ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT Date: April 2, 1997 Dept. File No.002 027 CC File No. 5753-1 TO: Vancouver City Council FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services SUBJECT: Closure of a Portion of 26th Avenue, East from Dunbar Street and a Portion of the Lane South of 26th Avenue, East from Dunbar Street RECOMMENDATION A. THAT Council authorize the Director of Legal Services to sign on behalf of the City a Reference Plan defining the horizontal limits of the encroachments onto 26th Avenue and onto the lane (see Appendix A), by the building at 4200-4250 Dunbar Street and apply to raise title to the portions of 26th Avenue and the lane defined on the said Reference Plan in the name of the City of Vancouver. B. THAT all those volumetric portions of 26th Avenue, east from Dunbar Street included within the heavy outlines and illustrated isometrically on a plan of survey completed on the 1st day of April, 1997 and attested to by C.S. Cryderman, B.C.L.S., and marginally numbered G-116, a reduced copy of which is attached hereto as Appendix B, be closed, stopped-up, and that an easement be granted to the owner of abutting Lot A, Block 83, District Lot 2027, Plan LMP 26945, to contain portions of the building which encroach onto 26th Avenue. The easement to be for the life of the encroaching portions of the building on said Lot A, and to be to the satisfaction of the Director of Legal Services. - 2 - C. THAT all those volumetric portions of the lane, south of 26th Avenue, east from Dunbar Street included within the heavy outlines and illustrated isometrically on a plan of survey completed on the 1st day of April, 1997, and attested to by C.S. Cryderman, B.C.L.S. and marginally numbered G-116, a reduced copy of which is attached hereto as Appendix B, be closed, stopped-up, and that an easement be granted to the owner of abutting Lot A, Block 83, District Lot 2027, Plan LMP 26945, to contain portions of the building which encroach onto the lane. The easement to be for the life of the encroaching portions of the building on said Lot A, and to be to the satisfaction of the Director of Legal Services. D. THAT the fees for document preparation, registration and use of the easement referred to in Recommendations B and C, are to be in accordance with those charged for in an agreement prepared pursuant to the Encroachment By-law. If Council approves this report, the Formal Resolution to close the portion of 26th Avenue east from Dunbar Street and the portion of lane south of 26th Avenue east from Dunbar Street will be before Council later this day for approval. COUNCIL POLICY The authority for closing and disposing of portions of streets and lanes is set out in the Vancouver Charter. PURPOSE The purpose of this report is to obtain Council authority to grant an easement to contain the encroaching elements of the building located at 4200-4250 Dunbar Street. BACKGROUND In 1996 a development application (DE400673) for 4200-4250 Dunbar Street was approved for construction of a 4-storey commercial/ residential building. The subsequent building permit that was issued for the site (BU403052) included roof overhangs that encroach onto 26th Avenue, east from Dunbar Street and the lane south of 26th Avenue east from Dunbar Street. The overhangs onto City street and lane were approved in accordance with the spirit - 3 - of Subsection 11.1.7 of the Building By-law which allows maximum projections of 0.915 metres (3 feet). The overhangs are intended to drain rain water back into the buildings drainage system and to offer some limited weather protection. The developer intends to strata title the building. As required by the Registrar of Land Titles, the strata corporation must have control over the portion of street or lane affected by the building encroachment, for the life of the building. To accomplish this, the volumetric portion of street or lane containing the encroachments must be closed, stopped-up, and an easement granted for the volumetric portions of the building that encroach. Registration of the easements requires that titles be raised for the portions of street and lane encroached upon. DISCUSSION The General Manager of Engineering Services does not generally support the construction of the overhangs encroaching onto City streets and lanes. Support is given for renovations to buildings where encroachments previously exist, for historically significant buildings and in the Chinatown, Yaletown and Gastown neighbourhoods where encroaching features are common and an accepted architectural characteristic of the building. None of these factors existed on this application and Engineering Services did not support their construction. There is no precedent in area for encroaching overhead features. Through a series of miscommunications, both internally between staff and externally between the applicant and staff, the encroachments that are the subject of this report were approved. The General Manager of Engineering Services has determined that as a result of these miscommunications, it is reasonable to place these now constructed encroachments under agreement. To obligate their removal would place an unreasonable burden on the developer and expose the City to risk of liabilities due to their inclusion on the approved building permit drawings. On the 26th Avenue side of Lot A, Block 83, District Lot 2027, Plan LMP 26945, the encroachment is limited to two portions of overhanging roof that encroach a maximum of 0.60 metres (24 inches). Similarly, over the lane, on the south side of Lot A, the encroachment is limited to two portions of overhanging roof that encroach a maximum of 0.60 metres (24 inches). The portions of both 26th Avenue and the lane encroached upon were dedicated by the deposit of Plan 1384 in 1907. This report seeks Council approval to raise titles as described and to close, stop-up and to authorize registration of a volumetric easement over a portion of the new titles. We recommend that fees for document preparation and annual rentals be charged as per the Encroachment By-law. This is consistent with past Council direction. * * * * *