POLICY REPORT
URBAN STRUCTURE

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director of Current Planning and the General Manager of Engineering Services in consultation with the Director of Legal Services

SUBJECT:

Amendments to Encroachment By-law Fees for Protected Heritage Property and Other Sites

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

The Encroachment By-law (No. 4243) establishes guidelines to validate encroachments onto City streets and/or lanes, including registered agreements, termination provisions annual fees and indemnities.

In 1986, Council approved a city-wide Heritage Management Plan including incentives and protective measures aimed at promoting the conservation of heritage resources. Since then Council has supported heritage conservation on an ongoing basis through the adoption of various policies such as density bonuses and parking relaxations.

On January 25, 1990, Council approved the elimination of annual fees for encroachments which were deemed to be of public benefit such as canopies providing pedestrian weather protection, special sidewalk treatment and sidewalk or boulevard crossings.

On January 9, 1996 Council approved an administrative fee of $3,000 for easements granted over portions of streets and lanes, to accommodate building encroachments, based on full cost recovery.

On December 10, 1998, Council agreed to reduce the annual encroachment fee for the Sam Kee Building at 8 West Pender Street (a protected heritage property) to $1.00.

On August 1, 2002, Council approved the Gastown Heritage Management Plan to facilitate heritage conservation in Gastown.

Council has approved the waiving of encroachment fees for various non-heritage sites.

PURPOSE

This report recommends two changes to the encroachment program:
· elimination of annual encroachment fees for protected heritage properties; and
· reduction by 50% in the Encroachment By-law administration fee for granting an easement on City property from $3,000 to $1,500 for all sites in the City.

BACKGROUND

Throughout the City, there are several hundred buildings that encroach or have projections over or onto a City street and/or lane. These encroachments are regulated by the Encroachment By-law, which clarifies the rights and obligations of the City and property owners, delegates administration of the By-law to the General Manager of Engineering

Services, provides for registered agreements for encroachments onto a street or lane, establishes annual fees for various types of encroachments, and includes termination provisions and indemnity requirements.

In January 1996 Council instituted a $3,000 one-time administrative fee for easements over portions of lane or street to accommodate building encroachments. The fee was based on estimates of staff time required to process the application on a full cost recovery basis.

In addition to the administrative fee, those building encroachments extending more than 3 inches in to the City street or lane pay an annual charge of $115.00 plus $3.00 for every square foot exceeding 150 square feet. This annual fee represents a payment for "rental" of the City street or lane. This charge is consistent with Council's policy of charging for the use of the public realm, whether it is street or sidewalk space and recognizes, in part, the potential liability faced by the City. Fees are also charged for other encroachments such as aerial communication wires, bridges, ducts, footings and stairways. Canopies, planters, fire escapes and vents are examples of items where fees are not applicable.

Heritage buildings commonly include cornices, eaves, copings, window sills and occasionally bay windows which may contribute positively to their architectural character. The retention, replacement (if previously removed) or inclusion in a new building to improve compatibility in an historic area of these types of architectural features is often sought. These elements are considered to be encroachments and require agreements to be registered on the title and in some cases are subject to the annual fees noted above.

The exemption of fees for encroachments is enabled by Section 206(2) of the Vancouver Charter which states that Council can provide assistance to property that is protected heritage property or subject to a Section 219 covenant related to the conservation of heritage property. Approval requires a 2/3 majority of votes cast and is subject to terms and conditions specified by Council.

DISCUSSION

1. Administrative Fees

Initially considerable staff time was spent on developing the process and necessary plans and documentation to handle easement applications. Now that Land Survey and Legal Services staff have processed several applications of this nature, they are much more familiar with the work needed and have developed efficiencies by standardizing the process and developing common documents and procedures. This has resulted in less staff time and lower costs to process the applications.

Therefore, this report recommends that the fee be reduced from $3,000 to $1,500. There are on average six applications per year. The resultant reduction in revenue to the City would be $9,000 per year that would no longer be available for additional staff resources.

2. Heritage Properties

Application of Encroachment Fees

In the process of developing the Gastown Heritage Management Plan, and discussions held with stakeholders, the requirement for encroachment agreements and accompanying fees was identified as problematic. This report does not recommend removing the requirement for encroachment agreements which are important as they set out the obligations and responsibilities of each party. However, many building owners throughout the City have voiced concern with paying an annual fee for elements that are often maintained as part of the heritage fabric of the building. Fees are a disincentive to maintaining or replacing these architectural features. They may also result in some encroaching elements being removed, thereby eroding a buildings' architectural character, in order to avoid paying fees.

Council has on previous occasions eliminated or reduced fees (to a nominal amount) for encroachments in specific cases. Staff is of the opinion that eliminating fees for encroachments on protected heritage property would be a clear and positive gesture of support for maintaining heritage buildings and be consistent with Council's overall objectives to facilitate heritage conservation. These features are primarily architectural and are the ornamentation and decorative embellishments on heritage buildings that enhance the public realm and contribute significantly to historic areas such as Gastown, Chinatown and Yaletown as well as individual heritage buildings. Removing the annual fee would provide additional encouragement and direct support toward their maintenance. It would also encourage these elements to be reinstated where they have been removed and installed on new buildings in heritage areas further enhancing compatibility. Waiving of encroachment fees for protected heritage property would make an important contribution to heritage conservation objectives.

Eligibility and Financial Implications

Protected heritage property, those sites designated by either municipal or provincial statutes would be eligible. It is estimated that there are 500 protected heritage sites in the city (300 in the Gastown and Chinatown heritage areas with the remainder being individual sites) of which approximately 87 (17%) currently pay annual fees for encroachments. Almost 2/3 (56 properties) pay the minimum $115/year fee and the total annual fees collected from protected heritage sites in 2002 is $93,472. If Council approves the waiving of these fees, this revenue will be lost to the operating budget and will have to be replaced by identifying new revenues including a property tax increase or reductions in expenditures elsewhere in the budget.

Implementation

Annual fees for encroachments are placed on the tax roll and collected as part of property tax payments. In order to implement the waiving of fees for protected heritage properties staff will need to review records and identify them. Approval of Recommendation A will result in fees no longer being collected from these protected heritage properties effective January 1, 2003 and would not include provision for reimbursing of any fees paid up to that date.

Areaways

Current City practice is to require the filling in of areaways when a new development permit application for a site with an areaway is received. This is due to concerns regarding the structural condition of many areaways and the potential liability issues which may arise. For these reasons this report does not recommend exemption from annual fees for areaways. However, in some instances there may be areaways such as the Sam Kee building in Chinatown or the Europe Hotel in Gastown of heritage significance. In these special instances, the item could be reported to Council for consideration.

Community Input

At a meeting on September 18, 2002 the Gastown Historic Area Planning Committee (GHAPC) reviewed a draft copy of this report and unanimously supported the following resolution:

"THAT the Gastown Historic Area Planning Committee:

The General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Current Planning have considered GHAPC's comments and note that item 2 is contrary to City practice. The primary issue is the instability of areaway structures that have not been upgraded which may result in safety concerns. Areaways of heritage significance can be reported to Council.

With respect to the Europe Hotel areaway, on February 21, 2002 Council approved the stabilization of the areaway by temporarily filling it in and the restoration of the sidewalk with glass prisms inset. GHAPC continues to support full restoration of the areaway.

However, in the absence of sufficient funds to undertake a full areaway restoration and a suitable tenant for the areaway space, staff continues to believe that the best solution at this time is the one approved by Council. Work on the stabilization of the areaway is scheduled to begin in the Spring of 2003.

At their meeting on October 8, 2002 the Chinatown Historic Area Planning Committee reviewed a draft report. There was not a quorum at the meeting however, the consensus among members in attendance was to strongly support the exemption of fees as detailed in this report and for further consideration to be given to reviewing areaways as they are a component of the historic fabric in the area.

CONCLUSION

As part of the Gastown Heritage Management Plan a number of recommendations to facilitate rehabilitation of heritage buildings were proposed including waiving fees for encroachments. Approval of recommendation A would make all protected heritage properties in the city exempt from annual encroachment fees thereby supporting heritage conservation efforts by encouraging the maintenance and restoration of architectural features. A reduction of fees for granting easements to accommodate encroachments for sites throughout the city as proposed in recommendation B would bring the fee in line with the staff resources required to process these applications.

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APPENDIX A

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ENCROACHMENT BY-LAW (NO.4243)

1. In Paragraph B(5) of the Schedule to the Encroachment By-law, delete "$3,000.00" and substitute "$1,500.00".

2. To the Schedule to the Encroachment By-law, add a new Paragraph E that states:

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© 2002 City of Vancouver