POLICY REPORT
URBAN STRUCTURE
Date: May 23, 1995
Dept. File No. TS
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Associate Director of Planning - City Plans
SUBJECT: City Response to Richmond's City Centre Area Plan
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT Council express support for the Richmond City
Centre Area Plan's general direction of creating a
clear focal point for future population and employment
growth in Richmond.
B. THAT Council express concern about directions to
improve "land links" between Richmond City Centre and
the airport unless these links are dedicated
exclusively to transit and/or goods movement because of
Vancouver's concern that general road improvements to
the airport will continue to increase commuter traffic
from Richmond, across Sea Island, into Vancouver.
C. THAT this report be transmitted to the City of Richmond
for consideration at the upcoming public hearing on
their City Centre Area Plan.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS
approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
On March 26, 1992, Council reiterated its concern about
initiatives in Richmond which would increase commuter traffic
from Richmond, across Sea Island, into Vancouver.
PURPOSE
The Municipal Act requires that the City of Richmond send copies
of changes to its Official Community Plan to adjacent
municipalities for their comments following first reading and
prior to public hearing. Richmond Council gave first reading to
the City Centre Area Plan on May 8, 1995, and has scheduled a
public hearing on June 19, 1995.This report outlines the draft
City Centre Area Plan and identifies the City of Vancouver's
interests. A copy of the Plan is on file with the City Clerk.
BACKGROUND
Description of Area
The City Centre Area Plan is a large, irregularly shaped area
roughly bounded by Sea Island Way on the north, Number Four road
to the east, Blundell Road to the south, and Gilbert Road and the
middle arm of the Fraser to the west (see maps in Appendix A).
The area's existing land uses include:
- 27,000 people
- 33,000 jobs (32% of Richmond's total) including industrial
jobs
- about 170 acres of parks and trails
- Brighouse and Lansdowne shopping centres plus the Asian
Speciality District
- City Hall, a civic theatre, college, library, courthouse,
hospital, and leisure centre.
Planning Vision for the Area
The draft plan includes an overall goal:
"...to achieve a City Centre for Richmond capable of
accommodating a major portion of the city's population and
employment increase over the next two decades, and offering a
sustainable combination of social well-being, a strong economy,
and a livable environment."
Selective highlights of the plan's directions include:
- enhancing the role of the centre as the "heart" of Richmond
including its role as the key commercial and service centre
for Richmond (adding about 16,000 jobs by 2011);
- an emphasis on housing (accommodating 40,000 new residents
or about two thirds of the anticipated population growth in
Richmond to 2011);
- a pedestrian and transit-oriented design approach (street
oriented retail, sidewalks, on-street parking on non-
arterial streets, creating smaller blocks, and provision for
on-street LRT);
- encouraging sustainable land use and less car-dependent
lifestyles (placing new jobs and residences close together,
creating the centre as the transit focus of Richmond,
supporting local transit services within the centre,
creating neighbourhoods with a community focus and
commercial services within a ten minute walk of homes, and
requiring bicycle parking, facilities, and routes as part of
new development);
- meeting resident needs with an emphasis on ground-oriented
housing (.75-1.6 FSR) except in the core which has a mid-
rise to hi-rise emphasis (2.0 - 3.0 FSR); and
- providing required parks and community facilities.
The Plan makes no specific request of the City of Vancouver.
Transportation Issues
The plan includes two provisions which will have some impact on
future transportation choices in the City of Vancouver.
First, the plan supports at-grade LRT as the preferred technology
to link Richmond City Centre with downtown Vancouver. The plan
shows a conceptual alignment down Number Three Road and indicates
a more detailed study is needed to establish the exact route.
Selection of a route and subsequent planning which supports at-
grade LRT is consistent with past Council policy which opposes
the construction of elevated rapid transit in the Vancouver-
Richmond corridor.
Second, there are several references in the plan to
"strengthening convenient land links to the airport" from the
City Centre. The plan does not explicitly include expanded
capacity across the Middle Arm of the Fraser as a planned
transportation improvement but past Richmond support for twinning
of the Dinsmore Bridge, construction of the Number Two Road
Bridge, and the provision for improved access to the Number Two
Road Bridge suggest this provision of the plan should be
specifically noted. Past City of Vancouver Councils have opposed
increased road capacity between Richmond and Sea Island because
of concern that such increases would lead to more commuter
traffic from Richmond, across Sea Island, and into Vancouver.
This concern is reiterated.
CONCLUSION
Richmond's City Centre Area Plan seeks to create an overall
concept plan for the development of the "heart" of Richmond. The
plan focuses a significant share of Richmond's future population
and employment growth into a centre in manner which will create a
more urban feel. This should benefit the region by helping to
preserve farmland and reducing the need for new residents to make
long trips to meet daily needs. However, the provision of the
plan to "strengthen convenient land links to the airport" raises
concern about additional commuting use of the Arthur Laing Bridge
into Vancouver.
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