SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 2
P&E COMMITTEE AGENDA
FEBRUARY 29, 1996
POLICY REPORT
DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING
Date: February 20, 1996
Dept. File No. 5008.1
TO: Standing Committee on Planning & Environment
FROM: Manager of Facilities Development and Manager of Real Estate
Services, on behalf of the Emergency Management Committee
SUBJECT: Emergency Operations and Communications Centre -
Site Rezoning
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council authorize staff to proceed with the rezoning
application for the site selected for the EOCC - Lots 1 to 15
and 26 to 32 inclusive of Block 60, Town of Hastings Suburban
Lands, Plan 330, bounded by Pender, Rupert, Hastings and
Cassiar Streets as indicated in Appendix B.
AND FURTHER THAT Council instruct the General Manager of
Community Services to assign a priority status for processing
the rezoning application so as to meet the City s commitments
under the agreement for the Infrastructure Grant.
B. THAT Council authorize staff to commence negotiations for the
purchase of the three privately-owned lots (Lots 27, 28 and
29) forming part of the site in A, the source of funding to be
the Land Purchase Fund.
C. THAT Council instruct the General Manager of Engineering
Services to finalize an agreement for transferring Lots 15 and
26 from the Ministry of Transportation and Highways to the
City.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of A, B, and C.
COUNCIL POLICY
There is no applicable Council policy.
PURPOSE
This report provides Council with information on the current status of
the EOCC site selection process and a synopsis of the public information
meetings held with the Hastings Community Centre Board and Hastings
Community with regard to the Rupert/Hastings site, and requests
authorization to proceed with a rezoning application for said site.
BACKGROUND
In May 1995, the City of Vancouver received federal/provincial
infrastructure funding towards the cost of constructing a Vancouver
Emergency Operations Centre.
On July 25, 1995, City Council considered a report on the Emergency
Operations and Communications Centre (EOCC) and approved a number of
recommendations authorizing:
- construction of the Vancouver Emergency Operations Centre;
- participation of other agencies on a cost-shared basis;
- negotiation with other agencies in the details of participation;
- preparation of a long term plan for the City s communication
systems, in anticipation of a Capital Plan submission for a related
upgrading of the City s radio systems;
- award of consulting contracts, and
- funding sources for the EOCC project.
On September 28, 1995, Council passed resolutions endorsing a continual
leadership role by Vancouver in the Centre and maintaining a target date
for completion at December 1997. Council also approved the appointment
of the consultants for the project.
DISCUSSION
General Description of the Project
As presently envisaged the EOCC, subject to confirmation by the outside
agencies, will contain the following components:
- Vancouver Fire Dispatch Centre (VFD)
- Vancouver Police Dispatch Centre (VPD)
- Regional 9-1-1
- RCMP Dispatch Centre
- Vancouver Emergency Operations Centre (VEOC)
- BC Ambulance Dispatch Centre (BCAS)
- BC Ambulance Regional Office (BCAS)
- Provincial Emergency Program (PEP)
- Regional Emergency Coordination Centre (RECC)
- Ministry of Transportation and Highways Traffic Management Centre
(MOTH)
On the basis of the functional study undertaken by the City for the
Vancouver portion of the Centre and functional areas provided by other
users, it is estimated that the EOCC will be comprised of the following
approximate areas:
Components Gross Areas (SF)
VEOC, VFD, VPD, 9-1-1 30,000
RECC (20) 3,000
RCMP 6,000
PEP 2,500
MOTH 18,500
BCAS 14,000
Total 74,000
Site Evaluation
Approximately twenty (20) sites, both City-owned and privately-owned,
were identified and evaluated by the project team on the basis of the
following criteria:
1. Geotechnical: Suitability to sustain a major earthquake
including post-disaster requirements.
2. Accessibility: Public transit, vehicular accessibility,
proximity to major arteries and air
accessibility. The facility will operate on a
24-hour basis.
3. Communication: Land line, telephone, radio, ducting, fibre-
optic cabling, linkage, line of sight to the
North Shore mountains.
4. Hazard/Risk: Probability of occurrence for flooding,
dangerous goods, explosions and gas, and
available mitigation measures against such
risks.
5. Development Cost: Land cost, network systems, construction cost
premiums, servicing and massing - preferred
height of 2-storeys maximum.
6. Development Timing: Property acquisition, rezoning and relocation
costs.
Sites which did not meet one or more of the major criteria were
considered to be unsatisfactory and were eliminated. On the basis of
this evaluation five sites were short listed: two on Kingsway, the
Renfrew/McGill parking lot, the Renfrew/Hastings site (S.E. corner) and
the Rupert/Hastings site.
Staff concluded that the Renfrew/McGill and Renfrew/Hastings site would
impact on the proposed Hastings Park plan, hence these two sites were
deleted from the list of potential sites. The remaining three sites were
short listed for detailed evaluation.
On the basis of a detailed analysis by the planning team which included:
hazard and risk assessment by EmergeX Planning Inc., massing analysis by
Architectura, communications analysis by Teleconsult Limited and seismic
overview by Macleod Geotechnical Ltd., it was concluded that while none
of the sites ideally meets all of the design requirements, the
Rupert/Hastings site best fits the project requirements. (See Appendix
A )
Thus, it is recommended that the Rupert/Hastings site be selected for
the project and a rezoning application be initiated.
Rupert/Hastings Site
The Rupert/Hastings site is bounded by Pender, Rupert, Hastings and
Cassiar Streets. It consists of a street end and a parking lot that are
City-owned, and three single family homes that are privately-owned (see
Appendix B ). The parking lot (200 stalls) is presently used as a park
and ride operation, which is significantly under utilized in our
opinion. Anther surface lot west of Rupert Street (460 stalls) is also
used as a park and ride lot, and will not be affected by the
development. Purchase of the three privately-owned lots (Lots 27, 28 and
29) would likely be required to accommodate the full program.
The site is below the grade of Hastings Street and the adjacent freeway
connector. It is presently zoned CD-1/RS1-S. The usable area of the
site including the street end, and the three private lots is
approximately 100,000 SF.
The City-owned portion of the site is classed as Capital Asset - PNE,
and is not included in the Trust Lands designated for the proposed
Hastings Park.
Synopsis of the Public Information Meetings
On January 18, 1996, the members of the EOCC team met with the Hastings
Community Centre Board to discuss the project. The Board asked general
questions about the facility and its operations. Issues raised included
traffic, parking and the existing zoning. Board members had questions
about the site selection process and the choice of location.
Two public information meetings were held on January 31 and February 1,
1996 at the Hastings Community Centre. The January 31 meeting was to
hear the concerns of the immediate neighbours. Four hundred notices
were hand-delivered to households within a four-block radius of the
site. A total of five people attended the January 31 meeting expressing
concerns about view impacts and traffic. One resident felt that the
proposed location was the best place in the community for such facility.
The February 1 meeting was intended to give the larger Hastings
community an opportunity to learn about the project and comment on it.
Notices were delivered by Canada Post admail to over 6,000 Hastings area
residents. A total of seventeen residents attended this meeting. The
meeting was advertised in the Vancouver Echo, Vancouver Courier, and the
Chinese media of Sing Tao and Ming Pao. Chinese translation was
available at both the meetings.
Some residents attending the February 1 meeting were concerned about the
impact that this facility may have upon the Hastings Park Planning
Process, particularly with regard to off-site parking for the Race
Track. Questions related to the site selection process were asked. Some
residents were interested in the possibility of a community police
facility within the development.
The EOCC design team promised that additional meetings will be held with
the community prior to a rezoning application being filed, to discuss
the building design, greenway linkages into Hastings Park, traffic and
view impacts.
The Manager of Real Estate has initiated discussions with the owners of
the three properties within the boundaries of the site.
Design
Design is presently at an early conceptual stage. The work that is
underway includes: preliminary massing analysis, site surveys, adjacency
studies and general discussion with the City s Engineering Department
with regard to parking requirement and accessibility to the site.
Presently, it is our desire that the principal entry to the site be off
Hastings at Rupert Street so as to minimize vehicular traffic on Pender
Street through the residential area.
Pursuant to the City s Greenway Program, the design will also include
provision for a pedestrian s walkway and a bicycle route along the edges
of the development, so as to provide future greenway links between the
neighbourhood south of Hastings and the proposed Hastings Park.
The site would be well landscaped with generous setbacks, particularly
along Pender Street, to provide visual screening between the Centre and
the residential users to the south. The building itself will be faced on
the Hastings Street side with the entry currently located at the corner
of Hastings and Rupert. We will also be exploring the feasibility of
terracing the building to the south to minimize any mass of that
particular building face.
In view of the natural slope of the property and surface grades below
the grade of Hastings and the adjacent freeway, it is expected that in
the all-in option most of the parking and mechanical equipment will be
located in an underground parkade. Once finalized, a preliminary design
will be presented to the neighbourhood at a Public Information meeting
prior to a rezoning application being filed.
Schedule
The project schedule is primarily being driven by the requirements of
the Infrastructure Program, and a need to house the Emergency Operations
Centre in a suitable facility. The Infrastructure Program initially
called for a completion date by December 1997.
Due to delays in receiving confirmation from BCAS and MOTH regarding
their participation, the schedule has slipped a couple of months, which
was of concern in light of our commitments under the Infrastructure
Program. Coincidentally, the Province has since confirmed that the
Federal Government has agreed to an extension in the completion dates
for its more recently approved projects, including the EOCC, to early
1998.
The City of Vancouver is required, however, to submit a revised program
and budget to the Province by February 29, 1996. Assuming that the
program can be finalized by the end of February, the following schedule
should be adhered to in order to meet the completion dates:
Finalize Program February 29, 1996
Rezoning Process March 18 - July 09, 1996
Public Hearing July 02, 1996
Start Construction April 1997
Complete Construction April 1998
In order to maintain the above schedule it is necessary to obtain a
priority status for the rezoning process. This report recommends such
process be implemented.
Comments of the Director of Land Use and Development
If the strategy is to contemplate rezoning of the site to a CD-1 with
only nominal provisions (i.e. use, density and parking) and with the
form of development to be considered at a later date, priority
processing will have little impact on other rezoning work and a June 27
Public Hearing should be readily achievable.
The disadvantage of this strategy is that the resultant zoning does not
in itself reflect or limit the site to a particular form of development,
and neighbouring residents often want not only a clear understanding of
what is to be built under the zoning but assurance that the zoning will
not allow alternative development forms without a further Public
Hearing. The notion that what you see during the rezoning is what you
will get is often very important to rezoning applicants, neighbouring
residents and staff, but the rezoning process is consequently much more
comprehensive and lengthy.
Priority processing will be required to meet the time constraints if the
EOCC rezoning application is to embody a particular form of development.
This will also divert staff resources and delay one if not two private
rezoning applications in process, with their timing to Public Hearing
slipping by a month or two. A June 27 Public Hearing for an EOCC
rezoning application would, under this strategy, be achievable but only
if a complete application is submitted by March 18, all reviewing
departments and boards provide commentary within three weeks and the
staff report is completed by the end of April for Council referral on
May 14.
The Director of Land Use and Development recommends submission of a
rezoning application without an accompanying form of development, noting
the above-described processing implications and also recognizing that,
in addition to Council still retaining authority for subsequent approval
of the form of development, the City will have control over development
by virtue of site ownership.
Copies of this report have been distributed to the Hastings Park Working
Committee and the Board of Parks and Recreation.
* * * * *