ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: July 5, 1996
Dept. File No. AMH
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Land Use and Development
SUBJECT: Strata Title Conversion - 868 Cassiar Street
RECOMMENDATION
THAT the application to convert the previously-occupied
building at 868 Cassiar Street (Lot 2, Section 26 N.E. Qtr.,
T.H.S.L., Plan 18170) to strata title ownership be approved
in principle, but that pursuant to Section 9(1) of the
Condominium Act, the Certificate of Approval (Form 10) shall
not be issued unless the following condition has been met
within one year of the date of this approval:
Completion of all work now underway, to the satisfaction
of the City Building Inspector and in accordance with the
approved plans and permits, and issuance of an Occupancy
Permit, all at no cost to the City, in order that this
building substantially complies with all relevant City
by-laws.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval
of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council policy is reflected in the City's Strata Title and
Cooperative Conversion Guidelines, which outline factors that
Council will consider when reviewing applications for converting
previously-occupied buildings to strata title or cooperative
ownership.
PURPOSE
Council approval is required for an application to convert the
previously-occupied building at 868 Cassiar Street (Lot 2,
Section 26 N.E. Qtr., T.H.S.L., Plan 18170) to strata title
ownership.
BACKGROUND
The site is zoned CD-1 and is developed with the former "Provincial
Industrial Home for Girls", most recently used as the Provincial
Ministry of Human Relations library and staff training facility.
The building is a Municipally designated heritage building, built
circa 1912, which is listed as a category 'A' building on the
Vancouver Heritage Register. The location of the site is shown on
Figure 1, below.
Figure 1
The heritage building is currently undergoing extensive alterations
to convert it from office use to contain 12 dwelling units.
Pursuant to Development Permit No. DE216428, this site is also
intended to be developed with seven new multiple dwellings, which
will be constructed in two phases, containing a total of 76
dwelling units. Council considered and approved the relaxations
required (floor space ratio) to achieve this form of development in
July, 1995, when designation of the heritage building was also
considered.
The applicant proposes to create a total of 88 strata lots on this
site. Pursuant to Section 9 of the Condominium Act, Council's
approval is required as it relates to the 12 strata lots proposed
in the "previously-occupied" heritage building only.
As noted above, construction of the new development will be done in
two phases. For this reason, the applicant is proposing to
register a Phased strata plan, rather than a "conventional" strata
plan which would require that all of the buildings be constructed
before the strata plan could be registered. Registration of a
Phased strata plan permits the developer to use funds generated by
the sale of units completed in the first phase, to complete
construction of the second phase.
Phased strata plan developments generally consist of only new
construction. Phased strata applications do not require approval
by City Council, but rather, are reviewed and approved, or approved
subject to conditions, by the Approving Officer, in a similar
manner to the processing of a conventional subdivision proposal.
In a similar case in the past, the Director of Legal Services
advised that the existence of a previously-occupied building on a
site which is proposed for a Phased strata plan, requires that an
application for strata title conversion of that building be first
considered by City Council, as the Approving Authority for that
type of strata plan. If the application for "conversion" is
approved, the Approving Officer will then be able to further
consider the Phased strata proposal.
In the case of 868 Cassiar, the heritage building, along with four
of the new multiple dwellings, will be contained within the Phase 2
strata plan. The Phase 1 strata plan will contain three of the new
multiple dwellings, now under construction directly to the north
and east of the heritage building. This is different from past
instances of phased/conversions, where the previously-occupied
building has been included within the first phase of the Phased
strata plan.
For this reason, the Approving Officer has proposed that approval
of the Phase 1 strata plan be withheld until Council's approval in
principle of the strata title conversion of the heritage building
is received. If that approval in principle is given, any
conditions which Council might attach to the approval, such as
completion of work to bring the building into substantial
compliance with relevant by-laws, would have to be completed before
the Phase 2 plan, which contains the heritage building, would be
signed.
STAFF ANALYSIS
In addition to Planning Department staff, the City Engineer and the
City Building Inspector have reviewed this application. Given that
the heritage building has most recently been used for office use,
the Manager of the Housing Centre has not been asked to comment.
The City Engineer reports that there are no dedication or servicing
requirements for this site.
The City Building Inspector reports that the work necessary to
convert the heritage building to residential use is now under way,
in accordance with approved plans and permits. Once that work has
been completed, and an Occupancy Permit has been issued, the
previously-occupied heritage building will substantially comply
with all relevant City by-laws.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, and on the applicant's compliance with the
City's Strata Title and Cooperative Conversion Guidelines, the
Director of Land Use and Development supports this application.
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