ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: November 25, 1997

Author/Local: AHigginson/7556

CC File No.: 5311

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of Land Use and Development
SUBJECT:	Strata Title Conversion - 1688 East Broadway and 2555 Commercial Drive

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RECOMMENDATION

THAT the application to convert the previously-occupied buildings at 1688 East Broadway and 2555 Commercial Drive (Lots J and K, Block 161, D.L. 264A, Plan LMP 10187) to strata title ownership be approved in principle, but that pursuant to Section 9(1) of the Condominium Act, the Certificate of Approval (Form 10) shall not be issued unless the following condition has been met within one year of the date of this approval:

Completion of all work required by the City Building Inspector, under the required permits and at no cost to the City, in order that these previously-occupied buildings substantially comply with all relevant by-laws.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council policy is reflected in the City’s Strata Title and Cooperative Conversion Guidelines, which outline factors which Council will consider in reviewing applications for converting previously-occupied buildings to strata title or cooperative ownership.

PURPOSE

Council approval is required for an application to convert the previously-occupied buildings at 1688 East Broadway and 2555 Commercial Drive (Lots J and K, Block 161, D.L. 264A, Plan LMP10187) to strata title ownership.

BACKGROUND

Lot J is zoned C-3A and Lot K is zoned C-2C. Lot J is developed with a two-storey and Lot K is developed with a three-storey mixed-use retail/ restaurant/office building, over two levels of underground parking which extend across both parcels. The buildings abut at the property line, and visually and functionally, read as a single building. The buildings were constructed in 1993, under Development and Building Permit Nos. DE214647 and BU218068/217852, respectively.

The owners propose to register a single strata plan over the entire development, creating 54 commercial strata lots in total. The underground parking will be designated as Common Property on the strata plan. Immediately prior to filing the strata plan, a reference plan consolidating Lots J and K into one parcel will be deposited in the Land Title Office (pursuant to Section 3[1] of the Condominium Act, a strata plan must be registered over a single parcel of land).

The building is fully tenanted with commercial tenants. In accordance with Council’s policy, the tenants were notified in writing of this application, but their comments were not solicited.

The site location is shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1

STAFF ANALYSIS

In addition to Planning Department staff, the City Engineer and the City Building Inspector have reviewed this application. As the building contains only commercial tenancies, the Manager of the Housing Centre was not asked to comment.

The City Engineer has no servicing or dedication requirements for this site.

The City Building Inspector reports that there are three minor electrical deficiencies that must be rectified, under a Trades Permit, before this building will substantially comply with all relevant City By-laws. The City Building Inspector further reports that the applicant has proposed to do only a "lead plug survey" of some of the strata lot boundaries in the building. As a result, large areas that are currently being leased to one tenant, will actually comprise several strata lots. There is no objection to this form of strata plan in this circumstance and no requirement for Building By-law compliance along those strata lot boundaries at this time, as the space will continue to operate as a single entity. If in the future those individual strata lots are sold separately, however, the purchasers wanting to construct walls along their strata lot boundaries would be subject to full Building By-law compliance based on the regulations at that time.

The Director of Land Use and Development notes that creation of a split-zoned site is not generally supported. In this case however, the zoning of the two parcels is compatible and has lead to a homogenous development over the two parcels, in essence resulting in a de facto consolidation. For this reason and for the sake of greatly simplifying the strata plan for this project, the Director of Land Use and Development supports the consolidation and creation of the split-zoned site.

CONCLUSION

Based on the foregoing, and on the applicant’s compliance with the City’s Strata Title and Cooperative Conversion Guidelines, the Director of Land Use and Development supports this application.

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(c) 1997 City of Vancouver