Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

The Director of Real Estate Services in consultation with the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Legal Services

SUBJECT:

Establishment of waterfront road at Southeast False Creek

 

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council authorize the Director of Real Estate Services, in consultation with the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Legal Services to proceed with the plans and documents required to establish as road those portions of City-owned and privately owned lands (the "Southeast False Creek Lands") as generally shown in bold outline on the sketch attached hereto as Appendix "A" and more particularly described in Appendix "B".

B. THAT Council instruct the Director of Legal Services to bring forward the formal resolution(s) as required to complete the establishment as road of those portions of the Southeast False Creek Lands as generally shown in bold outline on the sketch attached hereto as Appendix "A" and more particularly described in Appendix "B".

C. THAT Council authorize the City Manager in consultation with the Director of Real Estate Services, and the General Manager of Engineering Services to approve minor and inconsequential amendments to the areas of specific properties to be established as road.

D. THAT once the form of all legal documentation and plans have been approved by the Director of Real Estate Services, the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Legal Services, that the Director of Legal Services be authorized to execute and deliver such documentation and plans to the appropriate parties on behalf of the City.

GENERAL MANAGERS' COMMENTS

The General Managers of Corporate and Engineering Services RECOMMEND approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

It is an established requirement in major developments that public waterfront walkway be established as road.

The authority for establishing streets and lanes is set out in Section 291 of the Vancouver Charter.

PURPOSE

This report seeks Council authority to proceed with the establishment of a road upon the waterfront of the Southeast False Creek Lands generally as shown in bold outline in Appendix A attached to this report.

BACKGROUND
On May 8, 1997 Council instructed the Director of Planning to proceed with the planning process for Southeast False Creek which was approved by Council on October 26, 1995. The process culminated in the Southeast False Creek Policy Statement that Council adopted on October 19, 1999 to guide the Official Development Plan (ODP) and rezoning of Southeast False Creek. On August 2, 2001, Council approved recommendations to prepare Environmental Plans required for the preparation of an ODP and to establish an environmental assessment method for buildings in Southeast False Creek.

DISCUSSION

Work on the preparation of Environmental Plans and ODP is in progress. Furthermore, discussion of the proposed False Creek South rezoning involving privately owned lands situated within First, Second Avenues and Main and Wylie Streets is at an advanced stage.

A recommendation of the Southeast False Creek Policy Statement is that the False Creek shoreline be preserved generally in the current configuration and publicly accessible for both Southeast False Creek residents and for the City as a whole.

The lands immediately behind the waterfront, except Lot A, Block 1, D.L. 302 & 2064, Plan 11857 ("the Egmont Property"), are City-owned. The Egmont Property is the subject of a prescribed procedure of sale and purchase, resulting from the City exercising an option to purchase upon Council approval on April 30, 2002; price is being negotiated and the estimated completion is the end of November this year.

On July 22, 1999 Council supported Molstar Sports' proposed contribution to a temporary walkway at the southeast shore of False Creek between Science World and the Cambie Bridge. Council on February 20, 2001 approved the construction of a temporary extension of a temporary seawall walkway from Cambie Bridge to Science World, using $50,000 provided by Molson Indy Legacy Fund and $200,000 from the Property Endowment Fund; the walkway has since been constructed and it provides public access for walking, jogging, cycling, in-line skating and generally public access to the waterfront. The walkway installation is consistent with City requirement of other major developments. As these developments occur around False Creek the developers have been required at their cost, to construct temporary walkways to ensure public access to the waterfront during construction.

It is established policy and precedence that other major developments, e.g. Concord Pacific and Coal Harbour, have been required to provide public waterfront walkways in the form of establishment as road. It is therefore appropriate that the City-owned lands comply with the same requirement as these other major developments have been, and establish the public waterfront walkway as road.

It was difficult previously to establish the waterfront lands as road as the City did not own completely the lands behind the waterfront, with the Egmont Property in private ownership. The temporary walkway is possible only due to a narrow right of way that was obtained in former negotiation of leasing a City-owned water lot to Egmont. However, the recent change in Egmont's direction to sell permits the City to acquire the property, thus to complete the City ownership of the lands behind the waterfront. Therefore, it is appropriate to proceed with establishment of a road at the shoreline of Southeast False Creek to assure public access to the waterfront, in advance of development of the lands.

CONCLUSION

The establishment of a public walkway on the shore of Southeast False Creek is a significant benefit to the City and it is required by established policy and precedence of major development at False Creek and Coal Harbour. More specifically, the Southeast False Creek Policy Statement recommends a public walkway for the Southeast False Creek Lands. A temporary walkway has been put in place permitting public access to the waterfront. Given the recent opportunity of acquiring the Egmont Property, thus completing the City ownership immediately behind the waterfront, it is appropriate to establish the waterfront strip as road. Work is in progress to negotiate the price and complete the purchase of the Egmont Property,therefore, this report recommends that Council authorise the Director of Real Estate Services, in consultation with the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Legal Services, to proceed with the task and report back with formal resolutions to establish the road.

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APPENDIX B

A. City-owned Lands:

1. Parcel Identifier: 016-686-136

2. Parcel Identifier: 006-865-968

3. Parcel Identifier: 016-669-011

4. Parcel Identifier: 016-673-506

5. Parcel Identifier: 016-674-464

6. Parcel Identifier: 016-674-995

7. Parcel Identifier: 016-675-053

8. Parcel Identifier: 016-675-274

9. Parcel Identifier: 016-675-355

10. Parcel Identifier: 016-675-380

11. Parcel Identifier: 016-214-064

12. Parcel Identifier: 016-679-831

13. Parcel Identifier: 016-682-408

B. Privately-owned Lands

1. Parcel Identifier: 009-001-891

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ag021008.htm

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