RR-1(i)
VANCOUVER CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
Report to Council
on Convention Centre: Site Selection Criteria
INTRODUCTION
The Vancouver City Planning Commission agrees that a new convention
centre would have a very significant impact on the City of Vancouver.
With this in mind, the Commission has re-examined the relevant elements
of CityPlan, toured each of the proposed sites, and examined each of the
proposals.
This report begins with "PRINCIPLES", follows with "COMMENTS AND
OBSERVATIONS" and concludes with "RECOMMENDATIONS".
This report deals with site evaluation criteria for the proposed
convention centre. Issues related to programming and built form will be
the subject of later reports.
The Commission recognizes that the intent of Phase 1 of the evaluation
process is to examine all sites and from that examination to outline
considerations and conditions which should be attached to each site for
the development of a successful convention centre. In the Commission's
work on this, it became obvious to the Commission that one site clearly
offered more benefit to the City in terms of "city building" than did
the other two sites. So, while we were not expecting to make a specific
site recommendation at this phase, the Commission feels obligated to
advise Council on its findings. In the development of specific
conditions related to each of the proposed sites as if each site were
equally beneficial to the City, the Commission fears that the trees may
hide the forest - the broad view may be lost.
This paper includes criteria which the Commission considers important in
evaluating the sites from a "city building" perspective. Based on the
Commission's evaluation of these criteria, one site is clearly
advantageous. The Commission members believe unanimously that, at this
stage in the process, convention centre development on the Georgia-
Dunsmuir site could offer the City of Vancouver the most far-reaching
benefits.
PRINCIPLES
From CityPlan:
1. Ensure that "the number and quality of the City's public places
match the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse population"
of our City.
2. ..."promote more attractive and usable downtown plazas and parks".
3. ..."continue to protect public views of water and mountains".
4. Encourage "more intensive, shared use of public space".
5. "Consider environmental impacts when making decisions on land
use...".
6. "Use incentives...to encourage individuals and businesses to help
improve the environment and conserve resources".
7. Expand "measures to protect heritage structures..."
From VCPC Discussions
8. No white elephants: Development of this scale must be both
enduring and flexible enough to accommodate evolving ways of
"convening" which are consistent with the City's social and
economic objectives. Even more extreme "recycling" of the facility
to other uses should be possible.
9. No islands: A Project which by necessity has a significant impact
on the urban landscape must complement the urban environment, both
physically and socially; the development must be knit as seamlessly
as possible with the surrounding City and contribute significantly
to the adjacent non-convention users.
10. Contribution to livability: The convention centre must contribute
to the humanness of the City and enhance in a measurable way the
attractiveness, livability and utility of the City for its
residents.
11. Opportunity cost: The City must in part base its conclusion as to
location on the cost and benefit of not having (as well as having)
the convention centre on a particular site.
12. True cost accounting: To the extent possible, having regard to
social objectives (which should be identified, along with any
related subsidy), the cost (actual and opportunity) of the
convention centre should be borne by those who benefit. If City
taxpayers are expected to pay, directly or indirectly, for all or
some of the costs, these taxpayers should benefit.
COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS
In our discussions of the proposals, the following criteria have come
forward as being the most significant for evaluating benefit to the
City. The criteria have been used in our assessment of site selection.
The criteria are not listed in any particular order.
The convention centre should:
- provide more and better public places for use by Vancouver
residents;
- improve existing public places for use by Vancouver residents;
- be the highest and best use of the site (taking into account other
uses which could reasonably be expected to come forward);
- be economically viable in the long-term;
- contribute to the vision of Vancouver endorsed by residents and to
the planning initiatives currently underway;
- complement existing public buildings and facilities;
- make our City safer;
- minimize negative environmental impact;
- contribute to the cleanup of a contaminated site rather than expose
the environment to further contamination;
- preserve heritage buildings or distinctive elements of the natural
landscape;
- create better vehicular access to the site and the surrounding
area.
MAJOR RECOMMENDATION
We recognize that there are other criteria to be considered in
evaluating the final proposals. We also appreciate the criteria may be
weighted differently by different parties. In the Commission's view,
the above criteria are the most important for the City's interests.
Based on our evaluation of the three sites under these criteria, the
Commission has concluded unanimously that Georgia-Dunsmuir is the best
of the three sites.
FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Before concluding negotiations the City will have to satisfy itself as
to:
- the source of the financing (e.g., hotel room tax); how much will
be public and how much will be private; it is in the City's
interest to have as much private financing as possible;
- the requirement for subsidies; who will be legally responsible;
subsidies for North American convention centres tend to increase
rather than decrease over time, some entity other than the City
must be legally responsible so the City does not inherit the
responsibility by default;
- the direct and indirect costs and benefits of the convention
centre, and that the beneficiaries are paying in proportion to the
benefit;
- the revenue to be generated from the site; the convention centre
operator should pay "full" city taxes (not grants in lieu)
calculated on the same basis as on privately operated convention,
hotel and other facilities;
- ongoing control of the site; the City must retain some control over
further development of the site and over future activities on the
site.
To further optimize the benefits of a new convention centre:
- The City must have ongoing input into convention centre activities.
- The convention centre must "belong", in an emotional sense, to the
residents of the City. The City should encourage programming
proposals which maximize this.
- The convention centre must establish environmentally sound
processes which reflect technical advances in energy generation and
efficiency. This will form a model for other large scale
development.
- The Convention centre should incorporate environmental standards
such as embedded recycling and composting, low water consumption
and energy recycling.
- The City should encourage proposals which maximize the net benefits
to adjacent residents.
- The City and the Province should evaluate the site separately from
the developer and the development. Desirable features of each of
the proposals and contributions from each of the proponents and
their advisors should be included in the final design.