CITY OF VANCOUVER
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Planning Department
Current Planning
Refer ITEM 1(a)
PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA
MAY 28, 2003
M E M O R A N D U M | |
DATE: |
May 27, 2003 |
TO: |
Mayor Campbell and Councillors |
FROM: |
L. Beasley, Director of Current Planning |
COPY TO: |
J. Rogers, City Manager
|
SUBJECT: |
Text Amendment: False Creek North CD-1s & ODP
|
At its meeting of April 22, 2003, City Council approved the recommendation of the report Housekeeping Text Amendments in the CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) By-laws Nos. 6757, 7156, 7248, 7675, and 8109 (report dated April 08, 2003), that the Director of Current Planning make application to amend the CD-1 By-laws for the False Creek North neighbourhoods between the Granville and Cambie Bridges and that this application be referred to Public Hearing.
If approved, this set of text amendments would:
1. allow flexibility in the allocation of floor area by sub-area within the Beach, Yaletown Edge, Roundhouse and Quayside Neighbourhoods and allow relatively small (one percent) floor area transfers between these neighbourhoods; and
2. combine the two CD-1 By-laws for 500 Pacific and 600 Pacific Street (Area 1A and 1B, Beach Neighbourhood) into one by-law.
When City Council referred these proposed amendments to Public Hearing, it further approved:
THAT staff provide a memo to reflect the policy of allocating floor area within and amongst the neighbourhoods and to explore the possibility of directing some residual density to social housing areas within the CD-1 areas, as well as providing higher density to the social housing areas.
Council's information request reflects three questions:
a) Floor Area Flexibility
The first question addresses the matter of how floor area flexibility will be implemented.
Developers typically utilize most of the density available to them and leave very little residual density, if any, for any future development. Strata councils typically do not require much density to undertake modest changes such as balcony enclosures, terrace canopies and pergolas, and mezzanine space within two-storey lobbies, but it could reduce their frustrations if even modest amounts of density continue to be available after occupancy permit is issued.
After floor area is set aside for two undeveloped non-market housing sites in the Quayside Neighbourhood, the Yaletown Edge, Roundhouse and Quayside Neighbourhoods have very small amounts of undeveloped floor area remaining. The amendments proposed here would facilitate transfers of floor area between neighbourhoods to facilitate additional minor development, and, if Council wishes, some of this residual density could be explicitly reserved for strata owners.
In Beach Neighbourhood, where the developer has not yet completed the development of all the market sites, it is uncertain how much undeveloped floor area will remain after all construction is completed. If Council wishes, it could here also formally ensure that there is some undeveloped floor area remaining after the last market development is completed for use by future strata owners.
The following resolution is offered for CONSIDERATION by City Council:
THAT, prior to enactment of the amending by-laws, a legal agreement be executed with the property owner, Pacific Place Developments Corp., requiring that after issuance of the occupancy permit for the last market housing development in Beach Neighbourhood, the property owner will reserve a minimum of 2,000 sq. ft. for the future use of residents in the False Creek North neighbourhoods west of Cambie Bridge through the normal development permit process, on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Director of Legal Services.
b) Non-market/Affordable Housing
The second question pertains to how non-market/affordable housing development in Beach Neighbourhood will be treated relative to market development.
The development of market housing is subject to CD-1 By-law provisions governing maximum floor area, maximum number of dwelling units, and minimum percentage of family units. In contrast, the non-market housing is regulated in terms of minimum numbers of affordable dwellings and mix of family and non-family units. These numbers are converted to residential floor area and unit mix, and appropriate floor area is secured through legal agreement as a condition of rezoning approval. It is up to the developer to provide the final floor area actually required out of the total amount which is allowed by the CD-1 By-law.
The actual number of non-market dwellings and their floor area which will be developed, within the terms of the legal agreements, will ultimately depend on the resources and program priorities of the senior government funding agencies.
c) Higher Density for Non-Market/Affordable Housing
The third question is whether the non-market housing sites might need higher density for their implementation and development.
It is senior government funding agencies and their programs which have decided on the size of non-market housing developments, and their unit mix, which they will fund. Each of the non-market housing sites in False Creek North has been allotted the maximum number of units and floor area which these agencies have tended to support. Accordingly, directing some residual density to non-market housing sites which remain undeveloped within these CD-1 districts, so as to provide higher density to them, does not appear to be necessary at this time.
The floor area set aside for the non-market housing in the Beach Neighbourhood is sufficient to accommodate 20% of the units, with at least half for families. The density assigned to each non-market/affordable housing site was based on the senior government non-market/affordable housing programs in place at the time of rezoning. The Director of the Housing Centre advises that, with the current lack of senior government funding for non-market/affordable housing, adding density to the non-market housing could make the sites more difficult to develop as even more funding would have to be found. It may not, in fact, be able to utilize any increase in density that may be permitted, and our present focus is on finding the resources to develop the density already set aside for the non-market/affordable housing.
The Director of the Housing Centre also advises that non-market/affordable housing sites can sometimes accommodate additional density when funding is available, and in the past, several of the non-market/affordable housing sites in False Creek and Coal Harbour have been rezoned to accommodate additional density, as HOMES BC funding was available for family units which required additional floor space. Should the resources be available in the future, each non-market/affordable housing site will be assessed for any potential to increase the density, subject to neighbourhood impacts and livability, and if there is such potential, amendments to the CD-1s can be considered.
Larry Beasley
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