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CITY OF VANCOUVER
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON
PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT
APRIL 9, 1998 A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, April 9, 1998, at 3:25 p.m., in the Council Chamber, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.
Judy Rogers, Deputy City Manager
Nancy Largent
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MOVED by Cllr. Puil,
SECONDED by Cllr. Clarke,
THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Deputy Mayor Chiavario in the chair.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
COMMITTEE REPORTS Report of Standing Committee on Planning and Environment
April 9, 1998
Council considered the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in the following clauses of the attached report:
Cl.1: Hastings Park Restoration and P.N.E. Lease Extension
Hastings Park Restoration and P.N.E. Lease Extension
(Clause 1)
MOVED by Cllr. Clarke,
THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clause 1 of this report, be approved.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MOVED by Cllr. Puil
THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
MOVED by Cllr. Puil,
SECONDED by Cllr. Clarke,
THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY ENQUIRIES AND OTHER BUSINESS
1. X-rated Film Company File: 3504
Deputy Mayor Chiavario reported that an X-rated film company has opened on Franklin Street.
The Deputy Mayor instructed that the Chief License Inspector report back on means of addressing this issue before there is a proliferation of such establishments.
The Council adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
* * * * * REPORT TO COUNCIL
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
ON PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
APRIL 9, 1998
A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on Planning and Environment was held on Thursday, April 9, 1998, at 2:00 p.m., in the Council Chamber, Third Floor, City Hall.
Deputy Mayor Nancy A. Chiavario
Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Gordon Price Councillor George PuilJudy Rogers, Deputy City Manager
ADOPTION OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment of March 12, 1998, were adopted.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Hastings Park Restoration and P.N.E. Lease Extension File: 8009
The Chair noted that Councillor Bellamy was not present for this meeting due to a conflict of interest, in that he is a member of the Pacific National Exhibition (P.N.E.). Board of Directors.
The Committee had before it a Policy Report dated March 26, 1998 (on file), in which the General Managers of Community Services and Parks and Recreation sought direction on the termination date of the P.N.E. lease at Hastings Park, whether it should be December 31, 1998 or December 31, 1999. This decision would determine the scope and size of Phase 2 of the Hastings Park Restoration.
Piet Rutgers, Hastings Park Project Manager, reviewed the background of this issue, referencing City Council's April 2, 1997 decision to extend the P.N.E. lease through December 31, 1999, subject to various conditions. Staff consider that all conditions have been satisfactorily resolved, except that no firm agreement on the Leisure Entertainment Centre was brought before Council by December 31, 1997, nor is there a guarantee that the P.N.E. will continue to be part of the Leisure Entertainment Centre. As an alternative to these conditions, the Province has offered a February 12, 1998 letter from the Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture confirming the Province’s intention for the P.N.E. to be off the Hastings Park site after the 1999 fair and on a new site by the year 2000 (Appendix A of the Policy Report, on file). Should Council be prepared to accept this letter as meeting the aforementioned conditions, a lease with the P.N.E. terminating December 31, 1999 can be completed and signed. If not, the P.N.E. lease would be terminated December 31, 1998.
Mr. Rutgers also reviewed plans for the restoration of Hastings Park, noting variations dependent upon Council's decision with respect to the P.N.E. lease termination date. A 1999 termination would impact on the amount and accessibility of parkland available by the summer of 1999, and the pond would not be built in its final configuration, resulting in eventual reworking of the pond's edge once the P.N.E. vacates Hastings Park. Mr. Rutgers also reviewed budgetary considerations, noting costs which would be assumed by the Park Board once the P.N.E. vacates Hastings Park.
Cont’d
Clause No. 1 cont’d
Commissioner David Chesman, Board of Parks and Recreation, advised that on April 6, 1998, the Park Board approved a motion that Council terminate the lease with the P.N.E. on December 31, 1998. The Park Board has given planning of the park to the community, in a process which serves as a model for multi-stakeholder planning processes, and an extraordinary plan has resulted. In order to keep momentum and community enthusiasm up, the plan cannot wait for another year. Commissioner Chesman suggested that Council should be mindful of its credibility, which will suffer if it continues to grant the P.N.E. yet another lease extension . The Commissioner also requested that Council consider turning over the site to the Park Board as a permanent park in the near future.
Mike Cowley, Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, read an April 9, 1998 letter (on file) from the current Minister, reiterating the assurances offered in his predecessor's letter of February 12, 1998, and confirming that the Province intends to vacate the P.N.E. site by December of 1999 and no further lease extensions will be sought. Mr. Cowley noted that the leisure entertainment centre is a very complex project which will take time to work out in detail, but progress is being made and positive benefits can be expected. In the interim, 2,700 jobs would be unnecessarily lost if the P.N.E. lease were cancelled before the end of 1999. The financial contribution to be made by the Provincial government to Hastings Park's restoration was also noted.
The following speakers requested that Council confirm the extension of the P.N.E. lease through December 31, 1999:
Dougg MacCaulder, C.U.P.E. Local 1004
Steve Varty, P.N.E. employee
Greg Antonson, P.N.E. EMPLOYEE
Steve Parsons, concessionaire.
Following are some of the reasons put forward to extend the lease:
·all parties have accepted that the P.N.E. cannot continue indefinitely on the Hastings Park site, and some buildings have already been demolished;
·the Province is working to ensure a new site for the P.N.E. as part of the proposed leisure entertainment centre, and needs time to complete plans and ensure long-term jobs for P.N.E. businesses and workers;
Cont’d
Clause No. 1 cont’d
·there will be severe loss of jobs if the P.N.E. is forced to vacate a year early, affecting long-term family businesses, unionized workers, and many young people whose summer jobs at the fair may earn college tuition or other things they need;
·the City will save money on maintenance fees, and could save more if it did not proceed with park restoration work which will have to be redone;
·there is no operating plan for the City or Park Board to commence running the site at the beginning of 1999.
The following speakers requested that Council terminate the P.N.E. lease on December 31, 1998:
Earl Peach, Hastings Park Working Committee
Alan Scales, Hastings Park Working Committee.
Following are some of the reasons put forward to terminate the lease:
·the P.N.E. and the Province agreed to a set of conditions to extend the lease until December 31, 1999, and those conditions have not been met; therefore, the lease should not be extended;
·given the history of this issue, it is difficult to believe that the P.N.E. will not keep coming back to ask for more and more extensions if they receive this one; especially since the P.N.E. cannot possibly be ready to open on a new site as soon as the year 2000;
·the community is losing faith in the park planning process; for the process to succeed, the community needs to take ownership of the park;
·it is very frustrating for the community to see the park restoration delayed again and again;
·although the Park Board may have to assume some costs if the lease is terminated in 1998, it should also receive revenues from the site buildings.
The Committee pointed out that the lease extension under discussion is not a new discussion, but one which was already approved subject to conditions. Noting the assurances from the previous and current Ministers of Municipal Affairs, the Committee was prepared to consider that those conditions had been satisfactorily addressed. However, the Committee assured the Working Committee representatives that Council has no intention of renewing the P.N.E. lease after 1999, as reflected in recommendation A2.
Cont’d
Clause No. 1 cont’d
The following motion by Deputy Mayor Chiavario was put and lost:
THAT A3 (following) be amended by adding the words "subject to the P.N.E., City and Park Board achieving a more comfortable agreement by June 1998 on the timing of Hastings Park implementation" after the words Hastings Park Reserve.
- LOST
(Councillors Clarke, Herbert, Kennedy,
Daniel Lee, Don Lee, Price and Puil opposed)
The following motion by Councillor Puil was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,
RECOMMENDED
A1)THAT Council accept the letter dated February 12, 1998, from Jan Pullinger, Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, (attached as Appendix A of the Policy Report dated March 26, 1998) as an alternative to the conditions described in resolutions D and G passed by Council when considering a P.N.E. lease extension on April 22, 1997, thereby leading to a termination date of December 31, 1999 for the P.N.E. lease.
A2)THAT no extensions including no month-to-month extensions of the P.N.E. lease will be granted beyond December 31, 1999.
A3)THAT Council authorize the expenditure of up to $4.2 million on Phase 2 of the Hastings Park Restoration as shown in Appendix C (of the Policy Report dated March 26, 1998), with specific contracts for landscape design, engineering, removal of asphalt, landscape construction and planting to be let by the Vancouver Park Board. Source of funds to be the Hastings Park Capital Account and Hastings Park Reserve.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
Cont’d
Clause No. 1 cont’d
No legal right shall be deemed to flow from approval of these recommendations until an agreement to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Community Services, the General Manager of Parks and Recreation and the Director of Legal Services has been completed and approved by Park Board and Council.
The following motion by Deputy Mayor Chiavario was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,
RECOMMENDED
A4)THAT Council receive a report back on the possibility that prior to January 1, 2000, Council and Park Board determine the operational plan and budget and revenue sharing relative to the park site, and, once resolved, designate Hastings Park formally at the Millennium.
- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY The meeting adjourned at 3:25 p.m.
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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver