CITY OF VANCOUVER

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON
PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

SEPTEMBER 10, 1998

A Regular Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Thursday, September 10, 1998, at 5:07 p.m., in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall, following the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment meeting, to consider the recommendations of the Committee.

PRESENT:	Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario Councillor Jennifer Clarke Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Sam Sullivan
ABSENT:	Councillor Don Bellamy (Civic Business) Councillor Gordon Price (Civic Business) Councillor George Puil (Civic Business)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Ken Dobell, City Manager
CLERK TO THE COUNCIL:	Nancy Largent

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Clarke,
SECONDED by Cllr. Sullivan ,

THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mayor Owen in the chair.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Report of Standing Committee of Council
on Planning and Environment
September 10, 1998

Council considered the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in the following clauses of the attached report:

Cl.1: CD-1 Rezoning: 2705-35 West 10th Avenue (at Stephens Street)
Cl.2: CityPlan Community Visions Program: Dunbar Community Vision
Cl.3: Interim Zoning Program - Final Report

Clause 1

MOVED by Cllr. Sullivan,

THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clause 1 of this report, be approved.

- CARRIED

(Councillors Chiavario, Clarke and Daniel Lee opposed)

Clauses 2 and 3

MOVED by Cllr. Sullivan,

THAT the recommendations of the Committee, as contained in Clauses 2 and 3 of this report, be approved.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Clarke,

THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Sullivan,
SECONDED by Cllr. Clarke,

THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

ENQUIRIES AND OTHER MATTERS

1. Terms of Reference - Domestic Animals Committee File: 3148

Councillor Chiavario distributed copies of the proposed Terms of Reference of the Domestic Animals Committee for Council's information.

2. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage Budget File: 3206

Councillor Chiavario requested that staff provide her, as soon as possible, with information on any concerns which they may have regarding the draft Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District Budget.

The Council adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

* * * * *

REPORT TO COUNCIL

STANDING COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
ON PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

SEPTEMBER 10, 1998

A Regular Meeting of the Standing Committee of Council on Planning and Environment was held on Thursday, September 10, 1998, at 2:00 p.m. in Committee Room No. 1, Third Floor, City Hall.

PRESENT:	Councillor Jennifer Clarke, Chair Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Sam Sullivan
ABSENT:	Councillor Don Bellamy (Civic Business) Councillor Gordon Price (Civic Business) Councillor George Puil (Civic Business)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE:	Ken Dobell, City Manager
CLERK TO THE COMMITTEE:	Nancy Largent

ADOPTION OF MINUTES

The Minutes of the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment of July 23 and July 30, 1998, were adopted.

RECOMMENDATION

1. CD-1 Rezoning: 2705-35 West 10th Avenue File: 5308

(at Stephens Street).

The Committee had before it a Policy Report dated July 23, 1998 (on file), in which the Director of Central Area Planning recommended that Council refuse to refer to Public Hearing an application to rezone four parcels on the northwest corner of West 10th Avenue and Stephens Street from RS-1A to CD-1 to permit development of 35 dwelling units, of which 18 would be guaranteed market rental for the life of the building. The General Manager of Community Services also recommended refusal, but submitted for Council's consideration the option of referring the application to Public Hearing, under conditions set out in Appendix B of the Policy Report, and with a recommendation to reduce the floor space ratio (FSR) to 1.25 and the maximum height to 10.7 m (35 ft.).

Rob Whitlock, Planner, reviewed the application and staff's rationale for recommending refusal, with reference to CityPlan and social housing policies. The application does not meet the criteria for a neighbourhood housing demonstration project, and approval at the proposed FSR could represent a serious precedent for many properties on the north side of West 10th Avenue.

The Chair cautioned the following speakers not to discuss the details of the application, but to address the issue of why they believe their application should be referred to Public Hearing despite the staff evaluation.

Chuck Brook, Brook Development, and Adrian Gomez, representing the property owner, explained three the lots have been in the owner's family for over 30 years. The intention was to obtain a fourth lot; however, the option was not exercised because of the recommendation to refuse, reducing the total number of units from 35 to 27, and the rental units to approximately 13. Land costs are low enough to permit a substantial proportion of the development to be rental housing, assured through legal agreement. Such an assemblage at today's land prices would not permit such a high proportion of rental, and therefore, a precedent need not be set. There is neighbourhood demand for ground-oriented rental townhouses in Kitsilano (there are currently 12, to which this proposal would add 13), and the city needs more rental housing generally. However, if the height and FSR were reduced as recommended by the Planning Department, the number of rental units would have to be substantially reduced.

cont'd

Clause No. 1 Continued

Some members expressed concern about setting an undesirable precedent. However, the majority of the Committee felt there would not be a precedent set due to the unlikelihood of many developers being able to provide a similar percentage of rental at an affordable price. Rental housing is needed, and the City's commitments under the Livable Region plan to provide higher density housing were also noted. Therefore, it was agreed to refer the application to Public Hearing. The staff recommendation to reduce the FSR and height was not included in the Committee recommendation because of the potential impact on the number of rental units, noting that Council would still have the option to reduce the FSR and height at the Public Hearing.

The following motion by Councillor Kennedy was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

THAT the application by Brook Development Planning Inc., to rezone 2705-35 West 10th Avenue (Lots 8, 9, 10 and 11, Block 21, D.L. 192, Plan 1003) from RS-1A One-family Dwelling District to CD-1 Comprehensive Development District, to permit 35 dwelling units, of which 18 would be guaranteed for rental, be referred to a Public Hearing, together with:

(i) plans received November 19, 1997;
(ii) draft CD-1 By-law provisions, generally as contained in Appendix A of the Policy Report dated July 13, 1998; and
(iii) conditions of approval contained in Appendix B of the Policy Report;

AND THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare the necessary CD-1 By-law for consideration at Public Hearing.

- CARRIED

(Councillors Chiavario, Clarke and Daniel Lee opposed)

A member of Council requested that staff provide an ecological footprint analysis of the site for Council's information at the Public Hearing.

2. CityPlan Community Visions Program: File 5340

Dunbar Community Visions

The Committee had before it a Policy Report dated July 9, 1998 (on file), in which the Director of City Plans, in consultation with the CityPlan Department Heads Steering Committee, recommended adoption of Dunbar and Kensington-Cedar Cottage Community Vision Directions and related work programs. On July 21, 1998, City Council approved the recommendations pertaining to Kensington-Cedar Cottage, but referred consideration of the recommendations pertaining to Dunbar to this Committee, in order to hear delegations. The General Manager of Community Services recommended approval, as reflected in the recommendations of this report.

Ronda Howard, Senior Planner reviewed the Dunbar visioning process, survey results, and rationale for staff's recommendations. The Dunbar vision is an expression of what many area residents want to guide change in their community.

Trish French, Senior Community Planner, responded to queries concerning lanes and Local Improvements.

The following speakers requested that Council not adopt the Dunbar Community Vision Directions at this time:

*Peggy Schofield, Dunbar Residents' Association
*Don Marquardt, South Dunbar Planning Council
*David Armstrong, member, Dunbar Liaison Group
*John Geddes
Jon Ellis
Valerie Jones

* denotes brief filed

Following are some of the comments made by the foregoing speakers:

· the process was civic staff-driven rather than community-driven, and contains staff's interpretations of what Dunbar residents want;
· more community consultation is needed;

cont'd

Clause No. 2 Continued

· there should be workshops to explore the limitations of certain measures and creative solutions toward readying for increased density;
· the Dunbar Liaison Group was not a representative cross-section of the area, and members made insufficient effort to communicate with residents;
· Liaison Group members had little say about the agenda and had no vote on the conclusions;
· there was insufficient time to discuss questions of such significance;
· survey techniques were questioned; for example, survey questions had too many variables, questions clearly convey a strong bias in favour of higher density, etc.;
· some questions received more responses in agreement than in disagreement, but did not reach the threshold of response set by City staff to denote "agreement", and are therefore listed as "uncertain", which may be misleading;
· the complete text of survey responses should remain part of the official record;
· more effort was required to reach ESL households;
· it is not necessary to formally adopt the vision directions in order to use the survey information to provide guidance;
· Dunbar has no answers to the question of what will happen if the directions are adopted, yet they will clearly have considerable impact on planning for the area;
· there should have been more follow-up of people who came to one or two sessions, then stopped participating;
· learning workshops should be separated from decision-making forums to encourage more participation; and
· disappointment was expressed over delay of the C-2 work program..

The following speakers supported adoption of the Dunbar Community Vision Directions:

Steven Rybak, member, Dunbar Liaison Group
Peter Sven, member, Dunbar Liaison Group

Following are some of the comments made by the foregoing speakers:

· public consultation was professionally carried out;
· for a pilot project, this process met its terms of reference, as did the community liaison group, and a high level of consensus was reached;

cont'd

Clause No. 2 Continued

· some participants may have had different expectations, but dealing with specific neighbourhood concerns or specific development applications was not the mandate of the visioning process;
· it would be worthwhile to do a rigorous, arms-length of the process by experienced public consultation professionals to ensure added value in the future;
· a report such as this always requires compromise and give and take, and
· on the whole, the visioning process was a good one, which reflects the views of Dunbar residents and gives clear direction to proceed with planning.

Ann McAfee, Director of City Plans, and Ms. Howard responded to questions concerning the public process and survey techniques and responses.. There is no intent to expunge any information obtained through the surveys; the complete text of responses will be retained.

The Committee noted that, rather than being City-driven, this process was initiated because of residents' demands that future planning in their areas be carried out in the context of residents' visions. Staff responded to direction and policy set by City Council. The Dunbar survey had a high response rate, and majority opinion supports moving forward. All responses will be retained for information (Recommendation A was re-worded slightly to clarify this intent). It was also noted that the process was not a rezoning, but merely establishes guidelines. Adoption of the vision directions expresses commitment required to provide more resources and get on with implementation.

The following motion by Mayor Owen was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

A. THAT Council adopt the Dunbar Community Vision Directions, attached as Appendix B to the Policy Report dated July 9, 1998, as follows:

- Directions categorized as "Support" to be adopted as written;
- Directions categorized as "Uncertain", for which a Revised Direction has been included, the Revised Direction to be adopted, but that all Directions remain in the text for information, even those which have been revised;

cont'd

Clause No. 2 Continued

- Directions categorized as "Uncertain", with commentary but without a revised Direction, not to be adopted but to remain in the text for information; and
- Directions categorized as "Non-support", not to be adopted but to remain in the text for information.

B. THAT Council and Departments use the Dunbar Vision Directions to help guide policy decisions, corporate work, priorities, budgets and capital plans in these two communities.

C. THAT Council direct the Director of Community Planning to report back in the fall on an overall approach to implementing and monitoring the Dunbar Community Visions.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

3. Interim Zoning Program - Final Report File: 5300

The Committee had before it a Policy Report dated July 14, 1998 (on file), in which the Director of Community Planning provided a final report on the RS-1/RS-1S Interim Zoning Program. The rezonings completed to date were summarized, and the Director:

· did not recommend proceeding to Public Hearing for the Clinton Park and Blenheim Street study areas;
· asked Council to adopt the RS-5/RS-5S Design Guidelines for the RS-3 zone on a permanent basis; and
· advised staff will report back on a RS-5/RS-6 monitoring program, and a proposed review program for the RS-2/RS-1A zones, including a consultant study for Buffalo Hill.

The General Manager of Community Services recommended adoption of the guidelines.

cont'd

Clause No. 3 Continued

Peter Burch, Planner, summarized the results of the Interim Zoning Program, and the rationale for adoption of guidelines, and reviewed the proposed monitoring program. Neither Clinton Park nor Blenheim Street achieved the 60% approval rate used by staff as the criterion whether to recommend referral. However, although Blenheim Street's approval rate was only 30%, Clinton Park's was 57%. In view of this, Council may wish to refer the area.

Luigi Salvino, Clinton Neighbourhood Committee, requested that Council refer Clinton Park to Public Hearing and allow the neighbourhood to proceed to the next stage of the review, in light of the high approval rate achieved. Dr. Salvino also expressed concern with respect to some of the survey techniques, and filed ten letters of support for a change in zoning.

Ann McAfee, Director of City Plans, Mr. Burch, and Barbara Pringle, Planner, responded to questions about the public process and survey results, and advised staff would support going to Public Hearing on Clinton Park subject to Council's direction.

The following motion by Councillor Sullivan was put and carried. The Committee, therefore,

RECOMMENDED

A. THAT Council adopt the RS-5/RS-5S Design Guidelines for the RS-3 zone on a permanent basis.

B. THAT the Director of Land Use and Development be instructed to make application to rezone the Clinton Park West RS-1S area shown in Figure 2 of the Policy Report dated July 14, 1998 from RS-1S to RS-5S; and

FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare the necessary by-laws for consideration at the Public Hearing.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
* * * * *

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver