Restaurant Parking Standards in Central Broadway and West End

POLICY REPORT

URBAN STRUCTURE

Date: March 13, 2002
Author/Local:R. Macdonald/7347

P. Pinsker/7917

RTS No. 02606

CC File No.113

P&E: April 11, 2002

TO: Standing Committee on Planning and Environment

FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services, in consultation with the Director of Current Planning, the Director of City Plans, and the Director of Legal Services

SUBJECT: Restaurant Parking Standards in Central Broadway and the West End

RECOMMENDATION

THAT the Parking By-Law be amended for restaurant parking requirements generally as contained in Appendix A: to reduce the parking requirements in the Central Broadway commercial area (C3A) and the West End commercial area (C5 and C6);

FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare and bring forward the necessary amending By-law for enactment.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Engineering Services and the General Manager of Community Services RECOMMEND approval of A.

COUNCIL POLICY

Relevant Council policy includes:

· Parking By-law

Wherever possible development standards should be set to simplify requirements.
PURPOSE

This report brings forward a proposal to amend the Parking By-law to reduce the restaurant parking requirements to be the same as for other commercial uses in both Central Broadway (C3A) and West End (C5 and C6) districts.

SUMMARY

After detailed studies, staff recommend changes to the Parking By-law with respect to the parking required of restaurants in the Central Broadway and West End commercial areas. The proposed change would harmonize the standard for restaurants with that currently applicable to the broad spectrum of commercial and service uses. This would facilitate seamless changes in use, many of which are refused a development permit only on account of a small shortfall of parking. The change would reduce the number of parking spaces required by at most ten stalls; in most cases the reduction would be much fewer. The change will foster more vibrant development, discourage use of the automobile, and simplify regulations as a standard is eliminated from the Parking By-law.

BACKGROUND

There are three general restaurant parking standards in Vancouver. At the low end, the Downtown District has a standard which varies slightly by sub-area, but which is the same for all commercial/service uses. At the upper end, the standard in outlying portions of the city requires a much greater amount of parking to serve the auto-oriented patronage. In the Central Broadway and West End commercial areas, an intermediate standard was introduced as a result of a 1988 Engineering study which found parking demand there was only about 40% of outlying portions of the city. Still, this intermediate standard results in parking requirements which are greater than for other commercial/service uses.

The restaurant parking standard that applies in Central Broadway and West End can result in up to 10 added parking spaces, and is:

A minimum of one space for the first 100 square metres of gross floor area, one additional space for each additional 25 square metres of gross floor area up to 500 square metres, and an additional space for each additional 50 square metres of gross floor area over 500 square metres.

For comparison, the parking standard for commercial/service uses, other than restaurants, in Central Broadway and the West End is:

A minimum of one space for each 100 square metres of gross floor area up to 300 square metres, and one additional space for each additional 50 square metres of gross floor area.

When there are differing standards for uses in an area it is difficult to change uses. It is best if the parking standard for uses that may use similar floor spaces are the same. In most cases where the parking requirements are different it is because there are significantly different needs. Several studies were undertaken to review the standards. A study of West End restaurants was conducted in 2000 and the West Broadway area was reviewed, with the encouragement of city staff, in a study published in 2001 by 4^th year UBC Civil Engineering students.

Central Broadway

The Central Broadway area is a large employment centre. It is the second largest office centre (next to the Downtown) in British Columbia. Because of this there is a lot of walk in traffic during the day, and a large supply of unused parking in the evenings and weekends. Thus, it is reasonable to reduce the restaurant standard to harmonize with the commercial/service use standard.

West End

The West End commercial areas also have large walk-in traffic because of the high residential population and their proximity to the Downtown and recreation sites. Surveys of restaurants on Robson, Denman, and Davie Streets found that approximately one-half of patrons arrive by means other than the auto, an improvement since the original survey which established the current standard. Furthermore, only one-third to one-half of patrons cited the restaurant as the reason for coming to the West End; i.e. they were present for another purpose, such as work, recreation, or visiting. Under half of staff in the West End restaurants surveyed in 2000 drove to work. Though parking demand generation will exceed the provisions required under either the current restaurant standard or the commercial/service use standard, the latter (lower) standard is supported for a number of reasons - since the restaurant is only partly responsible for the demand due to multi-purpose trip-making, since patrons should be encouraged to use non-auto modes in this high-density, congested area, since this would foster seamless changes of use, and since adjacent residential areas are protected by extensive resident parking controls. As well, the Parking By-law for once would be made simpler, since a standard would be completely eliminated.

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Appendix A

Proposed Restaurant Parking Standard For
Central Broadway (C3A) and the West End Commercial areas (C5 and C6)

"A minimum of one space for each 100 square metres of gross floor area up to 300 square metres, and one additional space for each additional 50 square metres of gross floor area."

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