Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Standing Committee on City Services & Budgets

FROM:

Director, Office of Cultural Affairs in consultation with the Manager of Building Management

SUBJECT:

1998 Capital Budget: City-owned Cultural Facilities

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

Council approved a funding allocation for City-owned social service and cultural facilities within the 1997-1999 Capital Plan and approved an allocation of $50,000 in the 1997 Capital Budget and $478,000 in the 1998 Capital Budget.

Currently, non-profit organizations occupying City-owned buildings are charged a nominal rent but have very different levels of responsibility for repairs, maintenance and capital improvements.

Approval of grants requires eight affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

This report outlines a process to repair the building infrastructure of the City-owned facilities leased to non-profit cultural organizations and seeks Council's approval of a series of steps to begin to bring three buildings to a better standard of repair.

BACKGROUND

The City owns a range of facilities which are operated by non-profit cultural organizations. A complete list of City-owned cultural facilities (excluding the Civic Theatres) is attached to this report at Appendix "A".

Unlike the major cultural institutions (Van. Museum, Van. Art Gallery, etc.) and the city-owned childcare facilities, the City does not provide for any regular program of repairs or maintenance for these buildings. Under the current lease agreements, the operating societies pay a nominal rent but are responsible for all building repairs and maintenance. However, they do not have the resources or expertise to provide basic maintenance let alone substantive preventative maintenance and consequently the buildings are in need of attention. With the scarce funding available to these societies, they have focused their resources on program delivery and not attended to basic building infrastructure.

Several of the societies have undertaken some renovation work in the past but it has generally been in response to senior government funding programs and the renovations, while beneficial to service improvements, do not address the basic building infrastructure. Many funders and private donors will fund capital to improve programs but are reluctant to provide grants and donations to repair and maintain the City's buildings. Consequently, we have facilities in which the base building is deteriorating but the program delivery infrastructure is new. For example, one theatre has state of the art sound and lighting equipment but window sills are falling off.

A series of concerns arise if building maintenance is not improved:

· liability for unsafe conditions, in particular in buildings with vulnerable occupants (ie. children and seniors) or in cases of public assembly (theatres);
· theft and loss of assets (through rotting doors and windows);
· emergency requests to the City for more costly repairs. A program of preventative maintenance is far more cost effective than a series of emergency repairs;
· deterioration of the City's assets;
· deterioration of the services provided to the public as societies continue to use program funds to cover minimal facilities costs;
· poor public perception of City assets.

While it may be deemed preferable for the non-profit tenants to shoulder the full responsibility for repairs and maintenance, in reality, they have not had the resources to both provide for their services and programs and maintain the City's buildings. If the City continues to leave the full responsibility with the tenants, staff are concerned that the buildings will further deteriorate and the City will be faced with increasing requests for costly emergency repairs and/or serious liability claims.

DISCUSSION

One-time Capital Improvements:
Building Management staff have inspected the buildings and have developed, with Cultural Affairs staff, a program and budget to bring these buildings up to acceptable standards. The top priority for repairs in 1998 are three cultural facilities - the Firehall Arts Centre, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and the Pacific Cinecentre. A list of capital repair estimates, totalling $325,000 is attached to this report as Appendix "B". In summary, the major areas of concern are as follows:

Firehall Arts Centre ($266,500)
The exterior of this heritage building is in serious need of repair. The wooden window and door frames have rotted through, masonry window lintels have fallen from the upper storey to the sidewalk on Gore Street and the brickwork mortar is crumbling. There is duct work but no air handling system in the auditorium making the theatre difficult to use and rent in the summer months. The existing hot water heating system has not been serviced in some time and the functionality is in question. At present, Building Management Department does not have the mandate and the resources to control and address the maintenance issues of this facility.

Vancouver East Cultural Centre ($16,000)
Work carried out under the Canada/B.C. Infrastructure program made significant improvements to the interior of the building with new seating, lighting and sound systems. The exterior of building however, needs repairs - the doors are rotting and the fire escape, installed by the City in 1991 has not been painted for weather protection. The boiler has not been serviced in recent memory and needs to be repaired and overhauled. At present,Building Management Department does not have the mandate and the resources to control and address the maintenance issues of this facility.

Pacific Cinecentre ($42,500)
This space was originally intended as a bonused facility but on completion, the developer went bankrupt and the City acquired the Cinecentre strata lot. There is some question as to whether the building was completed to a normal standard of finishing. There are no extant drawings to confirm systems and it would appear that some fixtures and systems do not meet current code. It is a heavily used public facility with more than 500+ screenings per year. The public areas are in serious need of repair and refurbishment, in particular the public washrooms. At present, Building Management Department does not have the mandate and the resources to control and address the maintenance issues of this facility.

Ongoing Maintenance and Repairs:
The City will soon be undertaking a planning program to provide the framework within which annual major maintenance and capital budgets will be developed. This will provide a consistent and automatic triggering mechanism to deal with the type of issues mentioned above in all City facilities and assets.

Staff are proposing to undertake the one-time repairs outlined in this report in order to bring the buildings up to a basic level of repair and report back to Council with a program to ensure ongoing maintenance and repair with budget implications.

Staff do not propose that the City assume the full responsibility for maintenance. The Societies still be required to do preventative maintenance (ie. annual service inspections) but not assume responsibility for either basic repairs and maintenance (ie. system failures) or major structural repairs (ie. repointing, re-roofing).

Building Management is at present developing a Preventative and Predictive Maintenance Plan for the facilities that are now under their control. This is being accomplished by utilizing a comprehensive Computerised Maintenance Management System that will be transferred to SAP Plan Maintenance when it comes on line. These types of systems allow for consistent, trackable service that guarantees proper basic maintenance as well as ensures that all codes and regulations are met.

Building Management staff recommend that once these buildings are brought to an acceptable level of repair as proposed in this report, and are added to the Computerized Maintenance Management System, they will be able to track and monitor the Societies preventative maintenance programs as well as plan for basic and major repairs and maintenance.

Lease Agreements:
The leases for non-profit organizations occupying City-owned buildings are inconsistent. Many were written decades ago and have been extended and amended several times. In 1994 Council rationalized the grouping of these City-owned facilities by transferring those buildings held by the Property Endowment Fund where they paid market rent, to Capital Assets and correspondingly reduced grants but the leases were not rewritten to reflect the new rent of $1 per year.

Staff will review and report back to Council with proposed lease amendments for City-owned facilities leased to non-profit social service, and cultural organizations to reflect the proposed responsibilities for maintenance and repairs developed through the process outlined above.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

On May 28, 1998 Council approved an allocation of $478,000 for City-owned social service and cultural facilities within the Capital Budget. $50,000 was approved in 1997 for HVAC for the Firehall Arts Centre. Staff are recommending that $325,000 as outlined in this report be approved for three projects which are the highest priority for completion in 1998.

Staff will report back to Council with budget implications for inclusion in the City's basic maintenance program.

CONCLUSION

The City's social service and cultural facilities are important civic assets which need to be maintained in a systematic manner. By first bringing them back to an acceptable standard of repair and then including them in the review of civic facilities for basic ongoing maintenance, staff believe that their value and the value of their programs and services to the public can be secured.

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Appendix A
Page 1 of 1

CITY-OWNED FACILITIES OCCUPIED BY NON-PROFIT CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

Nominal lease - no maintenance assistance:

    
       

Firehall Arts Centre

280 East Cordova Street

    

Heritage Hall

3102 Main Street

    

Hodson Manor

1254 West 7th Avenue

    

Pacific Cinecentre

1131 Howe Street

    

Public Dreams Society

325 East 5th Avenue

    

Vancouver Academy of Music

1270 Chestnut Street

    

Vancouver East Cultural Centre

1885 & 1895 Venables Street

    
       
       

Bonused facilities with 15-20 year operating cost (incl. maintenance) allowance:

Canadian Craft Museum

639 Hornby Street

    

Community Arts Council

837 Davie Street

    

Vancouver Cultural Alliance

928 Howe Street

    

Cdn. Music Centre/VNMS

488 Robson St (approved 1998 but not completed)

       

Major institutions with City maintenance assistance:

    

Pacific Space Centre

1100 Chestnut Street

    

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street

    

Vancouver Maritime Museum

1905 Ogden Avenue

    

Vancouver Museum

1100 Chestnut Street

    

Appendix B
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CITY-OWNED CULTURAL FACILITIES
COST ESTIMATES

Firehall Arts Centre:

Pacific Cinecentre:

Vancouver East Cultural Centre:

* some additional funds allocated to these items through the Canada/British Columbia Infrastructure Program.

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