POLICY REPORT

Development and Building

Date: December 17, 1997

Author/Local: RGates/6036

CC File No. 5307

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of Community Services, Social Planning in consultation with the Director of Central Area Planning on behalf of Land Use and Development
SUBJECT:	CD-1 Text Amendment - 2131 Renfrew Street (Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House)

RECOMMENDATION

THAT the Director of Land Use and Development be instructed to make application to amend CD-1 By-law 5555, as set out in Appendix A, to increase the allowable FSR from 0.45 to 0.55 to permit an addition to Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House at 2131 Renfrew Street;

FURTHER THAT this application be referred to public hearing, together with the recommendation of the Director of Central Area Planning on behalf of Land Use and Development to approve;

AND FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services prepare the necessary by-law for consideration at the public hearing.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

The Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House site is regulated by CD-1 By-law 5555 and Design Guidelines, both adopted by Council in 1982.

PURPOSE

This report recommends that Council refer directly to public hearing an amendment to the CD-1 zone that pertains to Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House to permit a second storey addition to this City-owned community facility.

BACKGROUND

In 1982, City Council adopted a single CD-1 zone for four City-owned sites at two different locations - 7th Avenue and Kaslo Street and 5th Avenue and Renfrew Street (see the map, Appendix B). Three of the sites (B, C, and D) were subsequently developed with social housing, in accordance with the CD-1 regulations, and the fourth site (A) was developed with Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House (FHNH). This is a City-owned facility that is operated by FHNH and the Association of Neighbourhood Houses.

The demand for services and programs at FHNH has continued to grow, but the facility has been operating at full capacity for several years. Some programs are offered at nearby schools and other community facilities, but there is still a need for more on-site space where certain kinds of programs can be provided in a more efficient and effective manner. Consequently, for the past few years, FHNH has been preparing plans for expanding the facility.

Then, in 1997, funding became available from the Infrastructure Works Program that made it possible to realize these plans. On July 8, 1997, City Council agreed to assist this project by approving a Capital Grant of $214,000. FHNH then embarked on the process of obtaining the necessary permits.

DISCUSSION

The CD-1 zone limits this site to a Neighbourhood House at 0.45 FSR. The three other sites are limited to dwelling uses ranging from 0.60 to 0.75 FSR. Council-adopted guidelines for amenity spaces, yards, open spaces, and design apply to all four sites. The FSR for the Frog Hollow site was set lower to accommodate their plans, at that time, for a one-storey building with surface parking.

Frog Hollow is presently built at 649 m² (6,988 sq. ft.), not counting floor space that is permitted to be excluded from the FSR calculation. The current FSR is 0.43. The proposed addition of programming space would provide a partial second storey of 205 m² (2,206 sq. ft.). Some of the new space is excluded from the FSR calculations, as is some of the existing space (see Appendix A for details). The proposed total floor space, after exclusions, is 784 m² (8,431 sq.ft.), which generates an FSR of 0.52. Staff are recommending that the new allowable FSR be set at 0.55 to allow for any minor changes to the proposal that may arise from the permitting processes.

The proposed increase in building bulk and the development of a partial second storey would not create a problem for the Frog Hollow site with respect to height or site coverage regulations or the design guidelines. Only the permitted FSR regulation would need to be increased.

It should be noted that the surface parking lot cannot be expanded. However, the parking requirement pertains only to "assembly area", and since the additional programming space is not classified as such, no parking deficiency is created.

CONCLUSION

In order to allow the addition of badly needed space to Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, staff support amending the FSR regulation in the CD-1 zone for this site from 0.45 to 0.55.

* * * * *

Appendix A

Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House

proposed expansion

Existing Proposed Addition

Total Floor Space (sq.ft.) 7439 9645 2206

permitted exclusions 451 *1214

Net Floor Space 6988 8431

FSR 0.43 0.52

* Space used for child-care can be excluded from the FSR calculation. There is now a licenced child-care program in FHNH, which wasn’t in place when it was first developed.

Proposed CD-1 text amendment

(amendment shown in italics)

Section 4 (Floor Space Ratio)

"The maximum floor space ratio for development of the four sites as illustrated in Diagram 1 shall be as follows:

Site A - 0.45 0.55 Site C - 0.75

Site B - 0.75 Site D - 0.60"

Notes:

1) Site A refers to the Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House site.

2) Diagram 1, referred to in the CD-1 text, is reproduced in this report as Appendix B.

* * * * *

(c) 1997 City of Vancouver