Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING

 

Date: February 19, 2001

 

Author/Local: LChallis/7135

 

PPPS No. 2000027

 

RTS No. 01893

 

CC File No. 5308

 

Council: March 6, 2001

   

TO: Vancouver City Council

FROM: Director of Current Planning

SUBJECT: CD-1 Text Amendment: 3602-3660 Vanness Avenue (Collingwood Village)

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICIES

On November 2, 1993, Council enacted CD-1(314) By-law No. 7204, including a Development Plan, and adopted the "Joyce/Vanness CD-1 Guidelines" which apply to this site.

On May 8, 1989, Council adopted a housing objective to facilitate the provision of a wide range of housing forms and shelter costs to meet the housing needs of existing and future Vancouver residents of all backgrounds and lifestyles.

On May 20, 1987, Council adopted the Joyce Station Area Plan to guide the future of the Joyce Station Area in response to the ALRT system.

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

This report assesses an application to amend the text of the existing CD-1 By-law and Guidelines to permit:

· an increase in the percentage of rental housing and a corresponding decrease in the percentage of family housing;
· a reduction in the minimum size of 2-bedroom family units;
· a redistribution of residential floor area;
· an allocation of residential floor area for congregate housing;
· a decrease in height for mid-rise buildings located primarily along Vanness Avenue;
· an increase in height for four high-rise buildings;
· an increase in floorplate for the two tallest high-rise buildings;
· a relocation of buildings;
· an increase in open space; and
· an increase in parking access.

Staff support the proposed amendments which will allow the project to respond to changing market needs and will result in a more varied form of development. Staff recommend that the application be referred to a Public Hearing, with a recommendation that it be approved subject to conditions.

DISCUSSION

Background: The site is located in the Joyce Station Area which underwent a planning process between 1982 and 1987 in preparing a plan to guide the future of the Joyce community. The plan established policy directions for the redevelopment of the Joyce/Vanness industrial area to include residential land use with supporting amenities and park space. In 1993, the Collingwood Village site was rezoned from primarily M-1 Industrial District to CD-1 Comprehensive Development District following an extensive rezoning process. The site consists of 10 sub-areas for development in four phases. Phases 1 and 2 have been completed. Development is underway in part of Phase 3. The proposed amendments are related to future development in Phases 3 and 4 which include Sub-areas 7, 8, 9 and 10 (see map).


Use: The application proposes to change the family and rental housing requirements and the minimum unit size for 2-bedroom family units. No changes are proposed to the maximum number of units (2,800) or the total gross floor area [192 000 m² (2,066,738 sq. ft.)].

(i) Family and Rental Housing Requirement

The CD-1 By-law requires that 25 percent of the units be for family housing and that 15 percent of the units be for rental housing. The application proposes to decrease the family housing requirement to 20 percent and increase the rental housing to 20 percent. Currently, 45 percent of the 1,486 units that have been built or are under development across Collingwood Village provide rental housing. The applicant indicates that while the rental units have been well received, there has been less demand than anticipated for family units. In Phases 1 and 2 only 15-16 percent of the units which qualified as family housing (dwelling units designed for families with children) sold to families. The applicant notes that the demand for family units has declined because older single-family homes in the area have decreased in value and become affordable alternatives for family housing. To address this change in demand, the applicant requests an increase in the rental housing requirement and a decrease in the family housing requirement. Staff support the increase in rental housing which responds well to Vancouver's tight rental market. Also, the proposed "exchange" of family housing with rental housing is considered to be a fair and equitable quid pro quo as both help to serve a public purpose.

(ii) Minimum Unit Size

The CD-1 By-law requires a minimum unit size of 78 m² (840 sq. ft.) for 2-bedroom family units. This figure was based on previous BCHMC Guidelines when the By-law was written in 1993. Since then the sales statistics at Collingwood Village have shown that families with children do not necessarily purchase the larger family units and, in Phase 1, the average unitsize sold to family purchasers was 72.8 m² (784 sq. ft.) in a mix of 1 and 2 bedroom units. The application proposes that the minimum unit size for 2-bedroom family units be reduced to 72.5 m² (780 sq. ft.) to reflect current demand. Staff recommend that the minimum size for a 2-bedroom family unit should be 74 m² (797 sq. ft.) which conforms to the current standard BCHMC Guidelines.

Density: The application proposes no changes to the overall maximum floor areas specified for different land uses in Collingwood Village but seeks minor adjustments to the maximum floor area for residential uses in Sub-areas 7, 8 and 10 to reflect proposed changes to the development plan for the site. The application also seeks the flexibility to increase the maximum floor area by up to 5 percent in any of these sub-areas provided the current overall maximum is not exceeded. This change is requested to assist in fine tuning the form of development at the development permit stage.

The application proposes that floor area allocated for residential use also be available for the use "Special Needs Residential Facility - Congregate Housing" to provide housing opportunities for a broader range of age groups which includes seniors. The proposal would result in no change to the overall residential floor area or maximum number of dwelling units. Staff support this amendment which would enhance the demographic diversity of the neighbourhood and should help to provide lower cost congregate housing relative to the current supply which is primarily located in the more expensive west side of the city.

The CD-1 By-law also specifies a maximum number of dwelling units for each sub-area. To reflect the revised development plan, the application seeks minor adjustments to the maximum number of dwelling units between Sub-areas 7, 8 and 10. Staff support this amendment which would not result in any change to the total maximum number of dwelling units.

Form of Development: Changes to the development plan are proposed to create greater variety in the buildings in response to some criticism about existing development in Collingwood Village in terms of homogeneity of massing, articulation and colours. To provide more diversity, the proposal revises some of the building heights in Sub-areas 7, 8 and 10. The application proposes to reduce the height of the mid-rise buildings along Vanness Avenue from six to four storeys to respond to neighbourhood concerns about the scale of the streetwall created by the currently-permitted higher, 6-storey mid-rise buildings. The floor area from the mid-rise buildings would be transferred to four high-rise towers, increasing their maximum permitted heights as follows:

· for the tower in Sub-area 7, from 48 m (158 ft.) to 51 m (167 ft.) or from 17 storeys to 18 storeys;
· for the tower in Sub-area 8, from 53 m (174 ft.) to 67 m (220 ft.) or from 19 storeys to 24 storeys;
· for the west tower in Sub-area 10, from 56 m (184 ft.) to 72 m (236 ft.) or from 19 storeys to 26 storeys; and
· for the east tower in Sub-area 10, from 20 storeys to 21 storeys.

The proposed changes are illustrated in Appendix F.

Besides changing the tower heights, the proposal also relocates and reorients the proposed 24-storey tower in Sub-area 8 and reorients the proposed 26-storey west tower in Sub-area 10 to align with the change in the City's street grid to north-south that occurs at the eastern end of the site. The urban design intent of this change is to better define the east park at the point where Crowley Street turns north with a pair of "signature" towers. Typically, in comprehensively designed high density neighbourhoods, consistent tower orientation issought, as is the case in the Joyce/Vanness CD-1 Guidelines. In this particular instance, staff are satisfied that the context of merging street grids at this locale combined with the potential to create a special sense of place at the east park/Crowley Street juncture warrants this change in tower orientation. To support the public realm improvements that are intended with the reorientation of these two towers, staff recommend design refinements to be implemented at the Development Application stage (Appendix C).

Staff support relocation and greater height of the towers, since their central location on the site will not worsen shadowing on the neighbourhood. The average floorplates have been correspondingly increased in relation to the increased tower heights. Staff support changes on the basis of high quality design and materials on the higher towers and stronger guidelines related to quality of materials on the low and mid-rise buildings. The strengthening of these guidelines is considered especially important since the low-rise building sites may be sold off for individual development by separate developers. These changes and other minor adjustments to improve and clarify the design intent for the neighbourhood are reflected in the proposed amendments to the Joyce/Vanness CD-1 Guidelines (Appendix B).

Open Space: A significant positive outcome of the proposed changes to the development plan would be an increase in open space and improvements to the public realm. The amount of open space would increase by almost 20 percent. There would be more pedestrian connections within and through the site to adjoining streets and a series of public open
spaces would be developed to increase the green space and provide places for people to meet, sit and play. Members of the community have commented that they are pleased to see these improvements to the open space plan. Staff also support these improvements, noting that the design details will be addressed at the development permit stage.

Parking and Traffic: There are no amendments proposed for the parking requirements, although the application proposes to increase the number of entries to parking garages. The present development plan envisioned large projects with single access points. The applicant would prefer to develop the site with smaller projects which would result in more access points but with each serving fewer cars. Currently the guidelines discourage entries on Crowley Drive, Vanness Avenue, Euclid Avenue and Foster Avenue. Staff would support an increase in entries, if access is minimized in accordance with the revised Guidelines (Appendix B).

The application also requests revisions to the bicycle storage requirements to allow bicycle storage to be consolidated with other bulk storage. Engineering Services will only support the applicant's proposal to combine bicycle and locker storage space if the high level of bicycle parking construction and security features, as well as the requirement to locate bicycle parking no lower than the first level, are addressed to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Planning as a condition of rezoning. The bicycle portion of the storage locker must be in excess of the bulk storage requirement.

CONCLUSION

Staff support the proposed rezoning which provides a range of housing choice intended to meet the needs of individuals, families and seniors. Staff also expect that the changes to the form of development will contribute to creating an attractive, liveable neighbourhood and a diverse community of people. Staff recommend that the application be referred to a Public Hearing, subject to the proposed conditions of approval presented in Appendix C.

- - - - -

APPENDIX A

DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO CD-1 (314) BY-LAW NO. 7204

Schedule "B" (Development Plan)

Uses

Floor Area and Density

Height

Parking


Figure 1

Figure 3

APPENDIX B

DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO THE JOYCE/VANNESS CD-1 GUIDELINES

APPENDIX C

PROPOSED CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL

(a) THAT the proposed schematic development be approved by Council in principle, generally as prepared by Concert Properties Ltd., and stamped "Received City Planning Department, September 14, 2000", specifically in relation to the siting of buildings, development of ground plane, general building heights and massing, to be further articulated with design guidelines which will guide and adjudicate the scheme through the development permit process.

(b) THAT amendments to the "Joyce/Vanness CD-1 Guidelines" be submitted for final approval at the time of by-law enactment.

(c) THAT, prior to approval by Council of the form of development for each portion of the project, the applicant shall obtain approval of a development application by the Director of Planning, who shall have particular regard to the following:

(d) THAT, prior to enactment of the CD-1 By-law, the registered owner shall, at no cost to the City:

APPENDIX D

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Site, Surrounding Zoning and Development: The 11.0 ha (27.3 ac.) CD-1 zoned Collingwood Village site, is located in the Joyce SkyTrain Station Area, and bounded on the north by Vanness Avenue, the south by Euclid and Foster Avenues, the east by Ormidale Street and the west by Joyce Street. The west half of the site has been developed with a mixture of low, mid and high-rise residential buildings providing rental and purchased units. A small amount of commercial space is located along Joyce Street. The site also includes a neighbourhood house, a child day care facility, and two neighbourhood parks. The east end of the site continues to consist of industrial buildings used primarily for storage and manufacturing.

The site is situated in a predominantly single-family neighbourhood, close to ALRT, transit and commercial services on Joyce Street and Kingsway. As a result of the Joyce Station Area Plan, a number of properties around the site were rezoned for multiple residential development. The remaining single family areas are zoned RS-1 and RS-1S.

Proposed Development: The proposed amendments to the Development Plan of the CD-1 By-law would allow changes to the housing mix to increase the percentage of rental housing and decrease the percentage of family housing, and would permit changes to the development plan to provide more variation on the site. This plan provides a framework for development that is guided at the development permit stage by design guidelines. The amendments to the guidelines reflect changes to the development plan and also emphasize the quality of building design and materials.

Social Implications: The proposal would increase the range of housing opportunities available to tenants and seniors.

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

Environmental Implications: The proposed rezoning neither contributes to nor detracts from the objective of reducing atmospheric pollution.

APPENDIX E

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC, REVIEWING AGENCIES AND THE APPLICANT

Public Input: On September 5, 2000, a notification letter was sent to 2,731 nearby property owners and on September 12, 2000, rezoning information signs were posted on the site. On September 14, 2000, the applicant sponsored an Open House which was attended by 37 members of the public. The primary concerns were the increase in tower heights and the need for community amenities (e.g., swimming pool, community garden).

Comments of the Manager of Engineering Services: The City Engineer has no objection to the proposed rezoning, provided that the applicant complies with conditions as shown in Appendix B.

Comments of the Director of the Housing Centre: The Housing Centre supports the rezoning subject to the 2-bedroom family unit minimum size conforming to the standard BCHMC guidelines of 74 m² (797 sq. ft.).

Comments of the Urban Design Panel: The Urban Design Panel reviewed the application on September 20, 2000, and offered the following comments:

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

APPENDIX F (on file in the City Clerk's Office)

APPENDIX G

APPLICANT, PROPERTY, AND DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL INFORMATION

APPLICANT AND PROPERTY INFORMATION

Street Address

3602-3660 Vanness Avenue, 3507-3521 Euclid Avenue, 3520-3600 Crowley Drive,3535 Foster Avenue, 5481 Ormidale Street

Legal Description

Multiple legal description

Applicant

Concert Properties Ltd.

Property Owner/Developer

Concert Properties Ltd.

SITE STATISTICS

 

GROSS

DEDICATIONS

NET

SITE AREA

11.0 ha (27.3 ac.)

1.8 ha (4.5 ac.)
[includes dedications from original rezoning]

9.2 ha (22.8 ac.)

DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS

 

DEVELOPMENT PERMITTED UNDER EXISTING ZONING

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT

RECOMMENDED
DEVELOPMENT (if different than proposed)

ZONING

CD-1

CD-1

 

USES

25% family housing,
15% rental housing,
minimum of 78 m² 2-bedroom family unit

20% family housing,
20% rental housing,
minimum of 72.5 m² 2-bedroom family unit

minimum of 74 m² 2-bedroom family unit

MAX. RESIDENTIAL FLOOR AREA

Sub-area 7 - 40 500 m²
Sub-area 8 - 20 800 m²
Sub-area 10 - 43 700 m²

Sub-area 7 - 39 100 m²
Sub-area 8 - 22 600 m²
Sub-area 10 - 43 300 m²

 

MAXIMUM HEIGHT

Sub-area 7 - 48 m
Sub-area 8 - 53 m
Sub-area 10 - 56 m

Sub-area 7 - 51 m
Sub-area 8 - 67 m
Sub-area 10 - 72 m

 

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