ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: July 10, 1998
Author/Local: N.E. Peters
CC File No. 5807

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT:	Proposed Encroachments from the William Farrell Building at 768 Seymour Street onto portions of Seymour Street and Robson Street

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council authorize the encroachment of the new wall cladding from the William Farrell Building at 768 Seymour Street, approximately three feet onto Seymour and Robson Streets, subject to the following conditions:

1. The encroachment to be permitted to remain for the life of the building, subject to a six month notice to remove, should the area of the encroachment be required for municipal purposes;

2. The rental to be as set out in the Encroachment By-law;

3. The property owners, B.C. Telephone Company, to obtain all the necessary permits and approvals prior to construction;

4. The agreements are to be to the satisfaction of the Director of Legal Services;

5. No legal right or obligation shall be created hereby and none shall arise hereafter, until the documents are executed.

COUNCIL POLICY

There is no Council policy directly related to this matter, however, as a matter of practice, Council has allowed minor building encroachments in historical areas or on heritage structures.
PURPOSE

This report is to seek Council’s authority to enter into an agreement which permits an encroachment into the street, for the life of the building. To allow future Councils some flexibility in meeting the needs of the City, far into the future, it is proposed to provide an ability to have the encroachment removed upon six months notice, if required for municipal purposes.

DISCUSSION

The William Farrell Building has existed at the northeast corner of Seymour and Robson Streets since the mid 1940's. At the present time, the building houses much of the switching equipment for the downtown telephone system. B.C. Telephone wishes to renovate and upgrade their facilities and has proposed, over time, to move the switching equipment out of the William Farrell Building and into another building on this block. They will then provide needed office facilities and ground floor retail in the William Farrell Building.

It is necessary to provide continued telephone service during the transition and therefore, only one or two circuits per night may be moved. This restriction creates some unique challenges to B.C. Telephone and their team of designers. Added to this, is the requirement to maintain the integrity of the outer skin of the building during the construction, to provide environmental protection for the remaining switching equipment.

B.C. Telephone looked at a number of alternatives to the one now being proposed. However, none of the alternatives accommodated the demanding environmental conditions needed for the delicate telephone switching equipment.

The concept chosen involves stripping the outer brick covering of the existing building and replacing it with a new double-glazed skin, structurally and seismically supported off the building face. This provides a void space between walls for insulation purposes and also allows for natural ventilation.

The Engineering Department is concerned whenever buildings encroach onto streets or lanes. These encroachments tend to restrict or reduce our ability to meet the many needs of the City and the public, on the streets and lanes. Trolley poles and wires, street signs, trees and a host of other facilities, must be crowded onto the streets. Therefore, we are not normally ready to support applications by abutting owners to extend their buildings out into the street. However, after reviewing the situation with representatives from B.C. Telephone, we feel this case is unique and worthy of support.

The telephone company is a provider of utility service to the public. The streets and lanes do normally accommodate telephone infrastructure and it is the requirement to protect the delicate telephone equipment that makes it necessary that the building project beyond the property lines. The natural ventilation concept planned for the building and necessitating the encroachment, is expected to produce significant energy savings.

CONCLUSION

The desire to save an old building and to provide energy efficient, seismically upgraded office facilities for B.C. Telephone’s downtown offices, while accommodating the relocation of delicate telephone switching equipment, make this request to allow a new cladding skin for the building, to encroach approximately three feet onto the abutting streets, supportable. We therefore recommend Council agree to this request.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver