Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

The General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Current Planning

SUBJECT:

651 Expo Boulevard and 690-696 Beatty Street (Concord 7B): Payment for Pedestrian Connection between Georgia Viaduct and BC Place and Phased Payment of Stadium Parking Pay-in-Lieu

 

RECOMMENDATION

CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

· False Creek North Official Development Plan (FCN ODP), By-law No. 6650, approved April 10, 1990 and last amended in July 2001.

· The False Creek North Official Development Plan requires that Concord Pacific provide 800 built parking spaces available for daytime use for the BC Place Stadium, and 1000 pay-in-lieu spaces.

· Draft CD-1 By-law for the sites at 651 Expo Boulevard, 690 Beatty Street and 696 Beatty Street approved at Public Hearing of July 25, 2002.

PURPOSE

This report asks Council to authorize the Director of Legal Services and the General Manager of Engineering Services to enter into new or modified agreements with Concord Pacific Group Inc. to provide a $150,000 cash contribution for the construction of a pedestrian connection from the Georgia Viaduct to the BC Place Stadium Concourse, and for the phased payment of the 200 required pay-in-lieu stalls for this site.

BACKGROUND

At the Public Hearing of July 25, 2002, City Council approved an application from Concord Pacific Group Inc. to rezone from BCPED to CD-1 its site at 651 Expo Boulevard and 690 Beatty Street to allow a mixed-use development containing four market residential towers, a site for future development of non-market housing, and a Costco wholesale store.

Among the rezoning approval conditions were the following:

1) a requirement that the Services Agreement should include, in addition to the provision (design, construction and installation) of standard utilities and necessary services, "a pedestrian connection from the south side of the Georgia Viaduct to the Stadium Plaza Concourse, to be provided to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Planning." [Condition A(c)(4)(ix)(4)]

2) a requirement to modify the existing Stadium Parking Agreement "to transfer the obligation for 100 built stalls to another Concord site and transfer the obligation for 50 pay-in-lieu parking stalls to this site from another Concord site, all to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Engineering Services. As there is already an obligation on this site to provide 150 pay-in-lieu stalls, the applicant will be required to provide a total of 200 pay-in-lieu parking stalls." [Condition A(c)(4)(x)]
The applicant has recently proposed an acceptable reallocation in accordance with this rezoning condition, and the General Manager of Engineering Services has approved this plan.

At the Public Hearing, due to the lack of clarity as to who should pay for the pedestrian connection, Council also approved the following:

Section 3.3 of the FCN ODP pertains to the various forms of movement within the development plan area, including streets, walkways, bicycle routes, transit and ferries.

DISCUSSION

1. Pedestrian Connection

In the rezoning referral report, dated June 13, 2002, staff stated that section 3.3 of the FCN ODP places an obligation on the applicant for all streets, walkways, and bicycle routes in FCN, including the walkway between the Stadium Skytrain Station and BC Place which is identified in Figure 9b of the ODP. (Figure 1).

At the time, the applicant did not agree with the staff interpretation and recommendation. At the Public Hearing, debate between City staff and the applicant about this matter was inconclusive for Council. Council approved the rezoning applications, including the staff recommendation requiring provision of a pedestrian connection to the Stadium Plaza, but it also asked for confirmation of the staff interpretation of responsibility for the connection, preferably with input from the Director of Legal Services, which has now occurred.

The relevant part of section 3.3 in the FCN ODP reads as follows:

Streets, walkways, and bicycle routes shall be designed, constructed, and conveyed, to the satisfaction of the City, by the owner prior to occupancy or use of the first building to be constructed in the area they are intended to serve.

The interpretation of Planning and Engineering staff is that "the owner" is Concord Pacific, or, if Concord is no longer the owner, then whoever is the owner of the site, Area 7B addressed as 651 Expo Boulevard. We note that both Skytrain and BC Transit as well as BC

Place and Pavco were in existence at the time the ODP was adopted (April 10, 1990), and that if there had been any doubt or question as to their obligations they would have been referenced in the ODP or they would have been party to an agreement with the City. Neither of these occurred, hence staff concluded that the placing of an obligation on Concord Pacific was a matter strictly between the City and Concord Pacific.

Staff also interpret "the area they are intended to serve" in this case as being Area 7B. The pedestrian connection shown on Figure 9b as an "elevated pathway" that links the Stadium Skytrain Station and BC Place Stadium. While the pathway would provide for pedestrian movement between the skytrain station and the stadium, the intent is to channel stadium event pedestrian traffic through Area 7B by as direct a means as possible and thereby minimize potential disruption to Area 7B of large and dispersed crowds.

The Director of Legal Services has reviewed the FCN ODP and staff's interpretation. She advises that the language of the ODP is clear, and its meaning is plain, as understood and communicated by Planning and Engineering staff.

Having clarified the legal responsibilities for this improvement, staff have also looked at the practicalities of implementation. In most cases, the applicant builds such improvements to the City's satisfaction. In this case, because connection to the BC Place Stadium Concourse involves a third party to agree to the work and because construction involves an existing City structure, it is most practical for the City to complete the work.

Accordingly, it is proposed that the applicant be required to provide a specified financial contribution, which staff recommend at a fixed sum of $150,000. Although a detailed design has not been completed, this amount is estimated to be sufficient to construct an adequate connection. A final design and detailed cost estimate will be prepared for Council's review and approval prior to the start of the construction of this pedestrian connection.

This amount would be due to the City upon notice by the City that Council has approved the design and construction. However, this would not occur any sooner than the issuance of a development permit that triggers the construction of the internal roadway through this site, connecting the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts, since the connection is not needed until that time. The applicant is agreeable to this amount and the proposed arrangements for payment.

2. Phased payment of Pay-in-Lieu Parking

Under the provisions of the April 1990 Stadium Parking Letter Agreement, cash pay-in-lieu payments (currently at about $9,500 per stall) are to be paid in full prior to the issuance of the first occupancy permit for each development site.

However, in this case the project will be constructed in phases, with occupancy to be potentially staggered over several years. The Costco store at the Expo Boulevard level will be constructed first, with occupancy slated for mid 2004. The timing of the development of each of the residential towers will depend on market conditions.
Staff believe that it would be reasonable to allow payments to be phased to more closely reflect the phasing of the site development, as this would have essentially the same effect as if there were five separate sites being developed independently. Concord has requested that the payment schedule be 40 stalls on the occupancy of the Costco store, and 40 stalls on the occupancy of each of the subsequent towers. Staff find this proposal acceptable.

Due to timing constraints, the agreements currently executed with Concord Pacific on the pedestrian connection and Stadium Parking issues are based on the terms approved by Council at the Public Hearing. That is, the Services Agreement obligates Concord Pacific to design and construct the pedestrian connection, and the Stadium Parking Agreement requires that Concord Pacific provide the payment for the 200 pay-in-lieu stalls at the time of the occupancy of the first building on the site.

To reflect the revised terms and conditions of the proposals outlined in this report, staff recommend that these existing rezoning agreements be modified, or that new agreements be executed to the satisfaction of the Director of Legal Services and the General Manager of Engineering Services, prior to the issuance of the first Development Permit for the site.

CONCLUSION

Concord has agreed to provide $150,000 cash for the design and construction of a connection from the Georgia Viaduct to the BC Place Stadium Plaza. This payment would be due upon notice by the City that Council has approved proceeding with construction of this connection, but no sooner than the issuance of a development permit which triggers the construction of the north-south roadway through the 7B Site, and its intersections with the Viaducts.

Also, Concord has requested that the requirement for 200 pay-in-lieu stalls on their 7B site be phased, so that payment for 40 stalls is required prior to the occupancy of the Costco store, and the payment for the balance of 160 stalls is required incrementally, prior to the occupancy of each of the four market residential towers (40 stalls for each building). Staff believe that it is appropriate to phase this payment as this development will be constructed in stages over a number of years, and recommend that Council approve the proposed arrangement.

If Council supports these proposals, new or modified agreements will need to be executed prior to the issuance of the first Development Permit for the site.

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