ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: March 9, 1998

Author/Local: J.Lowden/8462

CC File No. 4155

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Acting General Manager, Board of Parks and Recreation
SUBJECT:	Stanley Park Works Yard Redevelopment - Funding Transfers

RECOMMENDATION

A.THAT Council approve the Stanley Park works yard parking lot project as part of the Park Board 1998 capital plan.

B.THAT Council authorize the transfer of $100,000 from each of the following accounts:

1) Stanley Park Transportation

2) General Parks Asphalt

3) Stanley Park Zoo Redevelopment

to the Stanley Park service yard parking lot project.

C.THAT Council authorize the temporary transfer of $255,000 as a loan from the Stanley Park Zoo Redevelopment account, to be repaid over 3.5 years from pay parking revenue, to the service yard parking lot project.

COMMENTS OF THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

The Director of Finance notes that the transfer of capital funds proposed by the Park Board is not inconsistent with the borrowing authority under which it was provided. All of the funds involved were approved by plebiscite for Park Development purposes and transfer of this funding to the proposed project can be approved by a majority vote of Council.

COUNCIL POLICY

The City’s annual capital budget, including the Park Board’s capital budget requires Council approval. In addition, capital funding transfers in excess of $50,000 initiated by the Park Board require Council approval.

BACKGROUND

As part of an integrated strategy for the movement of people and vehicles in Stanley Park, the Park Board, in its Stanley Park Transportation and Recreation Report of October 24, 1996 laid out the following directions. Automobile use of the perimeter park roadways should be diminished and parking should be focussed in the core area between Pipeline Road and Avison Way. Public movement on the perimeter should be enhanced with a free shuttle system, financed by parking revenue. To replace some of the approximately 500 roadside parking stalls to be removed from Park Drive, 300 stalls should be replaced in the residual open area of the old works yard and serviced by the shuttle bus.

The Board Report of April 4, 1997, Stanley Park Jitney Service - contained the following approved resolutions:

D.THAT parking fees in Stanley park be increased during the summer from $1.00 per two hours to $1.00 per hour, and from $3.00 to $5.00 maximum rate per day, from May 1 to September 30, starting in 1997.

E.THAT a new parking lot for approximately 300 vehicles be built in the location of the service yard prior to the start of the jitney service, at a cost estimated at $450,000, to be funded in part by additional pay parking revenue generated by the increase in parking fees in Stanley Park, and in part by a temporary reallocation of funds from the Zoo Development Account.

At the regular meeting of the Board on March 2, 1998 the following resolutions were passed:

A.THAT the Board request council to transfer $100,000 from each of the following accounts:

1)Stanley Park Transportation

2)General Parks Asphalt

3)Stanley Park Zoo Redevelopment

to the Stanley Park serviceyard parking lot project.

B.THAT the Board request the temporary transfer of $255,000 from the Stanley Park Zoo Redevelopment account to the Stanley Park service yard parking lot project.

C.THAT the Board allocate $74,000 per annum for 3.5 years from Stanley Park pay parking revenue to refund the $255,000 temporary transfer from the Stanley Park Zoo Redevelopment account."

The Board has approved the redevelopment/consolidation of the Stanley Park service yard and has approved the award of a shuttle service contract for the park . Part of the shuttle strategy is to create a central parking lot in the abandoned service yard area. The capital cost of the lot is to be recovered by revenue derived from increased parking fees while using interim funding from the Zoo Development account.

DISCUSSION

The inclusion of this project in the 1998 capital plan will not increase the currently approved allocation of $7,263,150. Project capital funding will come from transfers within existing 1998 approved amounts and unspent capital from a previous plan.

The April 4, 1997 report estimated the parking lot construction cost at $450,000. This estimate unfortunately did not account for the removal of rubble and wood waste left over from the service yard, building a new and larger refuse facility, and the development of a biofiltration demonstration project to handle the surface runoff. Irrespective of the final land use, the garbage tip should be relocated and expanded to meet current garbage and horticultural demands in the park, particularly in summer. Also the residual dumping that has occurred at the site must be cleaned up prior to reuse.

Staff are recommending that the parking be combined with an environmental demonstration project on biofiltration. As well as being a more ecologically sensitive response to hard surface runoff, the resulting water will be directed to Beaver Lake, which currently relies on potable water to forestall eutrophication.

The current estimated cost for the project is $725,000. Of this amount, $170,000 is available from 1997 parking revenue, as directed by the Board. The remainder could be temporarily covered from capital funding approved for redevelopment of the Zoo and repaid at a rate of $74,000 per annum from the Stanley Park pay parking. This amount is the projected revenue increase in the off-peak seasons over the base established in 1996. Staff recommend this funding source instead of raising the off-peak rates as the latter may reduce visitations and produce significantly less revenue than previously estimated.

However, reliance on this form of project financing will require a 7.5 amortization period, resulting in the full repayment being beyond the point at which funding for zoo redevelopment will be required. The $560,000 remaining in the Zoo account is slated for phase two of the zoo area redevelopment project. This will be the development of the recirculating stream feature. The Aquarium will partner with the Board on this aspect of theproject to add a salmon spawning demonstration facet to the stream. The Aquarium is fund raising for this project and is expected to require at least three years to secure all the funding required for the salmon features. Hence the zoo funding will be required prior to the 7.5 year amortization period.

Staff therefore recommend that funding from other areas of the Park Board Capital Budget be permanently directed to the project to cover part of the costs. This recognizes that neither the new refuse facility nor the biofiltration demonstration project involve costs that are normally attributed to a parking revenue facility. By reducing the required funding from the zoo redevelopment project by $300,000, the amortization period for the funds temporarily transferred from the zoo account can be repaid on a time line which should match the completion of fund raising for the salmon stream project.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver