Agenda Index City of Vancouver

TO: Vancouver City Council

FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services

SUBJECT: Local Improvements by Initiative - June 12, 2001

RECOMMENDATION

COUNCIL POLICY

PURPOSE

A Court of Revision is scheduled for June 12, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. to review a number of petition and initiative projects. The report for petition projects will be advanced to Councilseparately at a later date to allow as much time as possible for residents to circulate their petitions. The purpose of this report is to begin the formal Local Improvement process by advancing the initiative projects to the Court of Revision and reporting on the financial arrangements for the projects. Approval of this report does not commit Council to undertake the projects.

First Step

As required by the Local Improvement Procedure By-law, projects for the following categories and detailed on the attached schedule (Appendix I), are advanced to Council by Initiative for review at a Court of Revision, which will be held at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 12, 2001.

Court #602

I. Lane Lighting
II. Pavement and Curbs, Higher Zoned
III. Pavement and Curbs, Local Residential
IV. Lane Pavement, Higher Zoned
V. Lane Pavement, Local Residential
VI. Speed Humps
VII. Pedestrian Collector Sidewalks
VIII. Sidewalk Reconstruction

Capital Funds

Funds for the City's share of the projects are available from existing Engineering Department Basic Capital Accounts, or are subject to approval of the 2001 Streets Basic Capital Budget.

Second Step

The Director of Finance reports as follows:

In accordance with the Local Improvements Procedure By-law, I am submitting the attached City Engineer's report. The estimated cost of these projects is $4,603,555. The property owners' share of the projects is $1,439,757. The City's share is $3,163,798. I have to report that the necessary financial arrangements can be made to carry out this work subject to approval of the 2001 Streets Basic Capital Budget.

- - - - -

Appendix I

COURT OF REVISION - JUNE 12, 2001

INITIATIVE PROJECTS - SCHEDULE #602

I. LANE LIGHTING

1. L/S 10th Avenue from Kaslo Street to L/W Renfrew Street and the L/W Renfrew Street from 10th Avenue to the dead end south

This project is being initiated following the request for assistance by an adjacent owner who is concerned with his neighbourhood and has not been successful in circulating a petition because of some absentee owners and an adjacent commercial property. The concerned petitioner has petitioned for the lane improvement as well as speed humps and lighting but one large property on the south side which occupies the entire length of the lane has informed the City that there is no interest in supporting any improvement. As a result the petition would not be successful even if a majority of residential owners supported these improvements because the value of the single commercial owner out weighs the value of all the residential owners. Also due to occurances of criminal activity, the Police Department has recommended that the petitioner pursue these improvements which they believe would be beneficial to his neighbourhood and deter further crime.

II. PAVEMENT & CURBS - HIGHER ZONED

The following higher-zoned streets that are being initiated have strip pavements that are in poor condition. These streets are often difficult to improve by the petition process due to absentee owners. These streets therefore deteriorate, resulting in complaints and maintenance concerns. Furthermore, some of these streets have other reasons in addition to poor pavement condition and the reasons have been noted alongside the project. The initiative process is an effective method to use to deal with these situations.

2. Collingwood Street from Broadway to 10th Avenue

3. Jervis Street from Robson Street to Alberni Street

This street has old curbs that were constructed in the early 1900's with a macadam surface that has deteriorated to the point where it is appropriate to reconstruct the street. Due to the large number of strata owners involved (412 owners), circulating a petition would be difficult therefore it is appropriate to initiate this project.

4. Lakewood Drive from Triumph Street to Dundas Street except 10 ft. frnt Lot 8, Blk26, DL184

In addition to the street being in poor condition, this project is part of the Lakewood Street Bikeway and its improvement would not only benefit the adjacent owners but result in improve safety conditions for bike users.

5. Maple Street from 10th Avenue To 11th Avenue

The Parking Enforcement branch has brought to our attention a safety situation where cars are double parked on the gravel boulevard area adjacent a school. Parking is a problem in this area due to density and nearby businesses. The wide gravel boulevard tends to attract drivers to double park their vehicle which results in a visual obstruction to passing motorists who may not be able to see small students walking towards the street intersection. By improving the street the wide gravel boulevard will be replaced with a tree lined grass boulevard area and the new curbs will limit the parking to a single row of vehicles.

Neighbourhood Transportation Branch have been in contact with the area residents and found they are supportive of this proposed improvement. The Principal of Lord Tennyson Elementary School also supports the proposed improvement for the safety of the students.
6. Parker Street from Glen Drive to Vernon Drive - PAVEMENT ONLY

This project is being initiated due to complaints not only from the public concerning the poor condition of the strip pavement, but from higher than normal maintenance cost for maintaining the temporary strip pavement. Heavily laden trucks accessing warehouses in the area contributes daily to breaking down the existing strip pavement. Previous attempts to improve the street with new curbs and heavy pavement have been unsuccessful because of concerns that the curbing of streets will result in loss of perpendicular parking as well as the high costs for the work. As a compromise we are proposing replacement of the temporary strip with a permanent strip pavement capable of withstanding the heavy loads. Curbing is not included so current parking conditions would not be compromised and costs to owners are reduced.

7. Salsbury Street from Hastings Street to Franklin Street

This project is initiated to address safety concerns as well as the poor street conditions. A business adjacent the street advises the safety of his employees are jeopardized by large tractor trailers maneuvering their containers into a loading bay adjacent the street. Since the street is unimproved the drivers are driving over sidewalks where pedestrians do not expect vehicles to drive over. One employee has been injured and there were several other close calls. By curbing the street it would define the maneuvering area for drivers and create a safety buffer for pedestrians.

8. 2nd Avenue -S/S - from Brunswick Street to Prince Edward Street

This project is being initiated because of the development on the north side of the street. As a condition for development the owners are required to not only provide sidewalk along the entire perimeter of their project but to curb and pave half the street along the perimeter as well. This in an opportune time to propose street improvement work to those owners on the south side of the street in order for the street to be properly improved.

9. 17th Avenue from Main Street to Quebec Street

This project has a mixture of residential and commercial properties. A request for assistance was made by an area resident to the Mayor to improve the street. A review determined that it is appropriate to initiate improvements instead of circulating a petition for street improvement which would be unsuccessful even if a majority of owners supported the work. In this case the value of the single commercial property exceeds the value of all the residential properties combined nullifying the use of a petition. To determine if there was any support from owners adjacent the street, ballots were sent out and a majority of the respondents were in favour.

III. PAVEMENT & CURBS - LOCAL RESIDENTIAL

The following residential street improvement projects are being initiated due to the poor condition of the temporary pavement. With the exception of Whyte Avenue and Monmouth Street, the other remaining projects are adjacent to flankage properties. Furthermore, some of these streets have other reasons in addition to poor pavement condition and the reasons have been noted alongside the project. The initiative process is an effective method to use to deal with these situations.

10. Carnarvon Street from 28th Avenue to 29th Avenue
11. Commercial Street from 34th Avenue to 35th Avenue
12. Commercial Street from 35th Avenue to 36th Avenue
13. Crown Street from 17th Avenue to 18th Avenue
14. Crown Street from 18th Avenue to 19th Avenue
15. Crown Street from 33rd Avenue to 34th Avenue
16. Foster Avenue from Melbourne Street to Tyne Street
17. Lillooet Street from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue
18. Lillooet Street from 24th Avenue to 28th Avenue
19. McKinnon Avenue from Kingsway to 41st Avenue

The Principal of Carleton School called because of safety issues along the length of McKinnon Street. McKinnon Street consist of two sections, one section has a narrow 33 ft.wide street allowance and the other has a standard 66 ft. wide street allowance. The narrow section of McKinnon Street is between Kingsway and School Avenue and when two vehicles are passing one another along this section, one vehicle tends to drive dangerously close to a narrow sidewalk adjacent the school. The wider section of McKinnon Street is between School Avenue and 41st Avenue and a similar sidewalk safety situation exists where parents that are dropping off their children tend to encroach on to the sidewalk endangering other students. Curbing the street would keep vehicles from encroaching on to the sidewalk and away from the students.

20. Monmouth Street from McHardy Street to the L/E Rupert Street

A teacher at Sir Wilfred Grenfell Elementary School raised concerns for the safety of students accessing the school via Monmouth Street. This street is unusual as 85% of the block has a standard street allowance of 66 ft. except for two properties located mid-block where the street allowance is only 33 ft. This creates a bottleneck where vehicles and students converge when attending and departing the school. Street improvements are proposed to separate the vehicles away from the students where the curbs define where vehicles can travel. As part of this project construction of a gravel walk on the south side of Monmouth Street is included in the event the proposal for concrete sidewalk is unsuccessful.

21. Montgomery Street from 46th Avenue to 47th Avenue
22. Nootka Street from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue
23. Prince Albert Street from 57th Avenue to 58th Avenue
24. St. George Street from 59th Avenue to 60th Avenue
25. St. George Street from 62nd Avenue to 63rd Avenue
26. Wallace Street from 32nd Avenue to 33rd Avenue
27. Waverley Street from Gladstone Street to Nanaimo Street
28. Whyte Avenue from Cypress Street to Chestnut Street
29. Windermere Street from 25th Avenue to 26th Avenue
30. Windermere Street from 27th Avenue to 28th Avenue

IV. LANE PAVEMENT - HIGHER ZONED

Higher-Zoned lane paving addresses Council's stated priority on infrastructure renewal. These lanes tend not to be improved by petition because of absentee ownership, yet they carry much more traffic than residential lanes, and the lane surface deteriorate as a result. This causes high maintenance cost and a significant number of complaints from commercial and/or apartment tenants.

31. L/E Cambie from L/S 40th Avenue to 41st Avenue
32. L/E Cambie from 40th Avenue to L/S 40th Avenue
33. L/S Franklin Street from Victoria Drive to Semlin Drive
34. L/S 7th Avenue from 162 ft. east of Keith Drive to L/W Clark Drive and L/W Clark Drive from 7th Avenue to 8th Avenue
35. L/S 11th Avenue from Victoria Drive to 60 ft. east of Commercial Drive
36. L/S 16th Avenue from L/W Heather Street to Ash Street and L/E Heather Street from 16th Avenue to 17th Avenue

V. LANE PAVEMENT - LOCAL RESIDENTIAL

37. L/S 6th Avenue from L/E Blenheim Street to Trutch Street & L/E Blenheim Street from L/S 6th Avenue to 7th Avenue

This project is being initiated to assist the Petitioner who requested assistance due to absentee owners. Our review of the situation found that approximately 32% of the owners are absentee owners which would make circulating a Petition difficult, therefore initiating this project is appropriate.

38. L/S 10th Avenue from Kaslo Street to L/W Renfrew Street and the L/W Renfrew Street from 10th Avenue to the dead end south

This project is being initiated following the request for assistance by an adjacent owner who is concerned with his neighbourhood and has not been successful in circulating a petition because of some absentee owners and an adjacent commercial property. The concerned petitioner has petitioned for the lane improvement as well as speed humps and lighting but one large property on the south side which occupies the entire length of the lane has informed the City that there is no interest in supporting any improvement. As a result the petition would not be successful even if a majority of residential owners supported these improvements because the value of the single commercial owner out weighs the value of all the residential owners. Also due to occurances of criminal activity, the Police Department has recommended that the petitioner pursue these improvements which they believe would be beneficial to his neighbourhood and deter further crime.

39. L/S 26th Avenue from the L/E Rupert Street to the L/W Skeena Street & L/E Rupert Street from 26th Avenue to 27th Avenue & L/W Skeena Street from 26th Avenue to 27th Avenue

This project is being initiated to assist the Petitioner and other owners that have called about absentee owners which make circulating a petition difficult. Our review has found an absentee rate of approximately 20% which makes circulating a petition difficult but not impossible. However, the Petitioner and other adjacent owners confirm that they know of owners that are absentee but continue to have their mail forwarded to the same address in order to collect the annual grant. Based on this information and the unusually large number of properties (65) involved, it is appropriate to initiate lane improvements.

VI. SPEED HUMPS

The following speed hump projects are being initiated as a result of complaints about safety due speeding vehicles using the lanes as an alternate route in order to avoid signalized intersections or as a short cut to their destinations. Circulating a petition would be difficult because of the number of strata owners involved of which some are absentee owners.

40. L/S Barclay Street from Jervis Street to Bute Street
41. L/S Broadway from Arbutus Street to Yew Street
42. L/S Harwood Street from Bute Street to Thurlow Street
43. L/S Hastings Street from Kamloops Street to Penticton Street
44. L/S 8th Avenue from Stephens Street to Trafalgar Street
45. L/S 10th Avenue from Kaslo Street to L/W Renfrew Street

VII. PEDESTRIAN COLLECTOR SIDEWALKS

On February 9, 1982, Council reaffirmed its policy objectives of providing sidewalks:
- on both sides of arterial streets;
- on both sides (as needed) of pedestrian collector routes;
- on both sides of higher-zoned streets; and
- on local residential streets, where property owners petitioned for them.

The construction of new pedestrian collector sidewalks responds to Council's top two priorities for transportation improvements; pedestrians and transit. Of the 18 new sidewalk projects initiated, 12 projects provide access to bus routes and 3 projects provide access to schools or parks.

46. W/S Alberta Street from 44th Avenue to 46th Avenue

47. W/S Alberta Street from 48th Avenue to 49th Avenue

48. E/S Arbutus Street from King Edward Avenue to Valley Drive except adjacent Lot B, and except 27 ft. Frnt. Blk 75, DL526, Pln 6018, Ex Plan 19157 and except 53 ft. Frnt Parcel A, Blk 88, DL 526, Plan LMP 30481

49. S/S Durward Avenue from Fraser Street to 78 ft. east of Fraser Street

51. S/S Great Northern Way from 33ft east of the WPL Lot 1, Blk 92 AMD, PLN 15609, DL264A (a.k.a. 767.6 ft east of Brunswick) to Glen Drive except frnt VR2690

52. E/S Kaslo Street from Venables Street to Parker Street

53. E/S Lillooet Street from 4th Avenue to 6th Avenue

54. S/S Monmouth Street from L/E Rupert Street to McHardy Street

55. N/S Moscrop Street from Hoy Street to Boundary except 12 ft. frnt Lot 28

56. S/S Ogden Avenue from Cypress Street to Chestnut Street

57. W/S Penticton Street from Broadway to L/N Broadway

58. W/S Sherbrooke Street from SPL Lot 1, Plan 15056 to 57th Avenue

59. W/S Trafalgar Street from 32nd Avenue to L/S 32nd Avenue

60. N/S 5th Avenue from Brunswick Street to 186 ft. west of Brunswick Street

61. S/S 62nd Avenue from Birch Street to L/W of Birch Street

62. S/S 62nd Avenue from Hudson Street to L/W of Hudson Street

63. S/S 62nd Avenue from Montcalm Street to Birch Street

VIII. SIDEWALK RECONSTRUCTION

The Sidewalk Reconstruction Program is directed toward poor condition sidewalks in commercial areas which involve high pedestrian usage and are on transit routes. In this report there are 4 projects recommended for initiative. Sidewalks rating reconstruction are often badly cracked and sloped and may be patched in many places by asphalt fillets. In spite of inspection and regular maintenance by City staff, sidewalks in this condition are
more prone to trips, water ponding and liability concerns for the City. Sidewalks in poor condition also provide obstacles for the disabled and seniors.

These sidewalk reconstruction projects are shared 50/50 with the abutting commercial owners, and the program has been very well received since it began about 20 years ago.

64. N/S Broadway from Collingwood Street to Waterloo Street
65. E/S Broughton Street from Robson Street to the L/N of Robson Street
66. S/S Davie Street from Broughton Street to Jervis Street
67. S/S Davie Street from L/E Burrard Street to Hornby Street except 12 ft. fronting Lot C

APPENDIX II

CITY OF VANCOUVER - LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS DETAILED SECOND STEP REPORT
Summary of Estimated Costs and Certificates to the Attached Local Improvement Estimates
Advanced on the Initiative Principle for a Court of Revision June 12, 2001

Court #602

CATEGORY

ITEM
NUMBER

TYPE OF PROJECT

P.O.
SHARE

CITY'S
SHARE

TOTAL
COST

EXISTING
FUNDS

SUBJECT TO APPROVAL OF 2001 CAPITAL BUDGET

I

1

Lane Lighting

$ 3,635

$ 322

$ 3,957

$ 322

 

II

23

Pavement & Curbs, Higher Zoned

$ 480,052

$ 368,035

$ 848,087

$ 368,035 30002985

  

III

10-30

Pavement & Curbs, Local Residential

$ 346,387

$ 2,262,657

$ 2,609,044

$1,000,000 30002986

$1,262,657

IV

31-36

Lane Pavement, Higher Zoned

$ 236,318

$ 86,049

$ 322,367

$ 75,000 30002987

$ 11,049

V

37-39

Lane Pavement, Local Residential

$ 142,307

$ 129,589

$ 271,896

$ 129,589 30002988

  

VI

40-45

Speed Humps

$ 26,673

0

$ 26,673

    

VII

46-49,51-63

Pedestrian Collector Sidewalks

$ 154,521

$ 158,661

$ 313,182

  

$ 158,661

VIII

64-67

Sidewalk Reconstruction

$ 49,864

$ 158,485

$ 208,349

 

$ 158,485

   

TOTAL

$ 1,439,757

$ 3,163,798

$ 4,603,555

$1,572,946

$1,590,852

The estimated costs provide for necessary incidental work. The cost of the property owner's share of the above noted projects, and interest, is repayable over 15 years, except for lane lighting which is repayable over five years.

Certified correct as to measurements.

_____________________________ ___________________________ _________________________ Collector of Taxes Director of Finance City Engineer

Certified adopted by the City Council on ___________________________ ___________________________

* * * * *

ag010410.htm

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

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver