Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING

 

Date: August 31, 1999

 

Author/Local: RWhitlock/7814

 

LU&D No. 99018

RTS No. 00892

 

CC File No.

TO: Vancouver City Council

FROM: Director of Current Planning

SUBJECT: CD-1 Text Amendment - 2799 Yew Street

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

The Arbutus Neighbourhood Policy Plan was approved by City Council on November 19, 1992.

Special Needs Residential Facility Guidelines, adopted by City Council September 27, 1983, amended July 25, 1989 and February 4, 1992.

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

This report assesses an application to amend the existing CD-1 to add "Special Needs Residential Facility - Congregate Housing" as a permitted use.
DISCUSSION

Use: A number of inquiries and applications have been received on various sites regarding congregate housing, and policies are being developed for presentation to Council shortly. A staff review of existing projects in the lower mainland indicates that congregate housing generally serves residents over the age of 75. Staff feel that the addition of a congregate housing building for seniors will add an "aging-in-place" dimension to the Kitsilano-Arbutus Lands area not previously provided. The use is supported.

Staff are recommending conditions of use that the applicant will need to meet at the development application stage (there is no form of development with this application). The conditions include minimum sizes for units, lounges, dining areas and multipurpose rooms. These conditions of use are included in the CD-1 By-law amendments outlined Appendix A.

Family Housing Requirement: The Arbutus Neighbourhood Policy Plan requires that "except where applicants along Arbutus or 12th cannot provide appropriate sites, a minimum of 25% of the residential units should be suitable for families and comply with the Council-adopted `High-Density Housing For Families With Children Guidelines' ".

Assessment of development approvals to date on the former Molson's site indicates that a total of the 411 dwelling units have been approved west of Yew Street, of which 230 or 56% are 2 bedrooms or more in size. With congregate housing permitted on the subject site, a 39% quotient for family units will still be maintained across the whole CD-1.

Amenity Exclusion: The applicant requested an amenity exclusion of 900 m² (9,688 sq. ft.), or 5% of the overall floor area. This CD-1 is significantly different than most zoning districts, as each development parcel is allotted 40.0 m² for amenity areas. Staff are prepared to add lounges and multi-purpose rooms to the list of exclusions, and allow an increase for congregate to 5% of the total floor area.

Strata Title Ownership: Concert Properties Ltd. proposes to strata title all of the units, sell a portion of the units as individually-owned strata congregate units, and then retain or sell the remaining block of units. Individual strata owners would contract for minimum services, e.g., a minimum number of meals, laundry, etc., while those in the block of units would pay monthly rental rates inclusive of services, which is the more standard approach with congregate housing.

All units will likely be sold or rented to middle- and upper-income seniors and affordability is not seen as a factor in the review of this proposal (a 53 unit housing co-operative has been provided as the non-market requirement for the overall site when it was rezoned).

Staff have questions about the mixing of rental and strata, and how the service packages will be managed. Some questions may be resolved, at least in part, when the service provider is chosen by the applicant and the specific arrangements are known:

1. will there be a single strata council for both groups of units, or separate strata councils?
2. what will the voting power be between individually-owned units and those held in a block - this will be important in regard to whether decisions are made in favour of individually-owned units or in favour of the service provider/owner of the block of units?
3. what guarantees are there that services will be maintained?
4. how will amenity spaces be controlled and regulated? and
5. what rights do owners and tenants have under this approach?

Staff are concerned about these issues because congregate is a new field and it is not clear that existing Provincial tenant and strata regulations adequately protect seniors who rent/buy into these projects. Dealing with this is a provincial responsibility and, in fact, the Provincial Housing Policy Branch is in the process of exploring a number of questions in this area, e.g., the possibility of operating standards; residential tenancy and real estate transaction issues;
and other issues.

Pending clarification from the Province, which may only come in the longer term, staff recommend that both Concert Properties Ltd. and the operator of the rental congregate units be requested to make clear to prospective buyers/renters the limitations of congregate service packages. [This is important because, while congregate housing generally offers a good level of support which helps people extend their years of independence, and while additional personal support and nursing services are available from outside agencies, at some point, seniors or their families still have to make the decision to move to Intermediate/Multi-level Care when necessary.]

Parking: The applicant has requested a parking standard of one space for every four units. Engineering Services has reviewed this request and is supportive, based on experiences with other similar projects.

Safety: During review of this rezoning application staff have identified a concern related to the aging in place of seniors. A congregate housing building must be designed to conform to the applicable requirements of the Vancouver Building By-law as a residential Class C use at occupancy for an apartment building. However, the majority of the residents are expected to be over 70 years of age and although they may be ambulatory, the likelihood that they have, or will experience some form of health problems over time (decreased mobility, hearing loss, visual impairment, etc.) will be high. Staff feel that either some additional safety enhancements or some assurance that aging residents will be accommodated as their health declines is required.

The proposed enhancements include items such as in-suite emergency call buttons, fire alarm features that provide signals that supplement audible alarms (such as strobe lights) and provision of a fire safety plan that includes staff assistance to residents in case of emergency. These safety enhancements are not intended to make congregate facilities meet licensed care facility requirements but they are intended to ensure that the building meets the needs and provides a safe environment for residents. The enhancements are included in the draft congregate housing guidelines and have been reviewed by the City Building Inspector, but not yet finalized for Council adoption. Staff recommend that the enhancements listed in Appendix B be approved as conditions that must be considered prior to Council approval of the form of development following submission of a development application.

Call systems vary and many congregate facilities appear to use a combination of systems, including call buttons in washrooms and units, intercoms, personal pendants, special telephones, etc. Staff are not in a position to comment on specific systems but recommend that the chosen system[s] cover units and unit washrooms, as well as washrooms in common areas and areas such as basement storage or any other area which are relatively isolated and where an individual resident could be at risk. Detailed safety issues will be dealt with at the development application stage.

24-Hour On-Site Response: One of the important elements in the proposed congregate housing guidelines is 24-hour on-site emergency response. Based on discussions with both private and non-profit operators, staff believe that an on-site response capability is essential. This means a person on-site who can respond to an emergency call, go to the resident, and call for appropriate help. Staff believe that an off-site system would result in delays in response and would compromise the safety and well-being of residents.

Staff have checked with three existing congregate housing projects (two in Vancouver, one in Burnaby), which are similar to the applicant's building, in that none has an adjacent care wing which would automatically have staff available 24 hours. One of these is a market building and two are non-profit affordable buildings in relation to cost to residents. All three of these "stand-alone" buildings have 24-hour on-site staff who respond to calls. They use a combination of special phones/intercoms and call buttons in bathrooms and living areas and/or personal call-pendants.

Staff believe that the requirement for 24-hour on-site emergency response capability is both reasonable and essential for resident safety, and therefore recommend it as a condition of use for this application.

CONCLUSION

Staff conclude that this project will introduce an alternative form of housing and a wider range of age groups into the area. The Director of Current Planning recommends that the application be referred to Public Hearing, and that it be approved.


* * * * *

ag990914.htm

APPENDIX A

DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO CD-1 BY-LAW No. 7461

1. Add use term "Special Needs Residential Facility - Congregate Housing" subject to the following conditions of use.

2. Add the following conditions of use:

3. Add the following minimum floor area requirements:

4. Exempt congregate housing from the 2 or more bedroom requirement in Table 1 for Parcel 6.

5. Add lounges and multi-purpose floor space associated with congregate housing to the list of excluded floor areas and allow a maximum 5% exclusion for a congregate new change housing project, plus a relaxation clause to allow enclosed balconies along West 12th Avenue.

6. Add to off-street parking and loading requirements that parking for Special Needs Residential Facility - Congregate Housing will be provided at the rate of one space for every four units.

APPENDIX B

PROPOSED CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL

(a) THAT prior to approval by Council of the form of development, the applicant shall obtain approval of a development application by the Director of Planning, who shall have particular regard to the following safety enhancements:

(b) THAT prior to enactment of the amending by-law, the owner shall enter into an agreement to the satisfaction of the Director of Legal Services, the Manager of the Housing Centre and the Director of Social Planning, agreeing to deal with the following matters at the development application stage:

(c) THAT prior to enactment of the amendment, the non-discrimination clause related to families for all sites in this CD-1 be altered to eliminate this site.

APPENDIX C

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Background: The site was rezoned from M-1 to CD-1 as part of the former Carling/Molson brewery site, situated in the Arbutus Industrial area. The site addressed as 2799 Yew Street is Parcel 6 within the larger CD-1.

Form: The present structure of the CD-1 involves Council-approved guidelines which will be used to assess the proposal once plans are presented. Council will be asked to approve the form of development once it has been processed by staff.

Special Needs Residential Facility Guidelines: Congregate housing facilities may be exempted from the spacing requirement of at least 200 m (656 ft.) between special needs residential facilities. In the case of this project, which is totally focused to seniors, there is no reason to invoke this requirement. Other operational considerations are to be investigated at the development application stage.

Public Input: Concert Properties Ltd. sponsored a well attended Open House on June 29, 1999, for which staff were also present. The few comments received were all positive.

Comments of the City Engineer: The City Engineer has no objection to the proposed rezoning.

Environmental Implications: Nearby access to transit and commercial services may reduce dependence on use of automobiles.

Social Implications: The addition of housing which will more specifically cater to the needs of seniors is seen as a positive initiative.

There are no implications with respect to the Vancouver Children's Policy or Statement of Children's Entitlements.

Comments of the Applicant: The applicant has been provided with a copy of this report and has provided the following comments:

"The Development and Building Policy Report prepared August 31, 1999 has been reviewed. Concert Properties has not yet selected a service provider for the development. However we have spent a great deal of time researching, viewing and discussion the appropriate services for this development. It has become apparent that every service provider has a unique amenity and service program for their communities. We therefore request that the zoning text allow for this flexibility. We are confident that the same objectives can be achieved, and the residents can be well serviced with a variety of space plans and amenity programs.

We concur with the Recommendation and conditions of approval outlined in the report with the exception of the following:

It is being proposed that the following conditions be incorporated directly into the text of the CD-1 By-law. Some of these requirements are presently only in a draft form of congregate housing guidelines. We would prefer that these requirements not be incorporated specifically into the text of the zoning but be included as inclusive in Appendix B - Conditions of Approval (b)5; that at the Development Application stage the general design to be in accordance with the draft congregate housing guidelines. This would allow some flexibility in the amenity design for each service provider, without requiring another zoning text amendment.

Appendix A - CD-1 By-law Text Amendments

2. c) Lounges not be required specifically on the basis of a minimum of one every other floor.

3. c) The minimum floor areas for the communal dining room and multi-purpose room be guidelines only.

3. d) The minimum floor area of the lounge areas to be a guideline only.

If the proposed areas are guidelines only, then some of the other desirable amenities may not be precluded including workshops, craft rooms, media centre, library/computer room, and a private dining room, some of which may be preferable in some instances to one large multi-purpose room.

The Draft Guidelines for Congregate Housing are still evolving. The guidelines need to be flexible. Please consider these modifications to allow the service provider, who will have the most experience with the appropriate design of the amenity spaces, to have sufficient flexibility to design the optimal services and amenities for employment by the residents of this development."

APPENDIX D

APPLICANT, PROPERTY, AND DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL INFORMATION

APPLICANT AND PROPERTY INFORMATION

Street Address

2799 Yew Street

Legal Description

Lot C, Group 1, Block 362, DL 526, LMP32154

Applicant

Rene Rose, Concert Properties Ltd.

Architect

n/a

Property Owner

Concert Properties Ltd.

Developer

Concert Properties Ltd.

SITE STATISTICS

 

GROSS

DEDICATIONS

NET

SITE AREA

0.33 ha (.82 acres)

nil

0.33 ha (.82 acres)

DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS

 

DEVELOPMENT PERMITTED UNDER EXISTING ZONING

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT

ZONING

CD-1

CD-1 Amended

USES

Residential Use

Add Special Needs Residential Facility -Congregate Housing

DWELLING UNITS

Residential use must include 82 dwelling units containing 2 or more bedrooms

Exempt congregate housing development
from the minimum 2-bedroom
requirement for this parcel.

MAX. FLOOR SPACE RATIO

5.1

unchanged

MAXIMUM HEIGHT

27.4 m

unchanged

MAX. NO. OF STOREYS

8 storeys/27.4 m

unchanged

PARKING SPACES

Parking By-law provision

1 space for every 4 dwelling units

Comments or questions? You can send us email.
[City Homepage] [Get In Touch]

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver