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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
October 4, 2004 | |
Author: |
Tom Phipps | |
Phone No.: |
604-871-6604 | |
RTS No.: |
04535 | |
CC File No.: |
8017 | |
Meeting Date: |
October 21, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on Planning and Environment |
FROM: |
Director of Current Planning in consultation with the Directors of the Housing Centre and Manager of Engineering Services |
SUBJECT: |
Oakridge Centre Policy Planning Program |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council endorse a planning program for Oakridge Centre and the adjoining station district, outlined in Appendix A, to undertake a public policy review process to consider and bring forward for Council adoption policies giving guidance to a more complete re-planning of the Oakridge Centre site than was addressed by the Oakridge Langara Policy Statement, and providing a basis for assessing future rezoning and development proposals.
B. THAT staff resources contained in Appendix B and estimated associated cost recovered budget of $1,107,000 contained in Appendix C be approved to complete policy planning and a potential rezoning application review for Oakridge Centre; and
FURTHER THAT, consistent with City cost recovery policy, Council accept a policy phase contribution of $717,000 to begin the program and a rezoning phase contribution of $390,000 upon submission of a rezoning application from owners of Oakridge Centre to fully cover these costs;
AND FURTHER THAT these contributions be applied to rezoning fees.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the above.
COUNCIL POLICY
City Plan approved May 1995
Regional Context Statement approved September 2000
Cost Recovery Policy
City-Wide CAC Policy
Oakridge-Langara Policy Statement approved July 1995
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
Oakridge Centre owners have requested a planning program to re-examine the future of the site in the context of a corporate perspective open to more extensive changes in urban pattern, uses and built forms than those contemplated in the Oakridge Langara Policy Statement. This report responds to development aspirations of the Oakridge Centre owners for mixed use expansion by recommending a program to develop land use and urban design options for Council consideration based on development of schematic concepts which respect sustainable City planning objectives to achieve a vital neighbourhood centre, balance neighbourhood and district serving commercial activities and integrate with and reinforce the surrounding urban structure. This program would determine new policies needed to achieve a more complete re-planning of the Oakridge Centre and respond to the introduction of the RAV Line. A second phase of the program would assess potential rezoning applications in the context of that new policy framework.
BACKGROUND
The Oakridge Langara Policy Statement resulted from a neighbourhood planning program which contemplated a broad array of considerations for the future of the neighbourhood, including a previously approved commercial expansion of the Oakridge Centre and the prospect of limited market and non-market residential additions component resulting from a previous rezoning, from which 125,000 sq ft (11 613 m2) of retail floor area remains to be developed. The obligations resulting from past rezonings and subdivisions including park and a non-market housing site remain to be provided at the time of the next rezoning. Any proposed variations on these would be reported to Council.
The owners, Ivanhoe Cambridge, approached the City of Vancouver to initiate a `master planning' process to establish planning and development principles and parameters that will guide the next "20 years" of growth at Oakridge Centre. While the full extent of development potential will be determined through the Policy Development process currently being requested of Council, it is anticipated that there will be a proposed significant increase in retail, commercial office, residential and amenity uses on the Oakridge site. While Oakridge is a vital retail center at present - it has aspirations to continue to evolve. Over the next 20 years, there is an expectation that the Oakridge Centre site will come under increasing pressure to become a much more sustainable mixed-use urban Neighbourhood Centre, absorbing future demands for mixed use development. The need to address potential mixed-use development will be accentuated by rapid transit (RAV) on Cambie Street, now at the `Best and Final Offer' stage with a decision expected in November, as well as opportunities presented by the 2010 Olympics.
A Community Visions program underway in the Riley Park/South Cambie area north of 41st Avenue was inaugurated in February 2004 and will have it's `Choices Survey' delivered to all households this coming spring. The pubic process for the proposed Oakridge Centre study has been structured to dovetail with Vision milestones.
A separate City staff program is being recommended to Council which, in the coming year, will review RAV designs and address access and connectivity issues around the stations, including the 41st and Cambie Station. Future land use reviews around some stations are likely where opportunities exist for transit oriented development, however those reviews, and the necessary staff teams, are subject to Council decisions on various area planning priorities across the city. Since the timing of that work would be several years behind the schedule desired by Ivanhoe Cambridge, staff therefore recommend that a component of the Oakridge Centre program address questions which arise on adjacent and nearby sites relating to commercial use, housing, and public realm issues.
DISCUSSION
This renewed interest in expansion is coupled with a more urban view of what a mixed use development could become on the Oakridge site. This presents opportunities to achieve City objectives for a sustainable balance of employment and residential uses and greater integration of the site into the urban fabric, possibly by extending some streets into the site. Such opportunities would have to be balanced with the need to maintain viable retail configurations at all stages of re development. RAV will reinforce these directions and ensure a more pedestrian and transit oriented future for the centre and the community.
Employment opportunities in retail and an office component would reinforce the efficiency of transit service. Provision of local serving commercial services would be emphasized to reinforce the neighbourhood centre objectives emerging from City Plan Visions. These services could anchor more of a transit oriented residential node which would absorb residential pressures likely to arise in response to RAV.
Potential impacts of retail expansion would need to be assessed using an approach comparable to that used in responding to Highway Oriented retail initiatives, with staff directing consulting studies based on agreed upon terms of reference. However, it should be noted that the nature of retail at Oakridge is expected to be quite different and would be assessed in terms of contributions toward achieving Visions objectives.
To ensure integration of the centre with the surrounding urban structure and land use patterns, particularly with the anticipated influence of the RAV line, the immediately surrounding blocks in the station area along Cambie Street and 41st Avenue are proposed to be included in the study area. Given sensitivities identified during previous planning programs regarding the future of older multiple dwellings immediately south and west of the Centre, these blocks should also be included to affirm the City's policy stance for a longer term future. Existing City policy and emerging Visions policy would form the starting point for more specific discussion of futures within these boundaries. Beyond these blocks, staff propose a broader area of consultation (see Map 2 below). Communication links would also be maintained with the South Cambie Riley Park Visions process.
Following established urban design principles, concepts would be generated through dialogue with stakeholders and community interests which identify improvements to arterial interfaces, including creation of an effective arterial focused neighbourhood centre, likely on Cambie Street, as well as options to introduce public neighbourhood centre streetscapes through increased permeability and access into the current site to improve integration with the surrounding community. Schematic concepts would be developed through broader public input into development options forming a basis for further public discussion and policy drafting, which would be further reviewed with community interests.
While acknowledging the need for successful retailers to maintain complimentary adjacencies and other related physical attributes of a successful commercial centre, in a changing retail environment, the initial urban design principles which provide a basis in current planning practice for developing future site concepts include:
· A finer grain of development organized around an urban structure of streets and enhanced public realm;
· A varied mix of residential, commercial and community uses;
· Elements contributing to a sense of place;
· Development patterns which can evolve;
· A rich, varied and urban public realm;
· Improved neighbourhood fit;
· Sustainability; and
· Transit orientation.
The program would produce a "station area structure plan" for the study area which establishes a policy framework for land use and urban design, with a focus on the local shopping area and surrounding public realm. In this context it would also provide a "concept
plan" for the Oakridge Centre site addressing the appropriate mix of uses, urban form, and density objectives for the site. This plan would be expected to provide the reference point for phased site redevelopment through subsequent rezoning of the site.
Process and Policy Objectives: To ensure credibility with the public and continuity in the process, it would be beneficial for the centre owners to provide assurances to the City that once staff have been committed and the public engaged in a program, the owners intend, all things being equal, to complete the policy stage and if appropriate a rezoning.
Program Staffing: To provide the public and proponent with the level of service needed to achieve appropriate and timely policy conclusions and potentially rezoning in relation to opening of the RAV line and the 2010 Winter Olympics, requires a dedicated program team, including urban design resources and the usual range of departmental technical representatives (see Appendix B). This team would report to the Major Projects Steering Committee for direction on technical issues. The Current Planning Major Projects team will be assigned the planning role in this work.
Rezoning Fees: Cost Recovery planning programs have established the principle that voluntary contributions paid to cover pre-rezoning policy work would be contributed toward rezoning fees if full cost recovery is achieved, including rezoning. Initial analysis indicates that full cost recovery for the scoping, policy and rezoning segments of the program would be achieved through the recommended budget and may be credited against future rezoning fees. The ultimate objective is full cost recovery for the overall process, but not beyond that.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
A full cost recovery budget based on initial discussions with the proponent is estimated to be $1,107,000 as outlined in Appendix C, providing for the technical team as described above as well as public process. Consistent with the cost recovery policy, costs are included for completing public process, policy work and scoping work undertaken to assess the proponents' needs and report the program to Council. The estimated cost of the work, therefore, exceeds the Fee Bylaw rezoning fee of $925,000. It is proposed that payments correspond to phasing with initial payment for policy and scoping work at the time of program start up and the remaining contribution to be made at the time of a rezoning application. Ivanhoe Cambridge, as owners of the Oakridge Centre, agrees with and is prepared to fund this budget and acknowledge that the required voluntary contribution would be increased if actual program costs exceed this budget.
PUBLIC BENEFITS
Development Cost Levies (DCL's): DCLs will apply to new development at the approved rate of $34.98 per m2 ($3.25 per sq. ft.) to be spent in the area as required by the Oakridge/ Langara Density Policy.
Community Amenity Contributions (CAC's): City CAC Policy for areas excluded from the City Wide CAC, such as Oakridge which falls within the Oakridge/ Langara Density Policy area, states that "If there are future rezoning applications that depart from what was anticipated by those area-specific plans and policies, an appropriate CAC will be determined as part of the rezoning process, having regard to the same information as for the negotiation of Non-Standard rezonings in the City Wide CAC Policy. That policy directs that for sites in excess of 2 acres staff will negotiate a CAC of at least the flat CAC rate $32.29 per m2 ($3.00 per sq.ft.) on net increase in allowable non-industrial development
Staff note that considerable experience has been gained in negotiating in-kind and cash contributions that can now be applied in this case. Neighbourhood-specific needs would be considered along with the normal range of public amenity consideration. Recent experience in rezoning other locations outside the downtown offers references for the range of amenity levels which may be achievable.
This policy is intended to deal with local amenity needs, to ensure that the new development does not generate significant additional costs for the general tax base particularly where limited amenities now exist. Those amenity needs will be contemplated during the policy review process to give policy guidance to negotiation and securing of a CAC at the time of the rezoning. Staff would apply Council-approved `Guidelines for Determining Specific Amenities' which direct staff to evaluate the full range of City services and amenities in the area in developing a specific CAC package. Any new public amenity recommendations would be in addition to existing obligations from previous rezonings and subdivisions.
PROPONENT'S COMMENTS
"We have reviewed the Policy Report and find it to reflect our discussions with City Staff to date respecting our objectives for considering mixed use development options for the future redevelopment of Oakridge Centre. In that we are committing to a time/cost base cost recovery process, we would like to emphasize the importance of maintaining the propose schedule. Ivanhoe Cambridge looks forward to working with the City and Community to create a long term vision for Oakridge as an urban, mixed use centre."
CONCLUSION
To achieve City objectives for a more integrated urban form at Oakridge Centre and respond to owners' development aspirations for the site, a policy planning program should assess options for more extensive redevelopment than has previously been contemplated to set the context for a potential mixed use rezoning. The surrounding sites affected by development of a RAV line need to be planned in concert with this study. The timeline, resources and financing necessary to accomplish this work are summarized above and in attached appendices B and C. Council approval would lead to a consultative process starting in November of this year.
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