A1
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: May 9, 1995
Dept File No: 3119
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Manager of Real Estate, in consultation with
Associate Director of Planning - Central Area
SUBJECT: Southeast Shore of False Creek -
Development Consultant and Budget
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Stanley Kwok of Stanley Kwok Consultants Inc. be
awarded a contract to act as development consultant for
the City's lands on the Southeast Shore of False Creek
effective June 1, 1995 for a maximum of 2.5 years, at a
maximum annual fixed fee of $240,000 plus GST; to be
paid in maximum monthly instalments of $20,000 plus
GST; source of funding to be the Property Endowment
Fund; and
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be
instructed to prepare the necessary documents; it being
noted that no legal right or obligation shall arise
until execution of the documents.
B. THAT a maximum sub-consultants budget of $1,500,000 be
allocated for the contract period beginning June 1,
1995; source of funding to be the Property Endowment
Fund; and
FURTHER THAT the City Manager be authorized to award
the sub-consultant contracts and report back on a
periodic basis to Council in that regard.
C. THAT the Associate Director of Planning - Central Area,
report back by July 1995 on the City resources, process
and timing required to prepare a policy framework and
plan for the Southeast Shore of False Creek.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMENDS
approval of A, B and C. While Council's policy is generally
to tender for consulting contracts, there have been several
occasions in the past where a development consultant has
been hired directly, based on knowledge, experience and
track record. This report proposes the hiring of Mr.
Stanley Kwok without a tender process, again based
on the consultant's excellent credentials and his
present availability. Given that Mr. Kwok would
in all likelihood be our choice under a proposal
call as well, I believe that it is legitimate to
appoint Mr. Kwok now and thereby save staff and
development community time and money in preparing
and responding to a proposal call. We would then
be in a position to immediately move ahead on a
development plan for the southeast shore of False
Creek as outlined in this report.
COUNCIL POLICY
On July 26, 1990, Council identified the Southeast Shore of False
Creek (SESFC) as a "let go" industrial area.
On October 16, 1990, Council adopted the Clouds of Change report
which called for planning initiatives that:
bring housing and employment closer together;
increase housing adjacent to Vancouver's Central Area; and
with respect to the SESFC, the principles of energy
efficient community design be incorporated in the planning
for the area.
On December 3, 1991, as part of the Central Area Plan, Council
resolved that housing with an emphasis on families be the main
land use when planning for the SESFC.
On December 6, 1994, City Council approved the recommendation:
" THAT the Special Office for the Environment liaise with
the Director of Planning and the Director of Housing
and Properties to explore the potential for utilizing
City lands in South-East False Creek as a model for
sustainable development. "
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to request Council approval to
award a 2.5 year development contract for the City lands on the
Southeast Shore of False Creek (SESFC) to Stanley Kwok
Consultants Inc. and to establish the sub-consultant budget.
Planning staff will report back by July 1995 on the required City
resources, process and timing to prepare a policy framework and
plan for this land.
BACKGROUND
The Southeast Shore of False Creek is generally considered to be
the area between Cambie and Quebec Streets fronting on the False
Creek basin. As illustrated on Appendix A, the City owns
approximately 42 acres of land which are now leased on a short-
term basis, due to the anticipated redevelopment of this area.
Appendix A also indicates the private land holdings which total
another 6 acres.Council policies, including the Central Area
Plan, the industrial lands policy and Clouds of Change
initiative, have identified this area largely for housing with an
emphasis on housing for families with children. With the
exception of the City's Works Yards and the Paperboard site, the
light and heavy industrial activities on the City's lands have
been replaced with interim uses, such as storage.
Over the past two years, Real Estate staff have carried out a
historical use study and environmental assessment of the City-
owned land on the SESFC. In addition, a site was purchased in
East False Creek Flats for relocating a portion of the Cambie
Works Yard and a Fraser River waterfront site has been reserved
at the foot of Main Street to relocate the existing aggregate and
asphalt plant.
REDEVELOPMENT PROCESS
The False Creek Policy Broadsheets, prepared for the North Shore
of False Creek and approved by Council in 1988, provide some
direction for the redevelopment of these lands, largely on water
and shoreline issues. There is no comprehensive policy framework
for the development of a new residential community on this site.
Policies will need to be developed in a number of areas, to
address previous Council direction to house a higher proportion
of families with children and to create an energy efficient
community, as well as key aspects of neighbourliness, views,
built form and amenity targets. There will be substantial pre-
development costs (including consultant fees and infrastructure
expenditures), competing interests for use of the lands, and many
other issues which might include, for instance:
environmental conditions;
future of industrial tenants and the Cambie Works
Yards;
potential retention of existing buildings;
land ownership and assembly options;
extent of the planning boundaries;
type and form of residential use;
parks and open space;
community facilities and services;
rail line opportunities;
shoreline and seawall treatment;
waterbody access and uses;
energy efficient design; and
financial return.
It will be at least 3-4 years before the City land on the SESFC
would be redeveloped, given the planning process and site
preparation required. The planning process will involve
extensive public consultation and Council direction throughout
the following steps:
Step 1: Creation of a policy framework for the area.
Step 2: P r e p a r a t i o n o f u r b a n
design concepts which propose potential
arrangements of private and public uses, open
space, and circulation patterns.
Step 3: Preparation of an Official Development Plan which
would confirm the location for utilities, public
facilities, open space, neighbourhoods and
transportation systems and development guidelines
(e.g., False Creek North).
Site preparation will require subdivision, servicing and
marketing programs to be prepared and approved by Council.
Real Estate staff propose that the planning work for the City
lands on the SESFC begin now, as:
the preliminary environmental investigation has been
completed, and there is sufficient understanding of the
conditions to consider land use opportunities;
the existing industrial tenancies are now of a short-term
nature;
Engineering staff are now working on a relocation proposal
for the Cambie Work Yards;
given the extensive lead time required to create developable
and marketable parcels, the planning work should commence;
and
community groups and members of the public are increasingly
interested in the City's plans for these lands.
The roles of the City, as landowner and as regulator of zoning,
are distinctly different. Real Estate staff, representing the
landowner (P.E.F.), must ensure the project meets the Property
Endowment Fund (P.E.F.) economic mandate whilst the Planning
Department, in coordination with other departments, representing
the City's other public interests and regulatory
responsibilities, must ensure the project meets neighbourhood and
City wide objectives. Planning staff will report back by July on
the required City resources and timing to process this
development proposal and identify other potential issues for
Council. In the interim, Real Estate staff propose that a
development consultant be retained to begin the technical site
work (i.e., survey, geotechnical) and put together a project
team.
DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT AND BUDGETS
Consultant Selection
Past models for major project rezoning and development of City
lands, such as the southwest shore of False Creek and Fraser
Lands, have involved retaining an external development consultant
who took direction from an appointed Committee and was supervised
by the City Manager's office. A technical advisory committee of
staff was also formed to act in an advisory capacity to the
development consultants. The prime consultant/development
manager for the southwest shore of False Creek, Riverside and
Champlain Heights were all directly retained.
Real Estate staff propose that Stanley Kwok of Stanley Kwok
Consultants Inc. be directly retained as the City's development
consultant for the SESFC, for several reasons:
the notion of directly retaining a development consultant
for the SESFC was discussed with the PEF Board, at its March
14, 1995 meeting, as this process has been used on other
City-owned neighbourhoods. The Board endorsed Stanley Kwok
as the development consultant and directed Real Estate staff
to report to Council.
the best choice for this project is seen to be Stanley Kwok,
given his experience as the development manager for Concord
Pacific in planning False Creek North and his role as
development manager for B.C. Place in planning North Park.
the alternative would be to select a consultant through a
public proposal call process which would take 3-4 months.
There is a risk that Stanley Kwok will not be available at
the end of that time, due to other business opportunities.
Given that staff believe Stanley Kwok to be the best
candidate, it is not considered wise to delay the process
and risk losing this consultant.
Real Estate staff have prepared a preliminary list of the
development tasks which would form part of the development
contract; refer to Appendix B. This schedule is intended to
assist in defining the terms of a development contract and the
tasks and time frame required.
Proposed Budgets
Based on experience with False Creek North, Stanley Kwok has
estimated a maximum annual fixed price budget of $240,000 plus
GST which includes all required administrative and support
services and overhead. If retained, a project manager would be
hired by him, in consultation with City staff on the
sharing/division of duties. Based on the experience and salary
of the project manager selected, the actual fixed price budget
would then be established.
The proposed annual budget represents a breakdown of
approximately 65% to the lead consultant, 15% to project office
costs/overhead, and up to 20% to support staff including the
project manager.
The overall project team may comprise sub-consultants from the
following disciplines:
survey;
urban design;
architectural;
geotechnical engineering;
civil engineering;
traffic and circulation;
landscape architectural;
environmental;
marine ecological; and
marina, shoreline and seawall development.
The sub-consultants would be retained on an "as-need basis", as
the policy framework and concepts are developed. The sub-
consultant budget is extremely difficult to estimate at this
time, as the definitive list of disciplines is not yet known and
a significant cost will be the amount of time spent at public
information meetings. Stanley Kwok has proposed a sub-consultant
budget in the order of $1,250,000-$1,500,000, based on experience
with other major projects. Real Estate staff have also discussed
these soft costs with developers of the other major project
rezonings, and the costs appear to be reasonable.
It is proposed that the City Manager be delegated the authority
to award the sub-consultant contracts, after proposals are
evaluated by the development consultant and Real Estate staff
from a selected short-listed group of qualified proponents. The
City Manager would report back to Council on a periodic basis on
the contracts awarded.
CONCLUSION
This report asks Council to award a 2.5 year development contract
to Stanley Kwok of Stanley Kwok Consultants Inc. for the City
lands on the SESFC, effective June 1, 1995. Approval of
consultant and sub-consultant budgets is also requested. While
it is a departure from standard City policy to directly retain a
consultant without a public selection process, the prime
consultant or development manager for the southwest shore of
False Creek, Riverside and Champlain Heights were all directly
retained. Staff are confident that Stanley Kwok is the best
choice for the SESFC project and is presently available to
undertake the project. A plan for the area would likely be
completed within 2.5 years.
Planning staff would report back by July 1995 on additional City
resources, process and timing to complete a policy framework and
plan for this area.
* * * * * APPENDIX B
SOUTHEAST SHORE OF FALSE CREEK
DEVELOPMENT TIMETABLE
The following is a preliminary list of the tasks required to
prepare a development plan for the City lands on the Southeast
Shore of False Creek, prior to subdivision, servicing and
marketing.
(a) retain development consultant, approve preliminary
timetable and budget
(b) retain initial sub-consultants and begin technical site
work
(c) identify major issues and develop work program methodology
(d) report to Council on City resources, process and timing for
the area plan
(e) prepare preliminary policy for the site
(f) draft work program prepared and discussions commence with
staff and the public
(g) policy framework approved by Council
(h) establish rezoning timetable
(i) initial response to staff and public issues on the workbook
(j) workshop process to evaluate workbook; comprehensive
concept plan and ODP/ADP prepared
(k) rezoning application prepared and submitted
(l) application reviewed by the City
(m) preparation of referral report to Council; public
information meetings; Public Hearing
(n) ODP/ADP enactment
* * * * *