POLICY REPORT
BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT

Date: July 16, 1999
Author/Local: RWhitlock/7814

RTS No. 00893
CC File No. 5302

Council: July 27, 1999

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of Current Planning
SUBJECT :	Text Amendment to Schedule C of Zoning and Development By-law No. 3575 [Streets Requiring Landscape Setbacks]

CONSIDERATION

THAT the application by Tom Bunting, Bunting Coady Architects, to amend Schedule C of Zoning and Development By-law No. 3575 be referred to a Public Hearing, together with draft amending by-law provisions generally as contained in Appendix A.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services submits the foregoing for CONSIDERATION.

COUNCIL POLICY

Hastings-Sunrise Plan, approved by City Council May 28, 1985, under the heading "Lougheed and Boundary Industrial Area":

Policy 6.4 The area should be made to be as attractive as possible to create and maintain a high quality development appearance and particular attention should be paid to sites in prominent locations or abutting major public thoroughfares.

Action #1 Retain the 12.1 m (40 ft.) landscaped setback requirement along Boundary Road, Grandview Highway, Broadway and Lougheed Highway frontages of this industrial area and rezone the narrow strips of RT-2 zoning along Broadway and Grandview Highway to industrial use.

Action #2 Establish a 7.315 m (24 ft.) landscape setback requirement along the east side of Renfrew Street for a distance of 158.5 m (520 ft.) south of Broadway

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

During the course of the extended Public Hearing for I-3 rezoning of the Bentall site at 2900 East Broadway (southeast corner of East Broadway and Renfrew Street), the owner stated that optimum development rights would not be achieved if landscape setbacks required under Schedule C of the Zoning and Development By-law remained as presently described. This report brings forward the necessary changes to alter these setbacks if Council wishes to proceed.

DISCUSSION

Background: Landscape setbacks were established in 1956 as part of the new Zoning and Development By-law. On East Broadway and Lougheed Highway within Vancouver these setbacks have been maintained, noting that they only apply to I and M zones (the gas station at Renfrew and Broadway is zoned C-1). Enforcement problems have been experienced with similar setback requirements on Marine Drive, notably with new car dealerships. No such enforcement problems are recorded for the setbacks in this area.

The 1985 Hastings-Sunrise Plan recommended that the existing 12.1 m (40 ft.) setback be maintained and a further landscape setback of 3.6 m (11.8 ft.) be added along the western edge of the site. Both are still in place.

Request: The applicant's request to reduce the setback to 7.62 m (25 ft.) is put forward for the following reasons:

1. The intention is to retain the existing warehouse and convert it to a parking structure on top of which five new buildings will be constructed.

2. The location of the large existing structure on the site necessitates location of an internal (east-west) circulation route directly to the north of the existing building.

3. This new road and the location of the existing warehouse determine the southern edge of the new construction along Broadway.

Consequently, the applicant maintains that the new buildings along Broadway (Buildings 1, 2 and 3; see attached plan in Appendix B) must encroach into the 12.1 m (40 ft.) setback. Also, because the existing warehouse can only carry a limited amount of light-weight new structure, the proposal is limited to three storey buildings on the existing building footprint. Building sizes along Broadway have been increased to achieve the necessary site density. The applicant is therefore requesting reduction of the existing setback to 7.62 m (25 ft.).

Staff Response: Administration of the setback requirement has been to allow driveways and surface parking areas within the setback area, but no structures. A visual survey done in preparation for this report has confirmed that this has been consistently implemented. These setbacks continue to provide a "green" separation between industrial and adjoining residential districts which is the intent of the original zoning as reinforced through the years in other policies.

From a recent updated evaluation, staff will be reporting shortly to Council on policies and guidelines for the I-3 area along East Broadway. Retention of setbacks is recommended to "provide a necessary green buffer zone to nearby residential and other uses, as well as a suitable gateway to the city as experienced from region-serving arterials and transit systems".

In view of the clear policy direction on these setbacks and because they have long existed, have generally been respected, and continue to be relevant, staff do not recommend the requested change. However, since facilitating the I-3 development is in the interest of job creation and economic diversification in the City, the proposal is put forward for Council's consideration.

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APPENDIX A

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO SCHEDULE C
[STREETS REQUIRING LANDSCAPED SETBACKS]

Zoning and Development By-law No. 3575

1. Replace the following:

"Broadway and Lougheed Highway, south side,
from Slocan Street to Boundary Road 12.1 m"

with:

"Broadway, south side, from Slocan Street to Renfrew Street 12.1 m

"Broadway, south side, from Renfrew Street to Nootka Street 7.6 m

"Broadway and Lougheed Highway, south side,
from Nootka Street to Boundary Road 12.1 m"

APPENDIX B

Site Plan for 2900 East Broadway

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver