ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: December 9, 1998
Author/Local: RGM/7347
RTS No. 00416

CC File No. 5655

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	General Manager of Engineering Services in consultation with the Director of Finance
SUBJECT:	Parking Payment in Lieu - Fee Review and Assignment of Payments

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT the payment-in-lieu charge per parking space be increased from $13,300 to $13,500.

B. THAT the payments identified in Appendix 2 totalling $382,400 be transferred from the payment-in-lieu fund to the parking site reserve.

POLICY

The payment-in-lieu parking fee is to be set at the net cost to provide parking after considering potential revenues.

Payment-in-lieu funds received are held in a reserve account until parking spaces are identified and assigned by Council. Before this is done an applicant can request a refund of the moneys paid with interest if the parking requirement is otherwise met or the development does not proceed.

BACKGROUND

Under the Parking By-Law, developers are required to provide a specific amount of on-site parking. Typically, most applicants within the payment-in-lieu area provide the full amount of required parking.

Payment in lieu was introduced in 1987 to give developers an option of last resort if they could not provide the parking required for their development. The payment-in-lieu areas include the historic districts and much of the Downtown. These areas were established because the City either has provided or could reasonably provide parking in off-street parking facilities. This provision is allowed for the the City’s Charter which in part states;

“(S.1) waiving the requirement for some or all of the off-street parking spaces to be provided under ----- a by-law --- and instead requiring the payment to the city of an amount of money as specified in the by-law, which money must be paid into a reserve fund for the provision of new and existing off-street parking spaces and used only for the purpose;”

PAYMENT-IN-LIEU PARKING PROJECTS

The City has recently been involved in a number of parking projects in the payment-in-lieu areas that can be used to give a realistic estimate of the costs involved in providing parking. These projects have been used in the analysis to provide an estimate of both the capital costs, and the offsetting operating income generated by the parking project.

In Yaletown, the City in a joint venture with Concord Pacific developed a parking facility containing 193 underground spaces. This project, which is located at 1180 Mainland, has a civic square (Bill Curtis plaza) on top of the underground parking.

In Gastown, the City purchased and is renovating the Woodwards parkade. The City also owns land in the area, which could be used to provide approximately 350 parking spaces. This property located at 65 W Cordova has been used to estimate payment-in-lieu costs for the Gastown area.

In the downtown, the City has a number of parking facilities. These include 1067 Seymour which provides 200 parking spaces for the Downtown South area, and Library Square which provides 712 parking spaces for the central downtown area. 900 West Cordova was previously considered but has been removed as there have be no payment-in-lieu requests in this part of the downtown.

The final payment-in-lieu area is Chinatown. The City helped support the development of the Chinatown parkade, and has contributed payment-in-lieu funds in exchange for committed parking spaces.

PROPOSED PAYMENT-IN-LIEU CHARGE

The payment-in-lieu charge represents the net cost to the City of providing a parking space. Construction and land costs are offset by income from operating the parking facility. Developers who request the payment-in-lieu option still have to pay market rates for any parking the City provides.

Appendix 1 shows the payment-in-lieu of parking fees calculated using the methodology approved by Council in 1987 and a combination of actual and projected parking costs. This analysis shows the capital cost required to construct payment in lieu parking, and the offsetting operating income and residual value of the projects.

An average of the payment-in-lieu amounts calculated for each area is used to generate a composite rate.

This analysis shows that the average per-stall cost has increased slightly and this report recommends that the payment-in-lieu charge be increased from $13,300 to $13,500.

ASSIGNMENT OF PAYMENT-IN-LIEU FUNDS

Since the program was approved by Council, there have been 110 payment-in-lieu parking spaces approved, generating $1,123,000 in revenue. 53 spaces representing $424,000 have been committed by the City to provide payment-in-lieu spaces (Yaletown, Chinatown) and the balance is held in the Payment in Lieu of Parking Reserve.

There are 36 additional spaces that can be assigned at this time as the City has provided parking spaces that can meet the needs of these projects. The total funds that would be transferred to the parking site reserve, which funded the development of these spaces, is $382,400 . A detailed listing of the payment-in-lieu funds recommended for transfer is shown in Appendix 2.

Appendix 2

Recommended
Assignment of Funds Received
Payment in lieu By-Laws

Property description (By-law #)	Extent of waver	Amount to be transferred	Parkade Location
869 and 871 Beatty St.(By-law 6723)	2 spaces	$ 16,000	Library Square
869 Beatty St. (By-law 7644)	2 spaces	$ 26,600	Library Square
501 - 525 Dunsmuir St. (By-law 6259)	8 spaces	$ 64,000	Library Square
911-915 Ganville St (Bylaw 6382)	1 space	$ 8,000	1067 Seymour
390 W. Hastings St. (By-law 7555)	1 space	$ 13,300	Woodwards
799 Homer St. (By-law 7484)	10 spaces	$120,000	Library Square
608 Main St. (By-law 7380)	3 spaces	$ 36,000	Chinatown Parkade
75-77 East Pender St. (By-law 7589)	5 spaces	$ 66,500	Chinatown Parkade
28 Powell St	2 spaces	$ 16,000	107 E. Cordova
199 Water St.	2 spaces	$ 16,000	Woodwards
Total to be transferred to Parking Site Reserve	36 spaces	$382,400

* * * * *

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver