POLICY REPORT
URBAN STRUCTURE
Date: July 17, 1997
Dept. File No. PB
CC File: 5301
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Community Planning
SUBJECT: RS Options - Kitsilano RS-1S Area
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT the Director of Land Use and Development be instructed to
make application to rezone the Kitsilano RS-1S area shown in
Figure 1 from RS-1S to RS-5S and the application be referred
to Public Hearing; and
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to
prepare the necessary by-law for consideration at the Public
Hearing.
B. THAT the Director of Community Planning be instructed to
report to Council development applications which are contrary
to the proposed zoning amendments for possible withholding
pursuant to Section 570 of the Vancouver Charter.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A
and B.
COUNCIL POLICY
On June 6, 1995, Council asked staff to report back on interim measures
to deal with neighbourhood requests for character zoning until such time
as staff are able to go back into those neighbourhoods to work with them
on the CityPlan Neighbourhood program.
On May 17, 1996, Council instructed staff to proceed, in co-operation
with neighbourhood groups, with a consultation process to determine
neighbourhood support for an interim zoning in single-family areas in
advance of CityPlan's Neighbourhood Visioning program, to proceed with
RS-6 as an interim zone available to RS-1 and RS-1S single-family
neighbourhoods and, where there is demonstrated community support, to
include RS-5 as a possible interim zone for single-family
neighbourhoods.
SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
This report recommends referral to Public Hearing of RS-5S zoning for
the portion of Kitsilano currently zoned RS-1S illustrated in Figure 1
below.
A multi-language random sample telephone survey of area residents and
property owners was conducted in the area. The survey indicated that
there was roughly 64% support for a zoning change to deal with concerns
about the design of new developments and landscaping. Of those in favour
of a zoning change, 59% preferred RS-5S zoning.
RS-5S zoning encourages new development and additions to be compatible
with the neighbourhood by providing a floor space increase if the
RS-5/RS-5S Design Guidelines are followed. If followed, the design of
new houses and major additions along with site landscaping would be
derived from the design of properties near to the development site.
Figure 1. Proposed RS-5S District - Kitsilano RS-1S District
BACKGROUND
On May 17, 1996, Council adopted a process to implement the interim
zoning program requested by Council on June 6, 1995. The program
addressed issues of external design and site landscaping in RS-1/RS-1S
neighbourhoods. RS-6/RS-6S zoning is offered with the additional option
of RS-5/RS-5S zoning where there is demonstrated community interest in
that zone.
RS-5 and RS-5S zones (RS-5S is a new zoning approved at Public Hearing
on July 8, 1997, to replace RS-1S zoned areas) encourage new houses and
additions to be compatible with existing houses and landscaping by
providing a floor space increase in exchange for going through a design
guideline review process. Buildings which meet design guidelines derive
their design from nearby houses and site landscaping. "Impermeability"
regulations prohibit excessive paving of the site. When the guidelines
are used, the permit process in this zone typically takes two to three
months for a development permit, one to three weeks for the building
permit. For those who do not seek a floor space increase but build to an
above basement floor space slightly less than the maximum permitted
under RS-1, no design review occurs and applicants are only required to
follow district schedule regulations. For these applications, joint
planning/building permits take approximately one to three weeks.
RS-6 and RS-6S zones (RS-6S hasn't as yet been chosen by an RS-1S
neighbourhood nor has it been referred to Public Hearing) require or
prohibit certain design features, and encourage site landscaping in
order to establish a minimum standard of design quality and foster a
greater variety of design than under RS-1 zoning. "Impermeability"
regulations prohibit excessive paving of the site, and a modest floor
space increase is provided if landscape design guidelines are followed.
The combined Development Permit and Building Permit process in this zone
takes approximately three to five weeks.
The Council-approved planning process for the interim rezoning program
involves three steps:
1. Phase I - This phase determines the general level of neighbourhood
support for a change in zoning. Only after neighbourhood support is
demonstrated does Planning commit significant time and resources to
a rezoning process. This first step is therefore carried out in
co-operation with resident groups who assist in notifying area
residents/ property owners of the planning program. A post-returned
"expression of interest" survey is then conducted among all area
residents and property owners. This survey is monitored or carried
out by Planning staff. If the survey achieves a 25% response rate,
and if 60% of the respondents to the survey support a change in
zoning, then staff proceeds with Phase II.
2. Phase II - This phase determines the type of single-family zoning
which the neighbourhood supports. Staff distribute more detailed
information on RS-1/RS-1S, RS-5/RS-5S and RS-6/RS-6S zoning to all
area residents and property owners and hold an open house.
Following this, an independent consultant is used to conduct the
Phase II survey as a multi-language random sample telephone survey.
Typically, for a neighbourhood of roughly 2,000 households, 700 are
contacted leading to the completion of approximately 400 interviews
(taking into account people who are not home or who refuse to be
interviewed). This yields statistical results at a 95% confidence
level with a plus or minus 5% margin of error. A 60% support rate
for a new zoning is adequate for staff to refer a rezoning report
to Council.
3. Staff report back to Council on the Phase II survey results with a
recommendation on the area zoning and, where appropriate, referral
to Public Hearing.
DISCUSSION
1. Planning Process
(a) Phase I Resident Surveys
Phase I surveys were conducted in Kitsilano in May of 1997. The results
of the Phase I survey can be summarized as follows; the response rate
(i.e., total surveys returned/total surveys delivered) was 28%:
Question 1: Which a) Retain the b) Seek an c) Undecided
option do you current RS-1S alternative
prefer? zoning zoning
35% 64% 1%
The results of the Phase I survey indicated that there was sufficient
support in these areas to proceed onto Phase II of the Interim Zoning
process: there was a greater than 25% response rate and more than 60% of
those responding supported a change in zoning.
(b) Phase II Telephone Surveys
In June of 1997, staff distributed detailed information on RS-1/RS-1S,
RS-5/RS-5S and RS-6/RS-6S zoning to all residents and property owners in
the Kitsilano RS-1S area (see Appendix A). Contained in the information
package were staff phone numbers in order that questions could be asked
and responses given. Multi-lingual "call back" lines were set up for
people with English as a second language. All distributed material was
translated into Chinese. An open house (with translation services) was
held in the area to answer questions and display additional, more
detailed information about the zoning.
The random sample telephone survey of area residents and property owners
was conducted by an independent consultant towards the end of June. With
approximately 500 completed phone surveys in the Kitsilano RS-1S area,
the accuracy of the resulting statistics is roughly plus or minus 4% at
a 95% confidence level. The survey results are as follows; a full
detailed report is available from the Clerk.
Question 1: Which a) Retain the b) Seek an c) No opinion
option do you current RS-1S alternative
prefer? zoning zoning
31% 64% 5%
Question 2: If you a) RS-5/ b) RS-6/ c) Undecided
preferred to seek an RS-5S RS-6S
alternative zoning
[1(b) above], which
zoning option do you
prefer?
59% 37% 4%
The Phase II survey indicates that the Kitsilano RS-1S area has
approximately 64% support for a zoning change to deal with concerns
about the design of new houses and landscaping. Of those in favour of a
zoning change, most preferred RS-5S zoning. Staff, therefore, recommend
referral to Public Hearing of RS-5S zoning for the Kitsilano RS-1S area.
3. Impact on Property Values
The Manager of Real Estate Services advises that under current market
conditions, there should be no significant impact on property values in
the short term if RS-5S zoning is adopted.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
The RS-5S zoning encourages site landscape planting which will
positively affect the city's micro-climate and air quality. This zoning
also regulates the maximum site coverage by impermeable materials which
would also have positive effects on micro-climate, and reduce runoff
thereby decreasing flooding potential and reducing combined sewer
overflows. Each of the zones provide some moderate incentive for
renovating existing houses which could result in lessening the burden on
landfill sites from the demolition of existing houses on sites where new
houses are proposed.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The Children's Policy and the Statement of Children's Entitlements are
not applicable to this amendment.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
RS-5S zoning is more complex than RS-1S zoning. Processing of
applications will generally involve extra staff time for checking
applications, meetings with applicants, meetings with staff (e.g.,
landscaping and engineering), telephone enquiries, file searches,
correspondence, site visits, and providing information to residents and
prospective applicants. Compared to RS-1S applications, RS-5S
applications will affect staff in the following areas:
Development Planners or Planning Facilitators (12 to 16 hours per
application);
Plan Checking Technicians (20 to 25 hours per application--bulk of
research, correspondence, and neighbourhood applicant and staff
liaison duties are handled by this position);
Development Information Officers (additional 2 to 3 hours per
application);
Landscaping Technicians (additional 0.5 hour per application);
Building Inspectors (additional 2 hours per application); and
Property Use Inspectors (additional 0.5 to 1.0 hours per application).
Since October of 1996, Council has rezoned West Kerrisdale and MacKenzie
Heights to RS-5 and made one- and two-family dwellings conditional in
some RT-4 and RT-5 areas. RS-5, RS-5S or RS-6 zoning has been adopted by
Council in parts of Dunbar, Douglas Park, and West Southlands, along
with North and South Kerrisdale. RS-5 zoning has been referred to Public
Hearing for West Pt. Grey (scheduled to reconvene on July 28, 1997).
Taking into account the changes made or proposed above, with referral to
Public Hearing of RS-5S zoning for Kitsilano, a potential of roughly 198
person-weeks (note: 13 additional person-weeks for Kitsilano) could be
added to staff's workload.
The implications of the increase in staff workload for Planning has been
discussed in a memorandum dated March 25, 1997, which has come before
Council from the Director of Land Use and Development. The memorandum
concludes that given space constraints in accommodating additional staff
and a declining number of development applications, staff will monitor
development activity in the forthcoming months and review staffing
levels when additional neighbourhoods are brought forward for possible
rezoning.
The City Building Inspector and the Manager of Property Use Inspection
Branch note that the additional workload for building inspectors and
property use inspectors will be accommodated with existing staff,
although future area rezonings will likely bring about a request for
additional staff in order to maintain current levels of service. There
may also be some additional workload placed on property use inspectors
because of post-occupancy complaints, particularly with respect to the
impermeability regulations and site landscaping guidelines associated
with the RS-5/RS-5S and RS-6 zoning. Staff will be monitoring the
situation through the course of this year and will report back to
Council should additional staff be required.
CONCLUSION
This report recommends referral to Public Hearing of RS-5S zoning for
the Kitsilano RS-1S area.
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