Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
PHYSICAL SERVICES

TO:

Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services

SUBJECT:

Lease Rates for Plaza of Nations and Quayside Ferry Docks

 

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council approve the principle that privately owned but City-controlled ferry docks are to be operated on a cost-recovery basis. The owners are entitled to charge lease rates that recover on-going ferry dock operating and maintenance costs.

B. THAT the interim annual lease rate for the Plaza of Nations ferry dock be set at $1,200 from each of the ferry companies, Aquabus and False Creek Ferries, for a total annual lease rate of $2,400.

C. THAT the interim annual lease rate for the Quayside ferry dock be set at $1,200 from each of the ferry companies, Aquabus and False Creek Ferries, for a total annual lease rate of $2,400.

D. THAT staff report back in the fall on access and lease rates at all City-owned or controlled ferry docks.

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

There is no Council policy directly applicable to this matter.

PURPOSE

This report asks Council to approve an interim lease rate for both the Plaza of Nations and the Quayside ferry docks.

BACKGROUND

Plaza of Nations Site

At a Public Hearing on April 28, 1998, Council approved a CD-1 text amendment for 750 Pacific Boulevard (Plaza of Nations site) to allow for a 29-storey, 600-room hotel, subject to conditions of approval. As a condition of approval, the Owner was to enter into an agreement to provide for a ferry dock on the water lot, at a location satisfactory to the City Manager. The agreement was also to control commercial and private usage of the dock to the satisfaction of the City Manager.

The executed agreement for this site notes that while a permanent ferry dock is to be provided prior to the earlier of the issuance of an occupancy permit, or five years from the date of the enactment of the rezoning, a temporary ferry dock is required within one year of the enactment date. As both Aquabus and False Creek Ferries have now indicated that they would like to be able to include the Plaza of Nations site as a stop on their runs, we have advised the Plaza of Nations owner that the temporary dock must be operational this summer.

Quayside Marina

At a Public Hearing on July 27, 1999, Council approved the text amendments for Quayside Area 4 and Roundhouse Area 2 of the False Creek North Official Development Plan, to permit the expansion of the Quayside Marina area into the Roundhouse water lot. As a condition of approval, the owner was to enter into an agreement to provide for a ferry dock.

On June 28, 2002, Concord Pacific fulfilled all conditions of approval for the marina, including the completion and registration of all required agreements, and obtained an Occupancy Permit for the site.

City Owned and Controlled Docks

As with as the two docks discussed above, the City of Vancouver, through Real Estate Services, Park Board and Engineering Services, manages a total of four docks in False Creek. These docks are leased to the ferry companies, with charges ranging from $0 to $11,660 (see table A below). Engineering , in consultation with Real Estate Services and Parks are presently developing consistent and fair policies for commercial access to the City owned or controlled docks, and will report back to Council this fall for approval of thissystem.

Table A

Location Lease Rate

Aquatic Centre (Park Board) $11,660/year

Hornby Street (Real Estate/Engineering) $11,040/year

Stamps Landing (Park Board/ Real Estate) $2096/year

Spyglass (Engineering) $0/year

Science World (Engineering) $0/year

Discussion

The executed agreements for both sites stipulate that the owner must operate the ferry dock to the "satisfaction of the City Engineer including, without limitation, with respect to fees charged, hours of operations and permitted users and ferry operators". Therefore, we have advised both Concord and Canadian Metropolitan Properties Corporation (CMPC), owner of the Plaza of Nations site, that these ferry docks are to be:

· available for use by both Aquabus and False Creek Ferries;
· at the Plaza of Nations site, leased to each ferry company for $1,200 annually, for a total revenue of $2,400, accruing to the owner.
· at the Quayside site, leased to each ferry company for $1,200 annually, for a total revenue of $2,400, accruing to the owner.

Staff believe that ferry service in False Creek is a tourist and a transportation service which supports the public transit system. Therefore, in setting a lease rate at these City-controlled docks, a reasonable approach is to charge a rate that adequately covers the maintenance andoperational costs of these docking facilities, and facilitates equal access to the docks by both ferry operators. This amount reflects moorage rates in False Creek and is also based on a review of average maintenance costs of similar City controlled facilities. We believe that these lease rates will allow the owners to cover on-going maintenance and operating costs of the ferry docks.

Both Concord and CMPC do not agree with staff's recommendation. They note that the ferry operators would likely be willing to pay considerably more at each of these locations, and that they have previously negotiated lucrative contracts for the lease of the ferry docks. However, staff note the following points:

· Both owners were required to provide ferry docks as a public amenity as a negotiated condition of their rezonings. Capital costs for the docks are considered the owners' responsibility. As such, these public docks should be operated on a cost-recovery basis, so that operating and on-going maintenance costs are recovered, but not on a commercial basis.

· A lease rate based on maintenance and operating costs ensures fair access to both ferry companies, Aquabus and False Creek Ferries.

· Ferry service to these sites increases the accessibility to these facilities, and provides a direct benefit for the owners.

· The recommended lease rates are an interim rate and will allow access to both docks by both companies for the balance of the summer. This interim rate will be reviewed by staff this fall as part of a comprehensive study on ferry service in False Creek, which will be reported to Council. There may be opportunity at that time to increase this fee.

CONCLUSION

Staff have determined that the interim lease rates for the Plaza of Nations and Quayside ferry dock should be set at $2,400 annually. This would allow CMPC and Concord to adequately recover all on-going operating and maintenance costs. If Council approves the recommendations in this report, False Creek Ferries and Aquabus will have equal access to both facilities.

These interim lease rates will be reviewed and possibly adjusted this fall, when the General Manager of Engineering Services reports to Council on a comprehensive strategy on access and lease rates at all City-owned or controlled ferry docks.

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