Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO: Standing Committee on Planning and Environment

FROM: Director of Community Planning,

SUBJECT: 3585 West 40th Avenue - Development Application No. DE403103

CONSIDERATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

At its meeting on June 2, 1998, Council instructed the Director of Planning to:

a) refer all proposed height relaxations under Sections 4.3 (a) and (b) of the C-2 Residential Guidelines to Council for advice;

b) amend the C-2 Residential Guidelines to add a general clause indicating that projects should have a very good architectural design and should use quality exterior materials and that projects should be referred to Urban Design Panel for advice; and

c) instruct staff that the Guidelines take precedence where there is a conflict between the District Schedule and the Guidelines.

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

This report requests Council's advice on a rear yard relaxation for a portion of the parking garage above grade, a guideline rear yard setback requirement for the third floor, a relaxation to allow residential ground floor uses to occur within 35' of the fronting wall and the proposed vehicular crossing location for a C-2 application at 3585 West 40th Avenue. A relaxation is also required to allow residential ground floor uses to occur within 35' of the fronting wall. A height relaxation above 40' is not required for this 3 storey proposal which ranges from 32.8' to 36' at the worst case. Engineering supports the provision of an internalized courier loading bay in lieu of a full external commercial loading bay, given the reduced requirements for office use. The proposal provides the required parking.

Council has previously reviewed a development proposal for an all residential senior's project on this site where it instructed the applicant to provide parking access from Dunbar.

The site, located on the northeast corner of Dunbar Street and West 40th Avenue (as shown on the attached Appendix A), is bordered by C-2 zoning to the north and west, RS-5 zoning to the east and south and has a slope of approximately 5'. There is no lane separating the RS-5 sites immediately to the east. An Engineering requirement for a 7.0 ft. road widening dedication along the Dunbar Street frontage results in a net developable site depth (before setbacks) of 59'.

The proposal contains seven ground floor office suites and seven two-and-one-half storey ground-oriented/family-sized townhouse units with all entrances accessed from Dunbar Street (simplified plans, including a site plan and elevations of the proposal have been included in Appendix B). The proposed floor space ratio (FSR) is 1.51 overall with 1.26 dedicated to residential use. The proposed FSR is well below that typically seen in C-2 Zoning. The building, proposed to be constructed out of concrete, has the unanimous support of the Urban Design Panel (refer to minutes in Appendix C).

A rear yard relaxation from 10.0 ft. to 5.0 ft. is required to allow a small portion of the parking garage to protrude above-grade. Staff are supportive of this relaxation. However, it is outside the jurisdiction of the Director of Planning and will require support at the Board of Variance.

Although the notification process indicated strong support for the height reduction from 4 storeys to 3, concerns were expressed on the proposed crossing location off 40th Avenue. However, Planning and Engineering staff are supportive of the proposed crossing location from 40th Avenue given concerns about the impacts of the potential number of curb cuts and cumulative crossing width when this block fully develops. Staff have considered the reduced density of the project, the deletion of commercial units in favour of office suites and the revised design of the driveway entrance to direct traffic away from the neighbourhood in supporting the proposed location. However, before making a decision, this application is being referred to Council for advice.

DISCUSSION

The proposed development has been assessed against the C-2 District Schedule and C-2 Residential Guidelines and generally meets the intent, with the exception of relaxations discussed below which are supported by staff. The crossing location remains a concern of the residents.

Relaxations - Rear Yard at Grade
A typical C-2 site is usually backed by a 20.0 ft. lane that distances any proposed development from lower density residential zoning (RS/RT/RM). The lane width provides the necessary buffer from adjacent lower density residential zoning for C-2 impacts which include parking/loading access and refuse/recycling services. The lane width also mitigates against privacy and shadowing impacts from C-2 developments.

The District Schedule requires a rear yard with a minimum depth of 10 ft. for any portion of the building when there is no lane. The Director of Planning cannot relax this required 10.0 ft. rear yard setback for the portion of the parking garage that protrudes above existing grade, and projects 5 ft. into this required yard. As previously mentioned, Board of Variance support is required. Given this site's particular dimensional constraints and challenges and the applicant's efforts to minimize the impact of this rear yard protrusion through terraced patios, stepped planters and high quality landscaping, staff are supportive of this relaxation. The required District Schedule rear yard setback of 25.0 ft. for the upper two floors has been provided.

Relaxations - Additional Third Storey Guideline Setback of 5'
The guidelines require additional stepping back further to the District Schedule. Additional setbacks of 5' for the upper floors of any four storey development is usually provided. Staff are not pursuing this guideline requirement for this application given the sites' dimensional constraints, a reduction in height from four storeys to three and an innovative "rowhouse" form of development. Privacy impacts have been minimized by reducing the number of units from 12 to 7 and the elimination of exterior circulation systems. Shadowing impacts have been minimized by a reduction in height and a flat roof form. The proposal does not propose balconies at the third floor.

Relaxations - Residential Use at Grade within 35' of the Fronting Facade
The District Schedule, to ensure that retail uses and pedestrian activity remain intact along fronting arterials, requires that any portion of the building containing residential uses on the ground floor be located 35' from the fronting facade. This site is considered transitional by staff, as evidenced by the previous all residential senior's approval, to the lower density RS-5 zoning to the east. Staff support the project's innovative approach towards achieving a transition to lower scale development, while offering pedestrian interest via seven street facing offices. The site's dimensional challenges and the lack of a lane were additional considerations in this relaxation. Staff support this relaxation which allows residential uses to occur at grade.

Crossing Location for Vehicular Access
Council may recall a previous discussion on the appropriate location for parking access for an all residential seniors' project proposed for this site and submitted in November 1993. Council advised staff to pursue a Dunbar Street crossing location for parking access for that application at that time. The proposal was approved with a Dunbar crossing. Loading was not a requirement of that proposal and therefore was not discussed.

This mixed-use proposal combines parking and loading access into a singular crossing from West 40th Avenue. Engineering is supportive of relaxing the loading requirement from one standard exterior loading bay to one courier space that is provided within the garage. Residents, through the notification process, expressed concerns about the impacts of the crossing location. The applicant has redesigned the project from the initial application to minimize the traffic and loading impact on the adjacent RS-5 neighbourhood by significantly

reducing the density (initially proposed at 2.58 FSR now reduced to 1.51 FSR), by reducing the number of units from 12 to 7, the deletion of all Commercial Retail Units and by providing a special curb design that directs traffic toward Dunbar Street when exiting the site. The proposed offices will have lower traffic/loading volumes and frequency than that for commercial uses. Planning and Engineering staff strongly support access from West 40th Avenue given the applicant's effort to minimize traffic and loading impacts on the adjacent neighbourhood. Staff anticipate that the adjacent site to the north will develop in a similar manner, as this proposal, and therefore have concerns about the disruption that two potential Dunbar crossings would have on pedestrian safety and retail continuity. Further, staff have concerns about the project's economic viability due to a loss of unit(s) should a crossing on Dunbar Street be imposed.

Urban Design Panel
At its meeting on July 29, 1998, the Urban Design Panel unanimously supported the proposal including support for the West 40th access to and from the site.

Notification
As part of the review of this development application, 61 neighbouring property owners were notified of the proposal. In addition, a site sign was placed on the site. In response, Planning staff received four (4) individual letters of objection including one (1) petition representing 112 households who also objected. As well, two (2) letters in favour of the proposal were received.

While the majority of respondents supported the reduced height, proposed density and housing form, they did express other concerns. These concerns focused on:

… the parking and loading impacts;

… the building setback from the east property line (rear yard) and from the south sideyard (40th Avenue); and

… no terracing of the third storey to respect the 25 foot rear yard setback required by the guidelines.

Design Response to Notification Concerns
As previously discussed, staff believe that the applicant has adequately addressed the concerns noted in re-designing the project from a 4 storey, 12 unit apartment form with commercial uses to a 3 storey, 7 unit rowhouse form with office uses. Traffic and loading impacts have been minimized. The site's dimensional constraints warrant careful consideration when imposing guideline rear yard setback requirements.

CONCLUSION

The proposed development has been assessed against the C-2 District Schedule and C-2 Residential Guidelines, and responds to the stated objectives. Planning staff therefore, support approval of this development application, subject to various conditions to be met prior to the issuance of the development permit, and subject also to favourable consideration by the Board of Variance of the rear yard relaxation. However, before making a decision on this application, the Director of Planning is seeking any advice which Council may wish to provide.

ATTACHMENTS TO THIS DOCUMENT THAT DO NOT HAVE ELECTRONIC COPY ARE AVAILABLE ON FILE IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE

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