Agenda Index City of Vancouver


REPORT TO COUNCIL

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

ON PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

MARCH 14, 2002

A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on Planning and Environment was held on Thursday, March 14, 2002, at 2:45 p.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall.

PRESENT:

Councillor Don Lee, Vice-Chair
Mayor Philip Owen
Councillor Fred Bass
Councillor Jennifer Clarke
Councillor Daniel Lee
Councillor Tim Louis
Councillor Sandy McCormick
Councillor Gordon Price
Councillor George Puil
Councillor Sam Sullivan

ABSENT:

Councillor Lynne Kennedy, Chair (Leave of Absence - Civic Business)

CITY MANAGER'S
OFFICE:

Judy Rogers, City Manager

CITY CLERK'S OFFICE:

Laura Kazakoff, Meeting Coordinator

RECOMMENDATION

1. Protection of Civic Democracy and Ensuring Local Decision Making (File 6001)

At its meeting on March 5, 2002, Vancouver City Council referred the following motion to a future Standing Committee meeting in order to hear from members of the public wishing to speak on this matter:

"MOVED by Councillor Bass
SECONDED by Councillor Louis

WHEREAS, at its May 2, 2000 meeting the City of Vancouver unanimously agreed that Canada should get a "permanent and explicit exemption in the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) that would limit its application to areas of Federal jurisdiction," (a resolution also passed by the UBCM at its October 24-27, 2000 meeting);

AND WHEREAS, World Trade Organization negotiators are considering extension of this agreement to local government regulation over zoning and hours of operation;

AND WHEREAS, transnational retailing corporations such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and Marks and Spencer have been reported to have lobbied to get such provisions adopted by the WTO;

AND WHEREAS, a new GATS provision applied to zoning will mean all regulations over zoning and hours of operation would have to meet the test of being "necessary" as determined by a WTO trade panel;

AND WHEREAS, the new provision will be a legally binding article in the GATS agreement and thus enforceable through the WTO;

AND WHEREAS, a GATS provision on zoning would eventually [it would do this immediately, as soon as the provision comes into force at the end of the current round of negotiations in 2005] create substantial uncertainty for local government representatives when they make decisions on zoning and store hours, even though Canadian law empowers them to make such decisions;

AND WHEREAS, the provincial government is responsible for safeguarding the authority of local governments in the formulation of Canada's negotiating position on GATS;

AND WHEREAS, on March 13 and 14, provincial and federal representatives will meet to discuss Canada's position in these negotiations;

AND WHEREAS, all WTO member states have to submit their proposals for these negotiations by June 2002;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the City of Vancouver ask:

At that meeting, a member of Council requested the City Clerk provide information on whether Council had dealt with similar motions in the past.

Accordingly, the Committee had before it the foregoing motion and a memo dated March 12, 2002, from the City Clerk, to which he attached a copy of a previous motion passed by Council on May 2, 2000, and provided advice to Council in this regard. The Committee agreed, as per the City Clerk's advice, that only paragraph (b) of the Resolved of the motion before it this day was open for discussion.

The following speakers spoke in favour of the motion:

The following is a summary of points provided by the following speakers:

· current WTO negotiations are now focussed directly on considering whether to extend GATS to local governments on zoning and hours of operation regulations;
· municipal governments may be stripped of power in terms of zoning and hours of operation and could be prevented from passing local policies or turning down rezonings which would allow big box retail uses;
· big-box retailers will use GATS provisions to their advantage;
· one way of relaying municipal concerns regarding GATS to the Federal Government is through the Provincial Government; we must convince the Province to take this message to Ottawa.

Councillor Bass asked for permission to withdraw paragraph (a) from the Resolved of the motion. The Committee so agreed.

A Council member provided information regarding the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' actions taken in relaying to the Federal Government its issues of concern in regard to the GATS negotiations, and noted they have asked that municipalities be excluded from certain areas of the agreement.

In response to a request from a Council member, Ellen Gould, independent trade researcher, spoke in support of Council's firm stand on this matter, and agreed to provide a video copy of a Bill Moyers report on "Chapter 11" for Council to view.

The following motion was put:

THAT the Committee recommend to Council

WHEREAS, at its May 2, 2000 meeting the City of Vancouver unanimously agreed that Canada should get a "permanent and explicit exemption in the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) that would limit its application to areas of Federal jurisdiction," (a resolution also passed by the UBCM at its October 24-27, 2000 meeting);

AND WHEREAS, World Trade Organization negotiators are considering extension of this agreement to local government regulation over zoning and hours of operation;

AND WHEREAS, transnational retailing corporations such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and Marks and Spencer have been reported to have lobbied to get such provisions adopted by the WTO;

AND WHEREAS, a new GATS provision applied to zoning will mean all regulations over zoning and hours of operation would have to meet the test of being "necessary" as determined by a WTO trade panel;

AND WHEREAS, the new provision will be a legally binding article in the GATS agreement and thus enforceable through the WTO;

AND WHEREAS, a GATS provision on zoning would eventually [it would do this immediately, as soon as the provision comes into force at the end of the current round of negotiations in 2005] create substantial uncertainty for local government representatives when they make decisions on zoning and store hours, even though Canadian law empowers them to make such decisions;

AND WHEREAS, the provincial government is responsible for safeguarding the authority of local governments in the formulation of Canada's negotiating position on GATS;

AND WHEREAS, on March 13 and 14, provincial and federal representatives will meet to discuss Canada's position in these negotiations;

AND WHEREAS, all WTO member states have to submit their proposals for these negotiations by June 2002;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the City of Vancouver ask the Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise to meet with the Mayor and City Council to report on the results of his efforts at the March 13 and 14 meeting and to hear the City's concerns about the legal and regulatory restrictions posed for local governments by the proposed trade agreement expansion.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

MOVED by Councillor Clarke
THAT the Committee recommend to Council

FURTHER THAT Council affirm the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' vigorous approach of conveying to the Federal Government the concerns of municipalities in regard to the WTO and GATS.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

2. Regulation of Conversion and Demolition of Single Room Occupancy Residential Hotels in the Downtown Core (File 4657)

At its meeting on March 5, 2002, Vancouver City Council referred the following motion to a future Standing Committee meeting in order to hear from members of the public wishing to speak on this matter:

"MOVED by Councillor Louis
SECONDED by Councillor Bass

WHEREAS, the City of Vancouver has experienced a significant reduction in the number of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel units for low-income residents, and;

WHEREAS, the provincial government has frozen the development of new replacement non-market housing for low-income urban singles, and;

WHEREAS, Vancouver has submitted a bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and;

WHEREAS, historically rooming houses and residential hotels are often converted for tourist use during hallmark events such as the Olympic games and as occurred during Expo 86 in Vancouver, resulting in eviction and displacement of low income residents, and;

WHEREAS, Olympic driven evictions are currently taking place in Salt Lake City forcing low income citizens out of their homes and providing no alternatives, and;

WHEREAS, many organizations, including the Olympic Bid Committee, have expressed their desire that this not occur again in Vancouver, and;

WHEREAS the International Olympic Committee has previously expressed its concern that host cities have sustainable and socially responsible plans for hosting the Olympic Games, and;

WHEREAS, the Vancouver Charter empowers City Council to regulate the conversion and demolition of Single Room Occupancy residential hotels;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Vancouver City Council direct staff to prepare a conversion and demolition by-law for SRO hotels that ensures there is no net loss of affordable housing, as is currently provided through these hotels, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this by-law regulate market driven conversion and demolition of SRO hotels by either denying permits to convert or demolish hotels or through a requirement of one for one affordable rental housing replacement for each unit that will be lost, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any replacement strategy must ensure the replacement units are available for occupancy prior to when the original units being converted or demolished are vacated."

The following speakers spoke in support of the motion and a summary of their comments is provided below:

· a conversion control by-law has been advocated by the Carnegie Centre Association for a long time, not as a moratorium but as a regulatory, legislated tool to control the rate of change in residential hotel stocks;
· future tourism, growth, and possible 2010 Olympics are likely to result in continued conversion, with nowhere near the rate of replacement which has occurred before, causing a net reduction in units;
· there have been instances in other cities where evictions from low-cost housing occurred during short term events such as Olympics;
· many factors contribute to evictions from SRO housing, most of which are preventable;
· this by-law is long overdue, and is needed regardless of whether Vancouver gets the 2010 bid or not;
· in the last few years, there have been 700-800 units lost on Granville and Pender Streets, and, although a replacement policy is in place, probably none of the evicted people from those hotels were able to move into the social housing replacement units;
· a conversion control by-law would simply put a safeguard in place and could possibly strengthen the Olympic bid process and allow more people and organizations in Vancouver to support the bid.

With regard to the 2010 Olympic bid, Judy Rogers, City Manager, noted there will be opportunities for concerned parties to have input during the community consultation process. Ms. Rogers also responded to questions concerning existing disincentives for SRO conversion, and the City's ability to pass this type of by-law.

Jacquie Forbes-Roberts, General Manager of Community Services, responded to a question concerning the estimated rate of decline in SRO stock.

Following discussion the motion was put and LOST with Councillors Clarke, Daniel Lee, Don Lee, McCormick, Price, Puil, Sullivan and the Mayor opposed.

The Committee adjourned at 4:05 p.m.

- - - - -

CITY OF VANCOUVER

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

MARCH 14, 2002

A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, March 14, 2002, at 4:05 p.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.

PRESENT:

Mayor Philip Owen
Councillor Fred Bass
Councillor Jennifer Clarke
Councillor Daniel Lee
Councillor Don Lee
Councillor Tim Louis
Councillor Sandy McCormick
Councillor Gordon Price
Councillor George Puil
Councillor Sam Sullivan

ABSENT:

Councillor Lynne Kennedy (Leave of Absence - Civic Business)

CITY MANAGER'S
OFFICE:

Judy Rogers, City Manager

CITY CLERK'S OFFICE:

Laura Kazakoff, Meeting Coordinator

"IN CAMERA" MEETING

MOVED by Councillor Louis
SECONDED by Councillor McCormick

THAT Council will go into a meeting later this day which is closed to the public, pursuant to Section 165.2 of the Vancouver Charter, to discuss matters related to paragraph:

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

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 Planning and Environment
March 14, 2002

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

Clause 1

MOVED by Councillor Don Lee

THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clause 1 of this report, be approved.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Clause 2

Regulation of Conversion and Demolition of Single Room Occupancy Residential Hotels in the Downtown Core

MOVED by Councillor Louis

WHEREAS, the City of Vancouver has experienced a significant reduction in the number of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel units for low-income residents, and;

WHEREAS, the provincial government has frozen the development of new replacement non-market housing for low-income urban singles, and;

WHEREAS, Vancouver has submitted a bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and;

WHEREAS, historically rooming houses and residential hotels are often converted for tourist use during hallmark events such as the Olympic games and as occurred during Expo 86 in Vancouver, resulting in eviction and displacement of low income residents, and;

WHEREAS, Olympic driven evictions are currently taking place in Salt Lake City forcing low income citizens out of their homes and providing no alternatives, and;

WHEREAS, many organizations, including the Olympic Bid Committee, have expressed their desire that this not occur again in Vancouver, and;

WHEREAS the International Olympic Committee has previously expressed its concern that host cities have sustainable and socially responsible plans for hosting the Olympic Games, and;

WHEREAS, the Vancouver Charter empowers City Council to regulate the conversion and demolition of Single Room Occupancy residential hotels;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Vancouver City Council direct staff to prepare a conversion and demolition by-law for SRO hotels that ensures there is no net loss of affordable housing, as is currently provided through these hotels, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this by-law regulate market driven conversion and demolition of SRO hotels by either denying permits to convert or demolish hotels or through a requirement of one for one affordable rental housing replacement for each unit that will be lost, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any replacement strategy must ensure the replacement units are available for occupancy prior to when the original units being converted or demolished are vacated."

LOST
(Councillors Clarke, Daniel Lee, Don Lee, McCormick, Price, Puil, Sullivan and the Mayor opposed)

RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Councillor Puil

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 Don Lee

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Council recessed at 4:10 p.m. and reconvened "in camera"

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