Vancouver City Council |
POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING
Date: November 10, 2004
Author/Local: B. McAfee/7699
RTS No. 04663
CC File No. 113
Meeting Date: November 30, 2004
TO:
Vancouver City Council
FROM:
The Director of Current Planning and the General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT:
Text Amendment to the Parking By-law - Street Access
RECOMMENDATION
THAT the Parking By-law be amended to give the City Engineer sole authority with respect to street access and sidewalk crossings, generally in accordance with Appendix A,
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to bring forward the necessary by-law for enactment.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
There is no Council policy directly applicable to these amendments.
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
This report recommends an amendment to the Parking By-law to confirm that the City Engineer is the sole authority with respect to street access and sidewalk crossings to off-street parking.
DISCUSSION
The City Engineer, under the Street and Traffic By-law No. 2849 and Crossing By-law No. 4644, has control over sidewalk crossings which provide vehicular access to a development site. However in section 4.7.2 of the Parking By-law No. 6059, the Director of Planning is given discretion (in consultation with the City Engineer) to permit parking access to a development site from a street where there is a general pattern of street access or where no lane exists or lane access is not possible. This parking access usually requires the crossing of a sidewalk. The apparent duality of mandate could create confusion about the respective jurisdiction of the City Engineer and Director of Planning and about availability of appeals to the Board of Variance if the Director of Planning exercises discretion under the Parking By-law.
It makes sense for consistency and administrative ease to leave the matter of street access and sidewalk crossings (as they are reliant on one another) to the single authority of the City Engineer.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommend that the Parking By-law be amended to remove discretion of the Director of Planning to permit access from a street. This would follow current administrative practice and place control of crossing locations under the sole authority of the City Engineer.
The proposed amendment is outlined in Appendix A. Amendments to the Parking By-law do not require a Public Hearing.
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APPENDIX A
Page 1 of 2PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE PARKING BY-LAW
[All additions are shown in bold italics. Deletions are shown in
strikeout.]By-law amendments will be prepared generally in accordance with the provisions listed below and are subject to change and refinement prior to final by-law preparation.
Section 4.7 Access to Parking
In clause 4.7.2, the current wording permits the Director of Planning discretion to permit access to parking, and hence a sidewalk crossing, to a site from the street where no lane exists. However, the control of sidewalk crossing locations is the mandate of the City Engineer under the Street and Traffic By-law. Therefore the Parking By-law should be amended to clarify that the City Engineer has sole authority for crossing locations.
Amendment:
4.7.2 Access to Parking Spaces in RS-1, RS-3, RS-3A, RS-5, RS-6 and RS-7S Districts
Access by vehicles to all off-street parking spaces shall be provided on any site in the RS-1, RS-3, RS-3A, RS-5, RS-6 or RS-7S Districts:
(a) from any lane abutting the site; or(b) where at least 50 percent of the sites on the same side of the block as the development (including at least one of the two adjacent sites on each side of the development) have front street access, either from any lane abutting the site or the front street provided that:(i) the width of the driveway at the front street shall not, for residential development, exceed 3.0 metres; and(ii) two driveways may be located at the front street where all parking or manoeuvring between them occurs beyond the required front yard, except that the Director of Planning may permit access from a street where no lane is present or where he, in consultation with the City Engineer, is satisfied that lane access is not possible because of site or development peculiarities.Access by a vehicle to any off-street parking space on any site in the RS-1, RS-3, RS-3A, RS-5, RS-6 or RS-7S District must be from a lane abutting the site:
(a) unless:
(i) at least 50% of other sites on the same side of the block as the site have access from the street that abuts the front boundary of the site,
(ii) at least one site that abuts a side boundary of the site has access from the front street,
(iii) if the site is a residential development, the width of the driveway that abuts the front street does not exceed 3.0 metres,
(iv) if the site has two driveways at the front street, all parking or manoeuvring between them occurs between the boundary of the required front yard under the Zoning and Development By-law and the front boundary of the site, and
(v) the City Engineer issues a crossing permit in conjunction with issuance of a development permit for the site; or
(b) unless the City Engineer otherwise issues a crossing permit in conjunction with issuance of a development permit for the site;
in which case, access to the site may be from the front street.
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