ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director of Social Planning, in consultation with the Vancouver Public Library

SUBJECT:

Little Mountain Neighbourhood House - Partnership with Vancouver Public Library and a Capital Grant

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

On July 25, 2002, City Council:

· approved, in principle, the construction of a new Little Mountain Neighbourhood House facility at 3867-3891 Main Street;

· endorsed an application from Little Mountain Neighbourhood House Society to the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program;

· approved, in principle, the sale of the existing Little Mountain Neighbourhood House site, with the proceeds going towards the construction of the new facility.

Approval of a Capital Grant requires 8 affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

This report deals with two issues: the inclusion of Vancouver Public Library in the proposed Little Mountain Neighbourhood House development; and capital funding to produce preliminary design and detailed costing.

BACKGROUND

More than ten years ago, Social Planning staff identified the City-Owned Little Mountain Neighbourhood House (LMNH) facility as a priority for replacement and expansion. A functional program, which included a detailed description of program and space needs, and a preliminary budget was prepared and the LMNH Board and staff, with City staff assistance, began work on implementing this plan.

On July 23, 2002, City Council approved the purchase of a site at 3867-3869 and 3891 Main Street for the relocation of LMNH.

Then on July 25, 2002, City Council:

· approved, in principle, the construction of a new Little Mountain Neighbourhood House facility at 3867-3891 Main Street;

· endorsed an application from Little Mountain Neighbourhood House Society to the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Program;

· approved, in principle, the sale of the existing Little Mountain Neighbourhood House site, with the proceeds going towards the construction of the new facility.

On that day, Council also directed staff to review and report back on the viability of a joint-use development with the Neighbourhood House and the Riley Park library.

A JOINT LIBRARY/NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE PROJECT

A small storefront branch has been located in the LMNH facility since 1981. Vancouver Public Library pays rent of $20,700 per annum to LMNH for 1,430 square feet of space in the facility. The rent is used to augment the operating costs of the LMNH. When the new facility is built in a few years' time, the current one will be sold and new premises will need to be found for the library.

This small storefront library, functions as a satellite to the current Mount Pleasant Branch. When the opportunity for the joint library/community centre development at #1 Kingsway presented itself, the Vancouver Public Library Board adjusted its Strategic Plan in order to include the Mount Pleasant Branch in the new joint proposal rather than had originally been their plan - to combine Riley Park and Mount Pleasant into one branch relocated to Main Street to serve both the Riley Park and Mount Pleasant communities. As a result of the new plan for the Mount Pleasant Branch, as well as the planned relocation of LMNH, the Library was left with planning for a freestanding branch to serve the Riley Park community.

The current Riley Park location is a "storefront" branch of 1,400 square feet. The very limited size, staffing, collections, number of computer stations and lack of any programming or community meeting space presents issues of functionality and crowding, impacting on operations. The Library's Area Services Model, on which the VPL Facilities Strategic Plan is based, provides a cascading strategy of space and service standards for our libraries, from the most comprehensive at Central Library through three levels and sizes of branch libraries -Area Branches at 20,000 square feet; Community Branches at 12,000 square feet, to the most basic level, the Neighbourhood Branch at 6,000 square feet. A Neighbourhood level of branch library service is recommended to serve the Riley Park community.

There is considerable community support for the continuation of a branch library to serve Riley Park. The Neighbourhood House would like to maintain this mutually-beneficial relationship, if possible (albeit without rent payments), and VPL would recommend acting on the opportunity to be part of the proposed new LMNH project rather than developing Riley Park as a stand-alone Neighbourhood Branch. It should be possible to realize capital cost savings by building one joint facility instead of two separate ones; similarly there should be some operating cost benefits because of shared spaces, utility costs, and janitorial and security expenses. It needs to be noted, however, that moving the library from a 1,400 square foot storefront to a Neighbourhood Branch (6,000 sq.ft.) will result in increased operating costs associated with the library component of this project.

The first task was to determine if it was possible to build a joint-use facility on the newly purchased site. The zoning is C-2, which is currently undergoing a review and probable revisions in the new year. The LMNH architect calculated that the new C-2 regulations, if adopted as proposed, would permit the construction of approximately 19,200 sq.ft. on this site. The LMNH functional program calls for a 15,000 sq.ft. facility, while the VPLfunctional program for Neighbourhood Branch libraries calls for 6,000 sq.ft. Combined, the two projects need 21,000 sq.ft., which is 1,800 more than the zoning will allow.

VPL has determined that a viable Neighbourhood Branch library can operate from approximately 4,200 sq.ft. of dedicated space and an additional 500-1,000 sq.ft. of shared space. LMNH supports the notion of a reasonable amount of shared space. Given the strong community support for the continuation of the LMNH/library relationship, the likely cost and operational benefits of a joint facility, we are recommending that detailed design solutions for a joint library/Neighbourhood House facility be developed.

FUNDING

A total of $2,100,000 was included in the 2000-2002 Capital Plan for the LMNH project. Of that, $1,100,000 was included in the 2001 and 2002 Capital Budgets. As it was clear that the $1,000,000 remaining in the allocation for LMNH could not be spent this year, it was removed from the Capital Budget, on the understanding that it would be submitted in a future Capital Plan when it was needed. The purchase of the new site costs $862,600, leaving a balance of $237,400 in the Capital Budget for this project.

The next step is to prepare a preliminary design that meets the functional and aesthetic needs of the Neighbourhood House and the Library and is supported by the community. A quantity surveyor will then prepare a more accurate cost estimate of the whole joint project. At that point, staff will report back to Council on the details of the design solution to combining the two operations, the pros and cons of proceeding with the joint project, and a funding plan for completion, should there be agreement on proceeding with this plan.

The architect's fees to produce a design to the development permit application stage and the costs of a detailed cost estimate at that stage from a quantity surveyor are estimated to total approximately $100,000 (based on the preliminary construction cost estimates). Allocating this amount to the project would leave a balance of $137,400 in the capital budget that can be allocated later for design finalization and permitting processes.

CONCLUSION

With the purchase of a new site and approval from Council for the redevelopment of LMNH, this project is ready to move ahead. LMNH and VPL want to continue the excellent working relationship that exists between the Neighbourhood House and the Riley Park branch library, and are prepared to make the design compromises that are required to fit both operations on this site. Approval of the funding remaining in the Capital Budget for this project will enable the production of a preliminary design and detailed project costs.

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© 2002 City of Vancouver