POLICY REPORT

URBAN STRUCTURE

Date: February 10, 1998

Author/Local: AMcA/7451

CC File No. 5320

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of City Plans
SUBJECT:	City of Burnaby Draft Official Community Plan

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RECOMMENDATION

THAT the Mayor, on behalf of Council, thank the City of Burnaby for forwarding their draft Official Community Plan for review and invite the City of Burnaby to continue to work together with the City of Vancouver to plan for new transit services and land uses along the Lougheed-Broadway rapid transit corridor.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council policies which were used to review the Draft City of Burnaby Official Community Plan include:

CITYPLAN: Adopted by Council on June 6, 1995, provides policy directions with respect to neighbourhoods, community services, transportation, economy, and the environment.

INDUSTRIAL LANDS STRATEGY: Adopted on March 14, 1995, provides for the retention of most of the City’s existing industrial lands for city-serving, city-oriented, and port/river related industry. This includes the Burrard Port Lands, Fraser River, and Grandview -Boundary industrial areas adjacent to Burnaby.

VANCOUVER TRANSPORTATION PLAN: Adopted by Council on May 27, 1997, includes mode split targets which emphasize the need for increased provision of and use of transit, limiting overall road capacity to the present level, and maintaining an efficient goods movement network.

PURPOSE

This report describes the City of Vancouver’s interests in the proposed City of Burnaby Draft Official Community Plan.

BACKGROUND

On January 27, 1998, Burnaby City Council gave first reading to the Draft Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw 10709. Section 882 of the Municipal Act requires that Official Community Plans are circulated to adjacent municipalities for comment prior to second reading. Burnaby has requested comments by February 18, 1998.

BURNABY DRAFT OCP

The Draft OCP is a city-wide document providing broad policy direction for the next 10 to 15 years. Burnaby has well established land use policies which provide for a network of town centres, urban villages, and open space. As such, the basic thrusts of the revised OCP reflect a continuation of established policies.

As required by the Municipal Act, the OCP includes a Regional Context Statement which shows how the OCP moves Burnaby in the directions of the Livable Region Strategy.

The OCP indicates that Burnaby is experiencing many of the same issues Vancouver faces in responding to the Livable Region Strategy:

·difficulty providing more ground-oriented housing and maintaining housing affordability;

·choices between converting industrial land for housing or big box retail and maintaining an adequate supply of service-industrial sites;

·pressures on communities posed by through traffic and goods movement; and

·questions about funding arrangements for physical, cultural, recreational, and social services to meet the needs of a growing population.

The OCP includes several new directions which are of interest to Vancouver:

·New Transit Oriented Development: The OCP proposes significant new development along the Lougheed Corridor to support the proposed Broadway-Lougheed LRT line. Three new Urban Villages are planned. By 2021 the OCP anticipates about 43,900, mostly new, units within the Lougheed Corridor service area. The new units will be a mixture of higher density ground-oriented housing and apartments. The new housing will replace industrial uses.

· New Development in Support of the Livable Region Strategy: Burnaby currently has a population of 179,200 people (compared to 514,000 people in Vancouver). By 2021, Burnaby expects a capacity of about 260,000 - 280,000 people (compared with Vancouver’s existing capacity of 634,000 people). By 2021 Burnaby’s average population density will be about 12 people per acre (compared to Vancouver’s expected average density of 23 people per acre).

·New forms of Commercial-Industrial Uses: To encourage high technology operations, the OCP makes provision for business centres that incorporate a mix of research, light manufacturing, and business office uses. Two of the Business Centres are adjacent to Vancouver -- one at Boundary and Lougheed and the other at Boundary and Marine Drive. Industrial areas are planned to remain adjacent to Vancouver’s Grandview Highway and First Avenue Industrial areas.

·Actions to Encourage Transit and HOV Use: Burnaby proposes to work with other agencies to reserve rights-of-way for rapid transit, high occupancy vehicle lanes, and other transportation facilities. Burnaby is planning for up to ten stations along Lougheed Highway from Boundary to North Road.

CONCLUSION

Since much of Burnaby’s updated OCP continues previous planning policies, there are no unexpected new impacts on the City of Vancouver. The main area of shared interest is in planning for new transit services and land uses along the Lougheed-Broadway LRT corridor. In Burnaby’s case, their intent is to locate much of the new housing to respond to the GVRD Livable Region Strategy along this corridor. New jobs will be located in existing industrial areas and in new urban villages and business centres. Vancouver and Burnaby will face similar issues in planning for transit, goods movement, new housing, business, and industrial uses adjacent to Boundary road. This is an area which can benefit from joint planning initiatives.

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(c) 1997 City of Vancouver