ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: July 15, 1997
Dept. File No. 000 352
CC File No. 5753
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: Proposed Closure of a Portion of the Lane South
of Kingsway, East of Knight Street
RECOMMENDATION
THAT all that portion of the lane south of Kingsway shown hatched
on the plan attached as Appendix "A", be closed, stopped-up and
subdivided with the abutting lands subject to the following
conditions:
1) The abutting owners to pay the City $210,786, plus GST if
applicable, for the area of lane to be closed in excess of the
area of lane needed to provide a standard width lane outlet to
King Edward Avenue, in accordance with the recommendation of
the Manager of Real Estate Services.
2) The owners to dedicate those portions of their lands necessary
to provide a lane outlet to King Edward Avenue suitable to
meet the circulation needs of traffic expected to use this
lane, to the satisfaction of the City Engineer.
3) The owners to be responsible for the cost of relocating
existing utilities or providing rights-of-way to contain them,
to the satisfaction of the City Engineer.
4) The owners to pay the City the additional cost expected to be
incurred by routing the proposed sewer around the consolidated
site, rather than through the portion of lane to be closed.
The estimated cost for this additional sewer work is $261,000,
if constructed in 1997.
5) The owners to be responsible for the cost of physically
closing the lane and constructing the new lane outlet, to the
satisfaction of the City Engineer.
6) Proceeds from the sale of this lane to be credited to the
Streets Capital Property Purchase Account #14/33/0601/999 -
Property Acquisition Transportation Corridor.
7) No legal right or obligation shall be created and none shall
arise hereafter, until the documents are executed.
COUNCIL POLICY
The authority for closing and disposing of streets and lanes is set out
in the Vancouver Charter.
PURPOSE
An application has been received from the owners of the property on the
east side of Knight Street from Kingsway to King Edward Avenue to
purchase the portion of lane separating their holdings, see Appendix
"A".
BACKGROUND
On August 12, 1996, the Development Permit Board approved in principle,
the Preliminary Development Permit on the subject site. The proposal at
that time involved three components. A retail/ commercial building on
the east side of Knight Street from Kingsway to King Edward Avenue, a
three storey retail/commercial building on the lot to the east of the
Toronto Dominion Bank and a residential building on the east side of the
proposed lane outlet to King Edward Avenue. The owners to that point
in time had been unsuccessful in bringing the TD Bank site into the
project and consequently, the lane at the rear of the bank site could
not be considered for closure.
Subsequent to the Development Permit Board meeting, the owners concluded
an arrangement with the Toronto Dominion Bank for their site. This will
allow the amalgamation of the two building components on Kingsway and
the closure of the lane at the rear of the bank site.
DISCUSSION
The requested lane closure has received the support of the Engineering
Department because it offers an improvement to traffic flow along Knight
Street, by eliminating the lane intersection and thereby reducing
service vehicle conflict with buses. The lane traffic in the
re-configured lane is consolidated to the east of the intersection at
King Edward Avenue where there is less congestion. In addition, the
subject lane is not part of a continuous lane system. The provision of
the new lane outlet to King Edward with its extra width of 24 feet and
the provision of corner-cuts to ease the turning of traffic around the
corner, will provide for existing lane traffic as well as traffic
destined for the new development. There are a few utilities in the lane
and compensation is sought, as set out below, for the additional costs
the City will face by diverting the lane.
In addition to the normal requirement to have the owners pay for
relocation of existing utilities or provide rights-of-way to contain
them, we are recommending that the developer be responsible for the
additional costs the City will experience when a new sanitary sewer is
constructed in the subject lane. The area is currently served by
combined sewers. It is planned that a new sanitary sewer will be
constructed in the lane south of Kingsway and connect to an existing
sewer on Knight Street near the intersection, with the lane south of
Kingsway. The lane closure and site consolidation requested by the
owners will require that the new sewer be built now, around the
consolidated site. The additional cost for going around the site is
estimated to be $261,000.
In December of 1992, Streets Basic Capital was used for property
acquisition of a portion of the development site fronting Knight Street
for left-turn bay improvements. At that time, the subject development
was not at a stage where a land exchange could be arranged. The City,
using Engineering Capital accounts, therefore purchased a section of the
subject site for the left-turn bay, and it is now appropriate to credit
the sale proceeds to Engineering Capital accounts. We recommend that
funds from the sale of this lane be credited back to the Streets Capital
Property Purchase Account #14/33/0601/999 - Property Acquisition
Transportation Corridor.
CONCLUSION
The re-routing of the lane is supportable, provided the owners are
prepared to comply with the conditions of closure set out in the
recommendation, which they have indicated they are willing to do.
APPENDIX A on file in City Clerk's Office
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