POLICY REPORT

TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE

Date: April 16, 1998

Author/Local: D.Henderson/7343

F.Ducote/7795

CC File No. 5558

TO:Vancouver City Council

FROM:General Manager of Engineering Services and Director of CityPlans

SUBJECT:Broadway-Lougheed Light Rapid Transit

RECOMMENDATION

A.THAT the principles outlined in Appendix A be approved to guide the City of Vancouver’s participation in the planning stages of light rapid transit in the Broadway-Lougheed corridor.

B.THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services and Director of City Plans report back on the City’s work plan, staffing requirements and public consultation process;

C.THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of City Plans be authorized to provide for staffing secondments to the LRT Project;

D.THAT Development Applications and Rezoning Applications in the Vancouver portion of the Broadway-Lougheed corridor be monitored and that applicants be advised of the LRT project and significant opportunities and issues be reported to Council.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council endorsed Transport 2021, which recommends an Intermediate Capacity Transit System from Lougheed Mall to Vancouver’s Broadway business district as one of five such systems.

April 1994

Council recommend to the GVRD, Province, and BC Transit that a Broadway/Lougheed line to Lougheed Mall and Coquitlam Town Centre via Port Moody be the first priority line to the Northeast sector.

May 1995

Council endorsed the GVRD Livable Region Strategy which recommends the construction of Light Rapid Transit System from Coquitlam to the Central Broadway area of Vancouver as one of three priority LRT routes. June 1996

Council approved the Transportation Plan which included the following specific recommendations:

3.4(4)The City supports a minimum of three new LRT lines: the Broadway-Lougheed line to SkyTrain and on to Granville, and eventually to UBC; Richmond to Downtown; and New Westminster to North East Sector. LRT within the city should be designed and implemented to serve the needs of city riders as well as others. Overall transit services within these corridors should be enhanced as a result of the LRT, and convenient, local access to transit maintained. (Actions T4 and T5) May 1997

PURPOSE

This report recommends actions to start the City’s planning process for the Broadway-Lougheed Light Rapid Transit line in Vancouver including:

·basic principles to guide the City’s participation in the first phase of the LRT planning process

·review of City activities

·Council direction to report back on:

a) a City work program

b) administration and staffing requirements

c) a public consultation process

BACKGROUND

In 1996, Council endorsed the Livable Region Strategic Plan (LRSP), which includes four fundamental strategies to achieve a more livable region. One of the strategies focuses on transportation’s role in shaping land use and density patterns. The LRSP proposes that the majority of population growth in the Greater Vancouver Regional District to 2021 be accommodated in the Burrard Peninsula municipalities of Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam, in order to reduce automobile use, reduce trip length, and the cost of providing infrastructure to rural land.

A major component of the Strategy is the development of a series of dense mixed use town centres in the suburban municipalities, connected to each other and to Vancouver’s Downtown and Central Broadway areas by a light rail transit system along the Lougheed-Broadway corridor.

The City’s Transportation Plan approved in 1997 expanded upon Transport 2021 and the Livable Region Plan to develop mode split targets for the city’s major destinations, including Downtown, Central Broadway and UBC.

LRT Project Status and Schedule:

To set the stage for LRT planning and decisions on implementation, the following actions have been taken by the provincial government:

·opened and staffed an LRT office in December 1997, and appointed Lecia Stewart as Director

·appointed Arthur Griffiths to serve in a public consultation role and a chief negotiator, and Doris Bradstreet Daughney to lead a business advisory group

·awarded system-wide consultancy contracts for ridership projections and retail development opportunities in the corridor, and others (soils, etc.)

·called for expressions of interest from consultants and proposals to undertake technical analyses and public consultation, to be retained by April 27, 1998

·reached agreement with GVRD that the cost-sharing formula would be 60% to the province and 40% to the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority. The estimated cost of the $1.5 billion is in "as spent" dollars.

The LRT Project Team is currently preparing a work program. It proposes a five step process:

1.Identification of route options and issues - April 30, 1998

2.Short list route and station location options - June 30, 1998

3.Decision on preferred route and station location option

- Oct. 30, 1998

4.Functional Design and Mitigation Plans - Preliminary Version - February 28, 1999

5.Final Report - decide on proceeding with project - Mar. 31, 1999

The City is invited to be involved at all steps (see Appendix B). The LRT project recognizes the essential difference between Vancouver’s built-up character, where transit service is most important, and the outlying municipalities, where shaping of urban form is required to develop ridership. Accordingly, the LRT Project Team plans to award separate contracts for teams of consultants in Vancouver and the rest of the system.

In addition, two "stand-alone projects" are proposed in Vancouver,

a) a special urban design study of the Broadway/Commercial Station area, and b) a terminus design study in the vicinity of Granville and Arbutus.

The Councils of the affected municipalities in the corridor have expressed a desire for a regular reporting relationship that respects traditional staff and notification responsibilities. Thus, each municipality’s staff will report directly to their Council on the status and direction of work being done, whether by the LRT project or its consultants. An inter-municipal Technical Review Committee of key staff will provide a coordinating role across municipal boundaries. The project "Sponsor Group", LRT 2000, is made up of representatives of the affected municipalities, the GVRD and the province.

DISCUSSION

The proposed Broadway-Lougheed LRT is a major public investment that will have a significant impact on the transportation to, from and within the City. The line will provide opportunities and impose impacts on adjacent neighbourhoods and businesses. The challenge for the City is to facilitate regional transportation while ensuring the needs of Vancouver residents and businesses are addressed. There are a number of issues which will need to be addressed to meet Vancouver’s needs:

·service to users of Broadway transit

·land use

·access and mobility for residents and businesses using Broadway

·north/south arterial and Broadway traffic impacts

·mitigation

·infrastructure relocation

The main goal of Phase 1 of the LRT Study is to answer the question, "Should this LRT project proceed?" In proceeding toward this goal, there is a need to establish some guiding principles.

Principles for City Involvement in LRT System

Previous experience with rapid transit proposals - SkyTrain and the Richmond-Vancouver LRT study - suggests that it is useful for the City to adopt some basic principles for transit planning. Some suggested principles are attached as Appendix A.

In summary the principles are designed to:

·serve the transit needs of this corridor, including local as well as regional transit service

·serve existing land uses

·provide effective links to the downtown, UBC and southern destinations

·provide a high level of urban design and recognize Broadway as a "Great Street"

·provide opportunities for meaningful involvement by affected parties.

·undertake LRT planning in a collaborative way recognizing the City has ultimate responsibility for land use decisions along the route

Recommendation A. proposes the City adopt these principles as a guideline for planning studies.

Process for City Involvement

Several activities which require action arise out of the need to address the principles and issues and work effectively within the organizational framework of the project.

·Work Program:

An Engineering-Planning staff team has been formed to identify the work to be done. To date, this staff committee has:

·met with the LRT Project Representatives to identify City issues, and a range of alignment options

·prepared terms of reference for a preliminary study of an extension to the University of British Columbia (see companion report)

·started gathering background information on Council policies, land use and population and employment in the corridor

·provided the project with underground utility information

A City work program and staffing requirements are dependent on the LRT Project work plan which is still evolving. A work plan, staffing and public consultation process can be reported back to Council shortly (Recommendation B). A preliminary list of work to be done is attached as Appendix C.

Council recently provided the Vancouver City Planning Commission with $20,000 to assist in developing a wider vision for the LRT system. The work program will include a component to ensure staff resources are available to assist VCPC efforts in this area.

Staff are concerned that the compressed time frame is overly optimistic, because of the challenging content and program that includes both public consultation and extensive Council review. The City’s review and reporting process, especially at the critical Phase 3 in the Fall of 1998 when the preferred option is to be recommended by the consultants, could generate considerable interest and discussion.

·Roles and Responsibilities

The establishment of procedures and reporting relationships among the LRT project technical committee, Council and other committees, needs to be clarified. This will be included in the report back (Recommendation B).

·Staff Secondments

The LRT Project Team has requested seconded City staff to work on the project. The initial request involves:

-1 senior planner full-time for 1 year

-1 intermediate engineer for 7 months to work in the area of underground utilities

-1 intermediate engineer for 7 months to work in the traffic management area

The vacated City positions would be back-filled, which would result in temporary replacement staff being hired to continue the other work of those seconded to the project. The costs of the back-filled positions would be provided by the province’s LRT project. Recommendation C requests authority for Planning and Engineering secondments to be negotiated with the project team.

·Preserve Options

The City should take certain actions now to preserve options for LRT alignment, effective stops and interchanges, and allow for complementary development where appropriate.

Staff recommend monitoring development proposals, advising applicants of the LRT proposal, and seeking Council’s advice with respect to issues and opportunities(Recommendation D.)

·Next Steps

The following activities are proposed as a means of informing Council about this quickly unfolding project:

·briefing of Council on alignment options in May

·regular meetings with Council, to advise on the City work plan, staffing levels, consultation process, funding and evolving proposals.

CONCLUSION

This report starts the Vancouver part of the planning to determine the feasibility of proceeding with the design and construction phase of the Broadway-Lougheed Light Rapid Transit System. It is expected the planning, engineering, decision-making and public consultation work levels will be intense, over the next year.

* * * * *

APPENDIX A

PROPOSED PRINCIPLES FOR LRT PLANNING IN VANCOUVER:

Principle 1: Supply a High Level of Transit Service. The LRT system should provide transit services to meet existing and expected growth, as detailed in the Vancouver Transportation Plan and Transport 2021. LRT ridership capacity and service should be provided to help to meet the mode split targets set out in the Transportation Plan.

Principle 2: Serve the City’s Land Use, Not Shape It: LRT should support the planned development pattern and form of Vancouver’s Broadway Corridor which already provides for significant residential and commercial development. LRT is not intended to justify significant increases in residential densities or significantly alter the City’s land use pattern along the line.

Principle 3: Provide a High Standard of Urban Amenity: LRT should enhance the emerging urban design character and pedestrian amenity of Central Broadway. It should recognize central Broadway as a "Great Street".

Principle 4: Enhance Local Transit Service: In Vancouver, the transit system should provide a high level of local service to supply sufficient capacity to satisfy demand and to encourage transit use. Upon entering Central Broadway, the system should offer closer-spaced stops to encourage frequent use for all kinds of trips.

Principle 5: Linkage to Transit Services: The system must allow for effective connections with existing and future transit services, including future possible LRT extensions to downtown Vancouver, UBC and southern communities.

Principle 6: Minimize and Mitigate Impacts: Adverse community, pedestrian and traffic impacts should be minimized, and the cost of impact mitigation should be included in overall project costs. Evaluate the magnitude of and rationalize the displacement of local, circulating and through traffic on Broadway and north-south streets.

Principle 7: Provide for Meaningful Involvement of Affected Parties: The public consultation process should address the different ways that communities and other stakeholders may be affected by implementation of LRT in the City of Vancouver.

Principle 8: A Collaborative City Role: The preferred working relationship between the LRT project and the City is viewed as one that will permit timely and thorough City involvement in planning for and review of LRT route options and selection of a preferredoption.

Principle 9: Minimize the Impacts of Construction: A project of this magnitude will take several years to construct with the potential for impacts on adjoining land use and traffic. A plan is required to minimize this disruption.

APPENDIX C

POSSIBLE CITY OF VANCOUVER LRT WORK PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

Ongoing Activities

·Public consultation

·Review of Development Permits and Rezoning Applications

·Reports to Council

Stage Task

0 1. Initiate work program

2. Prepare staffing

3. Assemble information

4. Report to Council on Issues and Work Program

I 5. Review Principles/Issues

6. Develop Evaluation Criteria

7. Ridership Estimates

8. Land Use/Employment Estimates

II 9. Identify Route Options

10. Identify issues and opportunities in all options 11. Evaluate options against measurement criteria

12. Reduce Options to Short List, including potential for an extension to UBC

III 13. Select/develop Preferred Option(s)

14. Preliminary Design

IV 15. Urban Design Development of Preferred Option(s)

16. Preliminary Identification of Community Impacts

17.Determine traffic impacts on Broadway, North/South arterials and diversion to neighbourhoods

18. Mitigation Requirements

19. Implementation Plan

System Technology

Schedules

Station Design

Operating Parameters

Mitigation

20.Project Cost

V 21.Final Report

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver