POLICY REPORT

URBAN STRUCTURE

Date: February 12, 1998

Author/Local: B.Riera/7683

CC File No. 5320

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of City Plans, in consultation with General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT:	City of Richmond Regional Context Statement

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RECOMMENDATION

THAT the Mayor, on behalf of Council, thank the City of Richmond for forwarding the Richmond Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw No. 5400, Amendment Bylaw No. 6839 (Regional Context Statement), for comment, and notify the City of Richmond:

(i)THAT the City of Vancouver supports the City of Richmond’s land use and transportation policies and measures which act to strengthen transit services and reduce reliance on the car for trips between the two cities.

(ii)THAT the City of Vancouver may have concerns about possible long term increases in housing and employment if these contribute to automobile trips to and from Vancouver, and offers to participate in further discussions with Richmond and GVRD to review the regional transportation implications before increased population and employment capacities are adopted in the City of Richmond's revised OCP.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

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

COUNCIL POLICY

Council policies which were used to review the Draft City of Richmond Regional Context Statement include:

CITYPLAN: Adopted by Council on June 6, 1995, provides policy directions with respect to neighbourhoods, community services, transportation, economy, and the environment.

INDUSTRIAL LANDS STRATEGY: Adopted on March 14, 1995, provides for the retention of most of the City’s existing industrial lands for city-serving, city-oriented, and river related industry.

VANCOUVER TRANSPORTATION PLAN: Adopted by Council on May 27, 1997, includes mode split targets which emphasize the need for increased provision of and use of transit, limiting overall road capacity to the present level, and maintaining an efficient goods movement network.

PURPOSE

This report describes the City of Vancouver’s interests in the proposed City of Richmond Draft Regional Context Statement.

DISCUSSION

On January 12, 1998, Richmond City Council gave first reading to the Draft Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw No. 5400, Amendment Bylaw No. 6839, Regional Context Statement. Section 882 of the Municipal Act requires that Official Community Plans are circulated to adjacent municipalities for comment prior to second reading. The City of Richmond has requested comments by March 11, 1998.

Process for the Regional Context Statement

As required by the Municipal Act, the Regional Context Statement (RCS) shows how the City's existing OCP (adopted by Council in 1989 prior to the Livable Region Strategic Plan), moves Richmond in the directions of the Livable Region Strategy. A revised OCP is being prepared and is scheduled for presentation in 1998.

The RCS describes how the existing OCP addresses the four prime strategies of the Livable Region Strategic Plan (LRSP). Policies and measures of special interest and importance to the City of Vancouver include the following.

1 Protect the Green Zone

The Green Zone Map (not part of the OCP), was endorsed by Richmond City Council in June 1992. The map identifies and protects different types of natural land assets and resources, some of which are adjacent to Vancouver. These include:

-areas north of the airport and north shore of Sea Island between Iona Island and Arthur Laing Bridge;

-the shore area adjacent to Bridgepoint, and pockets of shore areas around Mitchell Island; and

-pockets of land along the south shore of the North Arm of the Fraser River, from Mitchell Island to Tree Island in Hamilton.

The Green Zone designations and boundaries on Sea Island are under review. A revised Green Zone Lands Map will be included in the revised OCP. This area of the Green Zone in Richmond along the south shore of the Fraser provides special views from Vancouver, at a part of the river where Vancouver is relatively undeveloped. A large section of the north shore through Southlands is zoned as a limited agriculture district. The north foreshore area is identified as the Fraser River Trail Greenway. Any change in the status or character of this area could have implications the views from Vancouver. The City of Vancouver is therefore likely to have a continuing interest in proposals which affect this part of the Green Zone.

2. Build Complete Communities

The OCP seeks to balance Richmond's role as an economic centre through the creation and reinforcement of strong neighbourhoods and the development of a broad range of housing to meet the needs of a sizable and diverse resident population, and locally based employment and jobs. The OCP supports the Richmond City Centre as a regional centre, encouraging mixed-use commercial, office, retail and residential uses. The OCP protects and recognises areas for industrial uses and activities along the North and South arms of the Fraser River, north-west area of the City Centre, the Knight Street corridor and the Vancouver International Airport. This provides service areas for the Airport on the Richmond side and helps to reduce vehicle travel to Vancouver.

Proposals by the City of Richmond to build complete communities appear to be consistent with the Livable Region Strategic Plan, and to complement similar policies in the City of Vancouver.

3. Achieve a Compact Metropolitan Region

Richmond's OCP strategy is to balance employment and housing opportunities. The existing OCP projects a population of 212,000 people by the year 2011. The Regional Context Statement notes that like Vancouver, Richmond has achieved a favourable balance of jobs to resident labour force, with a total of 103,000 jobs. Employment is forecast to reach 150,000 jobs by 2011.

The City of Richmond is now preparing a revised OCP. This will note that population and jobs are estimated to rise, by the year 2021, to 220,000 people and 178,500 jobs. These estimates are higher than the provisions made in the current OCP. The population and employment capacities in the existing OCP are already higher than assumptions made in the preparation of the regional transportation plan. If these population and employment levels are achieved, they may have significant implications for transportation between Vancouver and Richmond. As employment grows in Richmond more Vancouver residents will travel to work in Richmond. Already there is an equal number of northbound and southbound trips using the Knight Street Bridge. Presently, peak period trips by Vancouver residents to other municipalities are predominantly by car (GVRD 1992 Travel Survey). To meet regional objectives of reducing reliance on the car, it will be important to locate the jobs close to major transit facilities.

The future proposals to revise the City of Richmond OCP will require careful study and consideration for their possible implications for Vancouver roads, especially in the vicinity of the Knight Street, Oak Street and Arthur Laing bridges.

4. Increase Transportation Choice

The OCP works to ensure that transportation needs are met by reinforcing a network of roads, railroads, pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths, a bus system and future rapid transit. Of importance to Vancouver, is that the Richmond OCP supports the development of regional commuter transit in preference to new facilities for automobiles; supporting non-car transportation alternatives by increasing transit ridership to and from and within Richmond. The City of Richmond is also pursuing rail transit service between Richmond and Vancouver. The OCP also targets population and job growth for areas that are served by

transit and existing or planned transportation routes.

In addition, other measures are being pursued that will work towards greater consistency between the OCP and the Livable Region Strategic Plan. The City of Richmond is working with BC Transit on an improved local transit service plan to integrate bus routes with Rapid Bus, increase services, and improve connections within Richmond and other major destinations outside the city. Planning is underway on the Sea Island Way connector, in conjunction with the Province and the Vancouver International Airport Authority, to accommodate Rapid bus and HOV capacity through improvements to road and bridge connections between Highway 99 and the airport.

The City of Richmond is also pursuing Transportation Demand Management measures, including, encouraging public transit, car pooling, parking alternatives and traffic flow impediments. The City of Richmond has also adopted a ride-share and van pool program for its employees.

CONCLUSION

The Regional Context Statement for the City of Richmond is based on the OCP adopted in 1989. The City of Richmond is moving to address some outstanding inconsistencies through a revision of the OCP, due to be presented later this year. There will be an opportunity at that time for Council to comment on any new proposals which might affect Vancouver. In the meantime, Vancouver’s interest in policies in Richmond Regional Context Statement lies primarily with issues around regional transportation, and the land use and transportation policies which affect that.

Transportation demand in the future will increase in both directions, as employment and services increase in both Richmond and Vancouver. The Regional Context Statement suggests that the City of Richmond is moving towards policies which more closely match the requirements of the regional transportation plan. However, proposals for increasing population and employment in the revised OCP have the potential of increasing transportation demand between the Richmond and Vancouver beyond that envisaged by the regional transportation plan.

The interests for the City of Vancouver are therefore to support the following:

(1)Support proposals by the City of Richmond to adopt land use and transportation measures which facilitate transit and discourage increased reliance on the car to help to reduce the growing traffic impacts on Vancouver neighbourhoods.

(2)Request that the City of Richmond and the GVRD review the regional transportation implications of increasing employment and population beyond the levels anticipated in the Livable Region Strategic Plan and the regional transportation plan, Transport 2000.

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(c) 1997 City of Vancouver