Vancouver City Council |
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: January 14, 2005
Author/Local: AGuichon/604.871.6627
RTS No. 4767
CC File No. 113
Meeting Date: February 3, 2005
TO:
Standing Committee of Planning and Environment
FROM:
The Subdivision Approving Officer
SUBJECT:
Proposed Amendment to Subdivision By-law No. 5208 -Reclassification of the West Half of the 6500 to 6700 Block Granville Street
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve the application to reclassify all the properties in the West Half of the 6500 to 6700 Block Granville Street from Category E to Category C of Schedule A, Table 1, of Subdivision By-law No. 5208.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council Policy regarding amendments to the subdivision categories in the RS-1, RS-3, RS-3A, RS-5 and RS-6 Zoning Districts is reflected in the Manager's Report as approved by Council on October 28, 1987. As well as establishing seven parcel size categories for subdivision in the RS Districts, the report provided for possible future changes in the categories in cases where property owners seek to classify their parcel category either up or down, to either facilitate or prevent subdivision.
PURPOSE
This report addresses a proposal to reclassify the properties in the West Half of the 6500 to 6700 Block Granville Street from Category E to Category C for the purpose of subdivision in accordance with the minimum parcel size requirements of Schedule A, Table 1, of the Subdivision By-law.
BACKGROUND AND SUBDIVISION HISTORYOn January 19, 1988, Council enacted an amendment to the Subdivision By-law by introducing seven categories of minimum parcel width and area to govern the subdivision of lands zoned RS-1. Subsequently, lands zoned RS-3, RS-3A, RS-5 and RS-6 have been included as well. All lands in these zoning districts are classified on a block-by-block basis, as shown on 279 sectional maps, which are on file with the City Clerk and which form part of Schedule A of the Subdivision By-law.
As shown in Appendix A, the properties in the west half of the 6500 to 6700 block Granville Street are classified as Category E, which prescribes a minimum width of 75 ft. and a minimum area of 6,750 sq. ft. for each new parcel created by subdivision. With the exception of the parcel at the corner of 49th Avenue and Granville Street currently developed with a church, none of the parcels within the subject block can be subdivided either individually or by combining with an adjacent parcel, because they do not meet the Category E minimum width and area requirement for the new parcels proposed.
The large parcels fronting on Granville Street were originally created by the registration of subdivision Plan 4594 in 1913. Subsequent subdivisions over the years in the subject block have created the present subdivision configuration. In 1988, Category E was assigned to the subject block, to reflect the predominant pattern of larger parcels.
In 2002, a rezoning proposal for Lots 3, 4 and 5 (6718 Granville Street) was reviewed by Rezoning staff. The proposal was to rezone these parcels from RS-1 to CD-1 to allow for 16 duplex/townhouse units as a Neighbourhood Housing Demonstration Project. Staff from the Rezoning and Housing Centres convened pre-application public meetings which illicited strong neighbourhood opposition to the rezoning proposal. A formal rezoning application was not submitted.
NEIGHBOURHOOD NOTIFICATION
Forty-five property owners in the immediate area were notified in writing of this application and asked to comment. Ten responses were received, with the following results:
Support reclassification: 5
Oppose reclassification: 5
Did not respond: 35 45Two owners in objection both felt that allowing for smaller parcels fronting onto Granville Street would not be in keeping with the predominantly large 60 ft.-plus parcels existing in this block. Owners in support of this reclassification application did not offer comments.
ANALYSIS
An agent for the owner of three 75.2 ft. properties in the subject block (Lots 3, 4 and 5) have submitted this application for reclassification to Category C, which prescribes a minimum parcel width of 50 ft. and a minimum parcel area of 5,000 sq. ft. The applicant has requested changing the classification to Category C rather than Category D, as changing the classification to Category D would only allow for the creation of one additional parcel in the block. The properties directly to the east and west of the subject block are classified as Category D (minimum width 60 ft., minimum area 5,400 sq. ft.). The properties to the north are classified as Category E. The parcels on the west side of Granville Street, from West 52nd Avenue to South West Marine Drive, are in Category C. These parcels, however, are significantly smaller in area than are the parcels in the subject block.
If the reclassification is approved, the owners of some of the large parcels would have the potential to combine with adjacent parcels to subdivide into smaller lots which would meet Category C standards. Should all parcels be subdivided to their maximum potential, a total of three additional parcels in the subject block could be achieved. The three existing 60 ft. parcels and the existing 63 ft. parcel could not achieve any further subdivision potential, and would remain unchanged. Appendix B illustrates a possible future subdivision configuration. The approval of this reclassification request would not necessitate subdivision. Owners could choose to maintain their larger parcels indefinitely.
The Community Visioning process for Arbutus Ridge/Kerrisdale/Shaughnessy is underway, with neighbourhood surveys to be distributed in the spring of 2005. Until survey results are available, Visioning staff have no basis upon which to offer any comment as to neighbourhood direction.
CONCLUSION
The reclassification process was established to allow property owners the opportunity to pursue a change in the classification of their properties. In this circumstance, the majority of the property owners in the notification area did not respond to the notification.
On the basis of the established pattern of 50 ft. parcels fronting onto the west side of Granville Street to the south, and given that there was no significant neighbourhood opposition, there is sufficient rationale for changing the category of the subject block to category with lesser width and area. For these reasons, the Subdivision Approving Officer recommends approval of the reclassification application.
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