ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: December 5, 1995
Dept. File No.2053
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: Proposed Amendment to Fee Schedule of the Encroachment By-law
to Reflect Full Cost Recovery for Easements Granted on
Portions of Streets and Lanes
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the fee schedule to the Encroachment By-law be amended to
provide for an administrative fee of $3,000 for easements
granted over portions of streets and lanes, to accommodate
building encroachments.
B. THAT the Director of Legal Services be requested to bring
forward the appropriate By-law amendment.
COUNCIL POLICY
On November 22, 1994 Council requested staff to prepare a new fee
schedule to reflect full cost recovery for agreements prepared pursuant
to the Encroachment By-law
matter. Council policy is generally that fees and charges be set at
cost-recovery levels.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to advise Council of the costs of
processing an application for a registered easement, to accommodate
building encroachments onto streets and lanes.
BACKGROUND
In the past, building encroachments have been validated by an agreement
prepared pursuant to our Encroachment By-Law. The agreement was then
registered as an Easement and Indemnity Agreement against the title to
the parcel, on which the encroaching building was situated. However,
the Registrar of the Land Title Office took the position that if the
owner of the encroaching building wished to strata title that building,
they must secure an easement to contain the encroaching portions of the
building. This easement must be registered against the title of the
land encroached onto (i.e. the road or lane). The Registrar believed
this was required by the Condominium Act.
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Many roads and lanes in the City have no "title", because they were
created by dedication, and it is therefore necessary to raise title to a
portion of road before an easement can be registered. The easement is
prepared to conform, as nearly as practicable, to the shape of the
building encroachment. Furthermore, as the easement has the effect of
denying public access to the portion of road covered by the easement,
technically Council must stop-up and close the road.
On November 8, 1994, when dealing with a report related to one of the
first requests for an easement to accommodate a building encroachment
onto the street, Council requested that staff prepare a new fee schedule
to reflect full cost recovery. Since that time, City staff, Land Title
Office staff and the solicitor for the applicant have been pioneering a
new procedure to accommodate these types of situations. Future
applications should take less time, using the new established
procedures, but having gone through the complete process on a new
application, we now have a better idea of the staff time involved in
processing an application. The $3,000 recommended fee results from
staff time in both our Law Department and Land Survey Branch.
CONCLUSION
Council wishes to see full cost recovery for agreements prepared to
accommodate strata conversion of buildings which encroach onto the
streets and lanes. This report recommends that the administration fee
for the preparation of easement agreements necessary to permit strata
conversion, be set at $3,000 and that the Encroachment By-Law be amended
accordingly.
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