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. * * * * *