Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO: Vancouver City Council

FROM: Community/Industry Advisory Committee

SUBJECT: Seventh Status Report to Council

INFORMATION

Mission Statement: The mission of the Community/Industry Advisory Committee (CIAC) is to encourage, advise and assist in the implementation of Vancouver's new Development and Building Process.

BACKGROUND

City Council established the CIAC, with a four-year term, in May 1998. This report is to apprise Council of the CIAC's activities for the period of May 2001 through to December 2001, and communicate to you its on-going dedication to fulfil the Committee's mandate. The CIAC will prepare a more comprehensive, concluding report to Council in June.

Our last report to Council (April 25, 2001) advised that approximately two years earlier the CIAC had identified nine work plans for action and review. Since that time, however, this has been reduced to three areas of intense review and discussions:

1. Community Involvement;
2. Measuring the New Process Performances; and
3. Regulatory and Policy Administration.

Over the past eight months, the CIAC has met bi-weekly to discuss these topics, focussing in some depth on community involvement, with the emphasis on how best to constructively engage the community in the approvals process.

Staff response has been crucial to this Committee's deliberations. Like any advisory committee to Council, the CIAC wants to assist with advice that is meaningful in the present day-to-day workings of the City. Given today's fiscally challenging times, the CIAC is mindful of the difficulties inherent in implementing changes to the City's development and building approvals process that would involve extraordinary resourcing. Hence, our emphasis has been on identifying changes that will be simple, pragmatic and do-able.

At the same time, our Committee believes it is also in the City's and Council's interest to look to the long term. In this vein, our efforts have also been to articulate goals and possible actions that may pose difficulties in the present context but which still have merit to improve the workings of the approvals process in the long term.

Following further analysis and refinement over the next few months, we are confident that there will be a number of more substantial improvements we will be able to present to Council for adoption and implementation over the long term.

Community Involvement

The Committee has identified a number of the very positive aspects that enhanced community involvement might bring to the shaping of our communities, including:

· public education (making complex development processes more understandable);
· encouraging diversity of design and more site- or neighbourhood-specific solutions (encouraging more true discretion and flexibility in the approvals system);
· paying more attention to the streetscape and public realm issues; and
· paying more attention to environmental and sustainability concerns.

The CIAC acknowledges the City's recent work on: (i) the "Public Involvement Review" that examined opportunities for citizen participation in the broad array of City activities; and (ii) "Community Visioning" as a means of engaging neighbourhoods in implementing CityPlan directions. The results of these two City initiatives have enriched CIAC discussions on the more confined topic of community involvement in private property development/building approvals. They have also helped, along with input from staff, in our identification and discussion of specific elements for further enhancement.

Following further deliberation over the next few months, the CIAC anticipates submitting recommendations to Council on the following elements, as part of our final report:

(a) Development Information on the Web: Much development information is already posted on the City's web site, such as weekly updates of more complex projects and planning policy work. The CIAC is examining the City resources required to include all development and building application proposals.

(b) Development Information on Site Signs: The CIAC is exploring the feasibility of requiring all development applicants, including those for "outright approvals", to post a small sign informing neighbours of the nature of the proposal, specific property and development rights, responsibilities of the owner/developer and a contact number for the owner/developer.

(c) Brochure: A plain language brochure directed to the average citizen and de-mystifying the development process would be a useful public education tool and would serve to promote better community involvement in planning/development matters. The CIAC will present specific details in its next report.

(d) Community Billboard: As is done in some other municipalities, information on proposed local developments might be summarized and placed in a "Neighbourhood" section of community newspapers.

(e) Enhancing Notification Letter Information: Existing notification letters are generally well scripted, but could contain more site, development and neighbourhood specific information. Areas of notification might also be expanded.

(f) Neighbourhood Planning Boards: A Neighbourhood Planning Board, comprised of local, appointed volunteers, might require that the initial "legwork" concerning a desired discretionary approval be done by the applicant, who must convince the surrounding neighbours that a particular relaxation is consistent with typical development patterns that have evolved in the neighbourhood or sub-area over time. With local neighbourhood approval, the Neighbourhood Board could recommend approval of the relaxation to City staff.

(g) Neighbourhood Design Panels: These Panels would be empowered to make recommendations to relax regulations for new directions in forms and types of development that are site-specific, accommodating new forms and incremental types of growth.

(h) Applicant/Neighbour Meetings: As happens now on major projects, development applicants might be required to meet with surrounding neighbours on all conditional approval projects, including single-family, in RS-5 areas and the like. The emphasis would be on promoting neighbourliness and might serve to foster more positive outcomes and better buildings in local areas.

(i) Neighbourhood Meetings: City-sanctioned and organized meetings for development applications might be very helpful, much like existing rezoning or major project public meetings which tend to be called by the applicant at the behest of City staff.

(j) Community Involvement Consultants and/or Zoning Speakers Bureau: The City might use consultants or knowledgeable volunteers, to assist communities in the public involvement aspects of the approvals process.

Measuring New Process Performance

During the reporting period, the CIAC Members received updates from staff on how process changes were being implemented. The general impression of the Committee is that good progress was being made and that processing staff - many of whom are recent hirees - were well along in learning the intricacies of the City's approvals processes, and that the elimination of some of the backlog of applications was well underway. (Processing Centre -Development staff held a weekend blitz at the end of November to reduce the backlog and thus "shelf time".)

The CIAC heard and is understanding of the concern expressed by some staff that adding any further "discretionary use"-type regulations to their workload would be problematic unless commensurate staff resources are provided to handle the extra work this generates.

Many CIAC Members were of the opinion that processing times for less complex projects were still inordinately long. Complex project applicants were generally well served while the less complex project (including conditional approval single-family dwelling applicants) deserved more experienced staff and managerial attention in order to cut down on extensive processing times.

The CIAC will continue to monitor process performance and will present a more comprehensive review as part of its next report.

Regulatory and Policy Administration

CIAC Members continue to be concerned about the need for regulatory review. While not part of our mandate, the Committee sees regulation itself as a key component - if not the key component - to improving the development environment of the City.

The CIAC has a strong interest in advocating for more understandable regulations, where the underlying objectives can be more explicit; and that regulations should have currency to contemporary attitudes, market realities and socio-economic conditions.

CONCLUSION

The CIAC's four-year mandate expires in May 2002 and unless Council deems it appropriate that CIAC continue to provide advice, and its members consider it useful to carry on, thenext report will be the final one that the Community/Industry Advisory Committee will present.

The Committee's final report to Council will present a comprehensive accounting of its four-year term; detailing its many concerns of four years ago, followed with many intense discussions and reviews; noting the positive steps the process changes have brought to the City with suggested areas for further improvement, along with recommendations for Council's consideration.

* * * * *

ag020423.htm

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

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver