Vancouver City Council |
POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING
Date: August 25, 2004
Author/Local: P. Mondor/7727B. McAfee/7699
RTS No. 04475
CC File No. 5304
Meeting Date: September 14, 2004
TO:
Vancouver City Council
FROM:
Director of Current Planning
SUBJECT:
Text Amendment - CD-1 Rezoning - 1120 West Georgia Street
RECOMMENDATION
THAT, following enactment of the CD-1 By-law for 1120 West Georgia Street, currently approved in principle, the Director of Current Planning be instructed to make application to amend the By-law to increase the maximum floor space ratio from 12.81 to 13.20, generally in accordance with Appendix A, and that the application be referred to a Public Hearing and be approved.
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare the necessary amending by-law for consideration at Public Hearing.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
There are no relevant Council Policies.
PURPOSE
This report recommends amendments to a CD-1 By-law for 1120 West Georgia Street which was approved at Public Hearing but is not yet enacted. The amendments would correct an inadvertent omission and increase permitted floor area to enable development and building
applications to be processed according to the intent of the rezoning application and the posted drawings of the proposal. This matter can only be dealt with by Council at a Public Hearing after the original CD-1 By-law is enacted.
DISCUSSION
At Public Hearing on December 10, 2003 Council approved in principle the rezoning of the site at 1120 West Georgia Street from Downtown District (DD) to Comprehensive Development District (CD-1) to permit a mixed-use commercial, live-work and residential development which would be the highest building in the City. The applicant is in the process of meeting the conditions required for enactment of the CD-1 By-law.
During assessment of the detailed drawings, staff have discovered that the By-law approved at Public Hearing does not contain a standard floor space ratio calculation clause common to CD-1 By-laws. The clause outlines the floor areas that must be included in the calculation. This was an inadvertent omission that requires correction, in order that permit applications can be processed in the normal manner.
In addition, the applicant has assessed in greater detail how floor area inclusions and exclusions are to be calculated and has determined that some areas previously assumed to be excluded, are in fact included. The total amount of floor area that needs to be included is 1 881.2 m² (20,250 sq. ft.), broken down as follows:
(i) 1 232.7 m² (13,270 sq. ft.) on Parking Levels P1 and P6 for service rooms and back-of-house functions for the hotel use;
(ii) 611. 2 m² (6,580 sq. ft.) for large hotel balconies which are located below the view corridor and serve as shading devices for the southeast hotel rooms as a part of the greening concept for the building; and
(iii) 37.1 m² (400 sq. ft.) in the loading dock area to serve as storage for the Vancouver Art Gallery's public art site.
This additional floor area space will increase the floor space ration (FSR) from 12.81, as permitted, to 13.20. Staff note that there are no changes to these floor areas from the drawings posted at the Public Hearing. Given that the space is either underground or part of the project's greening concept, staff support amending the By-law to allow the drawings to be approved. Staff believe the correct approach is to add the space to the permitted FSR rather than to create non-standard exclusion clauses.
CONCLUSION
The proposed amendments to a CD-1 By-law approved in principle for 1120 West Georgia Street will provide a standard floor area inclusion clause as well as permit an increase in density which will not affect the form of development as illustrated a the Public Hearing. It is recommended that the Director of Current Planning be instructed to make application to amend the CD-1 By-law, once it is enacted, and that the application be referred to Public Hearing and be approved.
- - - - -
APPENDIX A
Page 1 of 1DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO A CD-1 BY-LAW
FOR 1120 WEST GEORGIA STREETNote: A By-law will be prepared generally in accordance with the provisions listed below, subject to change and refinement prior to posting.
Section 5 Density
- amend clause 5.1 to increase the permitted floor space ratio from "12.81 or 61 778.5 m²" to "13.20 or 63 667.6 m²"; and
- add a clause: "computation of floor space ratio must include all floors having a minimum ceiling height of 1.2 m, including earthen floor, both above and below ground level, to be measured to the extreme outer limits of the building."
* * * * *