste Management, City of Vancouver)
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1. Commercial Drive Pedestrian Priority Area Project
Frank Ducote highlighted ways in which the Planning and Engineering departments are pursuing a design concept for Commercial Drive (6th Avenue to 12th Avenue), that creates a pedestrian priority area, envisioned by the KCC Community Vision and the Transportation Plan. He noted that some of the funding will be coming from the SkyTrain project, for pedestrian enhancements near the new station, and the City will contribute as well. In addition, support will be sought from benefiting commercial properties. Frank also noted that a retail study of this area has recently been undertaken, to recommend the types of retail and other uses that are best suited for this location.
Questions/Answers and Comments:
Q. Will there be significant pedestrian improvements in this area (e.g. raised crosswalks)?
A. The most significant improvements will be on Commercial Drive, south of Broadway.
Q. What is the process for involving the public in this project?
A. Staff are open to suggestions. What we had in mind, is a variety of opportunities for people to get involved (e.g. public meetings, workshops and Open Houses).
Q. Trucks using Grandview Highway North and Commercial Drive continue to be a problem. What is the City doing about this?
A. Grandview Highway North has officially been removed from the Truck Route, with the timing of removal subject to the SkyTrain project schedule. GHN from Victoria to Slocan is permanently closed as a truck route and is only open to local traffic as part of the construction of SkyTrain. Once the construction is complete, the roadway will be converted to a Greenway. The remainder of GHN (Victoria to Clark), will also be permanently closed once the City knows how the construction will impact Broadway Station and what routes are required for both vehicles and trucks.
2. Garbage
Kevin Van Vliet gave a brief presentation on 2 studies that the Engineering department is currently undertaking:
a review of the number of City garbage cans in shopping areas (the criticism is that there are too few)
a review of the 2 garbage can per household limit (the problem is that householders are dumping garbage in cans in shopping areas and in parks)
With respect to the provision of garbage cans in shopping areas, Kevin noted that his department is developing a model based on the number and location of bus shelters and the number and type of business licenses in a shopping area (more businesses and bus shelters = more need for garbage cans).
With respect to the limit of 2 cans per household, Kevin noted that his department is considering extending garbage service to suites (including illegal ones), and other multiple dwelling units that presently have a 2 can limit.
Questions/Answers and Comments:
Q. Are you coordinating your study with the Park Board?
A. Not at this point, but we intend to share information with them.
Q. Did you consider using pedestrian counts or land use patterns in your model? We don't have many bus shelters on the east side, so the number of shelters may not contribute to the model.
A. We considered using pedestrian counts in the model, but they are hard to get.
Q. We need a balanced approach to this problem. Instead of increasing the 2 can limit we should be thinking about education and charging the advertisers and manufacturers. Does the Engineering department have a budget for education (e.g. leaflet to schools, residents, merchants) on ways to reduce garbage (e.g. through recycling, composting...)?
br>A. Not yet, but that's something we hope to do.
3. Kingcrest Update
After the community meeting in the spring, the Chinese Baptist Church decided that there was enough community support to go ahead with their plans to build a church on the site. Because of talk of an impending strike, the church decided to submit a development permit application as soon as possible "to get in the queue." During the summer, the church building committee worked with their architect to modify their plans in terms of CityPlan and what they heard expressed at the community meeting.
The church has invited the Kingcrest subcommittee to view the revised plans at a meeting toward the end of the month. If the Kingcrest subcommittee approves in principle, the church would like to hold a community meeting, possibly in October to seek wider community approval.
Immediately after the community meeting with the church, the Kingcrest subcommittee was informed that McDonald's had purchased an option to buy the property at the corner of Knight & Kingsway. Members were invited to attend a preliminary meeting where it was learned that McDonald's was intent on a drive-thru restaurant. To say the least, there was no architectural significance in it building plans. And nothing was pedestrian-oriented or would have contributed to building a pedestrian-oriented neighbourhood centre. The Kingcrest subcommittee adamantly objected the plans. Phil Mondor, the City facilitator, told the McDonald's representative that he could not recommend that the application proceed without significant modifications.
McDonald's withdrew its application and dropped its option on the property.
4. Windsor Way
Liz Freyman from the Windsor Way committee reported on community efforts to develop a bike route/greenway along Windsor Street. Liz noted that the goals of the committee are to calm traffic witout diverting it, to make Windsor Street pedestrian and cycle friendly, and to develop a community-led initiative. The Windsor Way committee wants to reach out to the community through PACs, park user groups and other means (hosting design charettes) to get people involved in this project. Other participants include BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation), the City (with money for swails and experimental boulevard plantings) and the Evergreen Foundation. The Windsor Way committee will meet again on October 10th. Call Liz Freyman for more information (873-3877).
5. Billboards
In response to concerns raised by residents in Kensington-Cedar Cottage and other communities across the city, City Council amended the billboard regulations to no longer allow new billboards near residential districts. At the meeting with City Council, a representative from the Pattison Group promised to deal with some of the very worst billboards. The KCC CPC agreed to pursue his promise and will contact Pattison Group to arrange a meeting.
6. KCC List Serve and Community Web Site
The KCC List Serve (an electronic forum for sharing information about KCC) is up running thanks to Stan Jang. The group agreed to limit the number of subscribers to the KCC CPC and see how things go, before expanding the list serve to a wider audience. Cathy offered to send a message to the committee with instructions on how to sign up.
7. Fraser Street Residents
Tom Little and Sharole Tylor from the Fraser Street area presented a summary of their neighbourhood's efforts at drawing attention to the problems associated with prostitution on Fraser Street (Kingsway to King Edward). Tom suggested that an alliance with the KCC CPC could be helpful in exploring solutions. Prostitution and drugs will be back on the KCC CPC agenda for October.
8. Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House - pilot project on youth
Donna, Uli, Annie and Cathy volunteered to meet to discuss a process/project for youth to get involved in community development and the KCC Vision.
9. Knight Street Update
Dale Bracewell was recently hired by the Engineering department to study arterials in the city. Planning staff (Susan and Cathy) will meet with Engineering to discuss Dale's work program (emphasizing Knight Street) and report back to the KCC CPC in October.
10. Neighbourhood Centre Planning
Aside from the work underway at Broadway & Commercial, neighbourhood centre planning has not been resourced yet. City staff (Susan and Cathy) will continue to put pressure on management to allocate resources for neighbourhood centre planning (especially for Knight & Kingsway). Cathy will give an update at the October meeting.
11. Review of C-2 Zoning Update
In July, 2000 City Council approved $140,000 for a consultant study of the C-2 commercial zoning throughout the city. Over 30 firms from the Lower Mainland have expressed interest in working on the project. The deadline for submission of proposals is September 22, 2000. Cathy will give an update at the October KCC CPC meeting.
12. Community Reports
Grays Park Grand Opening - Saturday, September 24, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
13. Volunteers to Attend the Dunbar CityPlan Committee Meeting on October 3?
Barb Wright volunteered to attend the Dunbar meeting on Tuesday, October 3, to help the community create a workable group or structure for moving forward with their Community Vision.
Meeting Adjourned - 10:00 p.m.
Next Meeting - Thursday, October 5
7:00 p.m.
Trout Lake Community Centre
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