Vancouver City Council |
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: September 19, 2003
Author/Local: Alice Yee/7180
RTS No. 3636
CC File No. 5807
Meeting Date: October 7, 2003
TO:
Vancouver City Council
FROM:
Director of Real Estate Services, in consultation with the Director of Facility Design and Management, and the General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT:
Approval of Easement Agreements for encroachments and parking onto the City-owned property at 130-160 Water Street
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council authorize the Director of Legal Services to execute on behalf of the City Easements to be registered over the City-owned land, being Lot J, Block 5, Old Granville Townsite, Plan LMP52319 at 130-160 Water Street; to validate encroachments of portions of the building, and to provide for access and egress to the building, situate on Lot 8 and the West Half of Lot 7, Block 5, Old Granville Townsite, Plan 168, at 162-170 Water Street onto the City-owned land. The Easements to be granted for a nominal fee and to be to the satisfaction of the Directors of Real Estate and Legal Services.
B. THAT Council authorize the Director of Legal Services to execute on behalf of the City a registered Parking Easement Agreement with the owner of the Leckie Building at 162-170 Water Street, for the provision of up to 60 parking spaces at market rates and otherwise as generally described in this report, such agreement to be the satisfaction of the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Legal Services.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
In 1998, Council adopted the Program of Strategic Actions for the Downtown Eastside, Gastown, Chinatown, Strathcona and Victory Square which included bringing legitimate business back to the area, reducing drug-related crime and improving conditions at the Street level. As part of this program, Council has approved the demolition of the Cordova parking structure and redevelopment of the site with a commercial use and parking.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to seek Council's approval to allow for minor encroachments of a maximum of 0.35 metres (1.16 feet) for roof cornices onto City lands; and to allow an easement for the purpose of access to and egress from the building situated on the adjacent property at 162-170 Water Street (the Leckie Building) to the 3rd floor of the City-owned land in compliance with building and fire codes, at the City's cost; and to allow an easement to be granted for up to 60 parking spaces on the City-owned land, for the benefit of the owner of the Leckie Building.
BACKGROUND
The Gastown Parkade comprises the Water Street and the Cordova Street structures. On April 9, 2002 Council approved the redevelopment of the Water Street parking structure and the demolition and redevelopment of the Cordova parking structure.
During the redevelopment of the Gastown Parkade, it was determined that an overhead crane swing would be required to pass through the airspace above the lands, and that earth anchor rods may be necessary to underpin, shore, support and protect the walls of the adjacent building during the demolition and redevelopment of the parking structures. A construction easement agreement with adjacent property owners would be required in order to accommodate the crane and any underpinnings.
A land survey of the Water Street parking structure site determined a building on the adjacent property to the west, being Lot 8 and the West Half of Lot 7, Block 5, Old Granville Townsite, Plan 168, at 162-170 Water Street, encroaches onto the City-owned Lot J, Block 5, Old Granville Townsite, Plan LMP52319 (Appendix A).
As one of the conditions for the construction easement agreement with the owner of the Leckie Building at 162-170 Water Street, the owner required the City to grant an easement to validate the encroachments, for the life of the building, over the City-owned property.
In addition, the former owners of the Gastown Parkade informally granted an access for the purpose of egress and ingress from the Leckie Building to the third floor roof deck of the Water Street structure. In 1991, authorities having jurisdiction at the City of Vancouver allowed the heritage Leckie Building to occupy the 4th and 5th floors including this egress route. No formal agreements were registered on title. Recent negotiations have sought to formally recognize this situation with a request that the City of Vancouver grant such an easement and assume the cost of work to bring the existing access into compliance with building and fire codes.
A further request was for guaranteed parking by way of a registered parking easement for up to 60 parking spaces in the Gastown Parkade. This is important to the owner of the building as this heritage site has no parking. This parking is available in the parkade and is supported by staff with the following main points:
- a registered easement agreement to park up to 60 vehicles;
- parking rates to be the prevailing parkade rates, as determined from time to time by the City;
- the City to be able to terminate the agreement if the parkade lands are redeveloped and public parking is not one of the principal uses of such redevelopment; and
- the City to retain full control of the parkade.As it would not be practical for the owner of the Leckie Building to remove the encroachments and redesign the 3rd floor access/egress, and as the owner of the Leckie Building requires the City to grant the foregoing easements in return for the construction easement agreement, we are recommending that the easements be granted onto the City-owned property.
CONCLUSION
The Directors of Real Estate Services and Facility Design & Management, are of the opinion that the minor encroachments will have little effect during the redevelopment of the parking structure, and will have little to no effect on the City-owned property once the structure on Lot 8 and the West Half of Lot 7 is removed.
Staff note that the requested easement by the owner for access and for egress from the Leckie Building to the third floor of the parkade can be accommodated with card access. Further that granting the easement meets the objectives of the Gastown Heritage Area Management Plan which seeks to foster preservation and maximize the use of heritage buildings throughout the neighbourhood.
Further, Council is asked to endorse a parking agreement which will allow the owner of the Leckie Building to secure up to 60 parking spaces in the Gastown Parkade at market rates by way of a registered easement.
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