REPORT TO COUNCIL

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
ON CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS

NOVEMBER 1, 2001

A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on City Services and Budgets was held on Thursday, November 1, 2001, at 9:30 a.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall.

PRESENT:	Councillor George Puil, Chair Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Fred Bass Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee *Councillor Don Lee (Civic Business) Councillor Tim Louis Councillor Sandy McCormick Councillor Gordon Price Councillor Sam Sullivan
ABSENT:	Councillor Jennifer Clarke, Vice-Chair (Leave of Absence)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Judy Rogers, City Manager Brent MacGregor, Deputy City Manager
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE:	Denise Salmon, Meeting Coordinator

*denotes presence for portion of the meeting

ADOPTION OF MINUTES

The Minutes of the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting of October 4, 2001, were adopted.

RECOMMENDATION

1. Document Imaging/Management System - Third Phase (File 1007)

The Committee had before it an Administrative Report dated October 11, 2001, in which the General Manager of Community Services in consultation with the Director of Information Technology requested Council's approval for a loan of $1,000,000, to be repaid by the end of 2004, for consultation services, license upgrades and enhancements to the existing Document Imaging System (DOMINO) in Community Services. These changes will increase the level of service to customers and improve the efficiency of development related activities.

Carlene Robbins, Manager, By-law Administration, Paul Vanderwood, Manager of Information Services, CSG and Alec Macauley, Supervisor, DOMINO Group, with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, provided an overview of the report and responded to questions on storage and security issues. Gary Barnes, Director of Support Services, provided information on financial implications.

MOVED by Mayor Owen
THAT the Committee recommend to Council

THAT Council approve the financing of the third phase of the Document Imaging/Management System with a loan of $1,000,000 in capital funds from the Capital Financing Fund, to upgrade the licensing structure and commence a number of system enhancements to DOMINO (the document imaging system), with repayment in approximately three years from funding sources already in place, including cuts in Community Services operating budget and an existing 4% levy on permit fees.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
(Councillor Don Lee not present for the vote.)

2a. Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 Zoning, Building and Trade Permit Fees (File 1758)
b. Miscellaneous Fee Amendments (File 1758)

The Committee had before it an Administrative Report, dated October 3, 2001, in which the Director of Development Services in consultation with the Director of Support Services, Chief Building Official, Director of Current Planning, Director of Finance and Director of Legal Services sought Council approval for an inflation adjustment of 3.5% in zoning, subdivision, sign, tree removal, building and trade permit fees based on a "flat fee", and miscellaneous fees, to reflect increased costs in the years 2000 and 2001, and to increase these fees a further 2.5% on January 1, 2002, to reflect cost increases due to inflation.

Council also had before it an Administrative Report, dated October 3, 2001, in which the Director of Development Services in consultation with the Chief Building Official, Director of Current Planning, Director of Cultural Affairs and Director of Legal Services sought Council approval for fee amendments related to energy utilization, building envelope repairs and non-profit cultural facilities.

The General Manager of Community Services recommended approval of the foregoing.

Rick Scobie, Director of Development Services, provided an overview of the reports and, with Chris Warren, Assistant Director of Development Services, responded to questions regarding current processing times for development permit applications and the elimination of energy utilization fees. Also circulated for Council's information was a comparison chart of building permit costs in various Lower Mainland municipalities. John Robertson responded to questions on sustainability issues.

Peter Simpson, Greater Vancouver Home Builder's Association, and Eric Martin, Vice-President Development - BOSA Development and Director of the Urban Development Institute expressed concern with the proposed increase in zoning, building and trade permit fees when the development industry has yet to experience any significant improvement in processing times, and there has been a steady decrease in the industry since the mid nineties. The need to examine ways to build more efficiency into the system was also noted. Mr. Martin advised inflation in 2002 could be very flat, and suggested the proposed fee increase be reviewed instead at year end.

Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 Zoning, Building and Trade Permit Fees

MOVED by Councillor Louis
THAT the Committee recommend to Council

A. THAT Council approve an across-the-board 3.5% increase (as reflected in the fee schedules attached to the Administrative Report dated October 3, 2001, entitled "Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 Zoning, Building and Trade Permit Fees") in all zoning, subdivision, sign, tree removal, "flat fee" building and trade permit fees, and miscellaneous fees, to compensate for 2000 and 2001 inflationary increases in the City's costs, to be effective upon enactment of the amending by-laws.

B. THAT Council approve a further 2.5% increase to these same fees (as reflected in the fee schedules attached to the Administrative Report dated October 3, 2001, entitled "Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 Zoning, Building and Trade Permit Fees"), to compensate for 2002 inflationary increases in the City's costs, to be effective January 1, 2002.

C. THAT the Director of Development Services and the Chief Building Official advise the development and building community of these changes.

D. FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services bring forward the necessary by-law amendments for enactment.

amended

AMENDMENT MOVED by Mayor Owen

THAT the figure 2.5% contained in Recommendation B above be replaced with the figure 1.5% to read:

B. THAT Council approve a further 1.5% increase to these same fees (as reflected in the fee schedules attached to the Administrative Report dated October 3, 2001, entitled "Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 Zoning, Building and Trade Permit Fees"), to compensate for 2002 inflationary increases in the City's costs, to be effective January 1, 2002.

CARRIED
(Councillor Louis opposed.)

The amendment to Recommendation B having CARRIED, Councillor Louis's motion, as amended, was put and CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Miscellaneous Fee Amendments

MOVED by Councillor Kennedy
THAT the Committee recommend to Council

A. THAT the surcharge on building permit fees contained in Part A of the fee schedule in the Building By-law which was originally implemented to cover the costs of administering the energy utilization amendments to the By-law, be removed.

CARRIED
(Councillors Bass and Louis opposed.)

MOVED by Councillor Louis
THAT the Committee recommend to Council

B. THAT the exemption of Building Permit fees for repairs to the building envelope contained in Part A of the fee schedule in the Building By-law be extended to December 31, 2002.

C. THAT the development application fee for non-profit cultural facilities be amended to establish the same lesser fee as currently applied to non-profitchildcare facilities and social service facilities.

D. THAT the Director of Legal Services bring forward the necessary by-law amendments for enactment regarding A to C.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

NOTE FROM CLERK:

Recommendations B-D were moved prior to Recommendation A, however for ease of reference they have been minuted in the order they appear in the report.

The Committee adjourned at 11:28 a.m.

- - - - -

CITY OF VANCOUVER

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON
CITY SERVICES AND BUDGETS

NOVEMBER 1, 2001

A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, November 1, 2001, at 11:28 a.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.

PRESENT:	Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Fred Bass Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Tim Louis Councillor Sandy McCormick Councillor Gordon Price Councillor George Puil Councillor Sam Sullivan
ABSENT:	Councillor Jennifer Clarke (Leave of Absence)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Judy Rogers, City Manager
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE:	Denise Salmon, Meeting Coordinator

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Councillor Don Lee
SECONDED by Councillor McCormick

THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mayor Owen in the chair.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Report of Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
November 1, 2001

Council considered the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in the following clauses of the foregoing report:

Cl.1: Document Imaging/Management System - Third Phase
Cl.2a: Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 Zoning, Building and Trade Permit Fees
Cl.2b: Miscellaneous Fee Amendments

Clauses 1 and 2a

MOVED by Councillor Puil

THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clauses 1 and 2a, of this report be approved.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Clause 2b

MOVED by Councillor Puil

THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clause 2b of this report, be approved.

CARRIED
(Councillors Bass and Louis opposed to Recommendation A.)

RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Councillor Don Lee

THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Councillor McCormick
SECONDED by Councillor Daniel Lee

THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

NOTICE OF MOTION

The following Notice of Motion was submitted by Councillor Bass and recognized by the Chair:

1. Review of Travel Policy (File 1254)

WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of Vancouver City Council to be as frugal as possible with taxpayers' money;

AND WHEREAS, from 1998 to 2000, the Mayor and City Councillors spent $161,961.40 on expenses related to attending training, meetings or conferences;

AND WHEREAS, recent newspaper reports have brought to light that some members of City Council are travelling business class on airplanes;

AND WHEREAS, Council voted recently to limit members' participation in national committees, in part on the grounds of controlling travel expenditure;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Vancouver City Council request staff to prepare a report on:

(a) the City of Vancouver's current travel policy for city officials, comparing the City's policy to the policies of other Greater Vancouver Regional District municipalities; and

(b) the economic and managerial justification for city officials to fly business class.

Notice

The Council adjourned at 11:30 a.m.

* * * * *

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver