CITY OF VANCOUVER

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

FEBRUARY 23, 1999

A Special Meeting of the Council of the City of Vancouver was held on Tuesday, February 23, 1999, at 7:30 p.m., in the Council Chamber, third Floor, City Hall, for the purpose of holding a Public Hearing to consider proposed amendments to the Zoning and Development By-law.

PRESENT:	Mayor Philip Owen Councillor Don Bellamy Councillor Nancy A. Chiavario Councillor Alan Herbert Councillor Lynne Kennedy Councillor Daniel Lee Councillor Don Lee Councillor Gordon Price Councillor George Puil
ABSENT:	Councillor Jennifer Clarke (Leave of Absence) Councillor Sam Sullivan (Sick Leave)
CLERK TO THE COUNCIL:	Nancy Largent

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,
SECONDED by Cllr. Don Lee,

THAT this Council resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mayor Owen in the Chair, to consider proposed amendments to the Zoning and Development By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

1. Heritage Designation: 837 West 19th Avenue

This item was withdrawn from the agenda.

2. Text Amendment: False Creek North Official Development Plan

An application by the Director of Central Area Planning, on behalf of Land Use and Development, was considered as follows:

Summary: The proposed housekeeping amendment would reflect non-market housing numbers previously approved by City Council.

The Director of Central Area Planning, on behalf of Land Use and Development, recommended approval.

Staff Opening Comments

Jonathan Barrett, Planner, introduced the application.

Summary of Correspondence

Council received no correspondence on this application.

Speakers

Isabel Minty, Vancouver resident, opposed the application, noting that Council had made a commitment to 20% for required non-market residential and should not reduce that percentage to 16.6%

The Mayor called for any other speakers on this application, but none came forward.

Staff Closing Comments

Mr. Barrett advised that Council had previously made the decision to reduce the percentage, following a Public Hearing. However, the requisite text amendment had not been made at that time.

Council Decision

MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,
THAT the application be approved.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

3. Text Amendments: Various CD-1s (Megaprojects)

An application by the Director of Central Area Planning, on behalf of Land Use and Development, was considered as follows:

Summary: The proposed text amendments to various CD-1s would provide parking and loading relaxation provision clauses.

The Director of Central Area Planning, on behalf of Land Use and Development, recommended approval.

Also before Council was a memorandum dated February 23, 1999, from Dave Thomsett, Senior Planner, Land Use and Development, forwarding the correct draft by-law to replace an earlier version distributed in error with the agenda. It was noted that the correct version had been posted in the Planning and City Clerk's Departments.

Staff Comments

Jonathan Barrett, Planner, introduced the application and noted the intent of the proposed text amendment.

Summary of Correspondence

Council received no correspondence on this application.

Speakers

The Mayor called for any speakers for or against this application, but none came forward.

Council Decision

MOVED by Cllr. Don Lee,
THAT the application be approved.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

4. Text Amendment: Balcony Enclosures

An application by the Director of Central Area Planning was considered as follows:

Summary: The proposed text amendments to District Schedules, Official Development Plans and CD-1s would regulate balcony exclusions.

Also to be considered are amendments to the Balcony Enclosure Guidelines to address issues of openable windows, floor drainage, no heating and a maximum recess within the residential unit for balconies.

The Director of Central Area Planning, on behalf of Land Use and Development,

recommended approval.

Also before Council was a memorandum from Dave Thomsett, Senior Planner, Land Use and Development, advising that in the draft by-law for Various Cd-1s - Enclosed Balconies, section 5 should be deleted and the remaining sections 6-13 renumbered as 5-12 respectively.

Also before Council was a memorandum from Ralph Segal, Senior Development Planner, suggesting an implementation timing procedure, and recommending a further amendment to the guidelines, as follows:

In Section 5.4.2 Balcony Enclosure Materials and Functions, subsection (4) on page 5, at the end of the note add the following sentence:

"All floor, wall and ceiling surfaces in the enclosed balcony should be of exterior finish quality to withstand condensation and other varying climate conditions within this unheated space."

Staff Opening Comments

Ralph Segal, Senior Development Planner, reviewed the history of exclusion of balcony floor space from calculation of Floor Space Ratio (FSR), and gave an overview of the application (Recommendation A of the Policy Report dated August 25, 1998). Removal of balcony interior partitions is causing a difficult enforcement problem for building inspectors. The proposed application and guidelines are intended to prevent incorporation of balcony space into interior living space through provisions such as requiring balconies to project and not permitting the space to be heated. Mr. Segal also reviewed a second option (Consideration item B of the Policy Report dated August 25, 1998), which would allow the exclusion of permitted floor space from FSR for enclosed balconies only for buildings existing prior to April 25, 1985.

Jacquie Forbes-Roberts, Director of Community Planning, and Mr. Segal responded to questions regarding the potential impact of Recommendation A and Consideration item B on development. It was noted that the timing implementation procedure recommended by staff should allow those developments currently in process to be concluded before the proposed changes take effect.

Summary of Correspondence

Council received the following correspondence on this item:

· one letter supporting no change to the existing regulations at this time;
· one letter supporting Consideration item B.

Speakers

Council heard from the following speakers, generally supporting no change to the existing regulations at this time:

Stuart Howard, Vancouver Planning Coalition
Peter Busby, Busby and Associates
Michael Audain, Polygon Homes
Bob Switzer, Canadian and Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Associations
Paul Merrick, Paul Merrick Architects
Eric Martin, Urban Development Institute
David Negrin, Concord Pacific
Michael Geller, The Geller Group

Following are some of the points made by the foregoing:

· the existing regulations were implemented only three years before at the conclusion of an extensive public consultation process, and there has been little consultation before arriving at these more restrictive proposals;
· enforcement issues should not be dealt with through more restrictive regulation, but should be addressed directly;
· there will always be problems arising from circumvention of regulations, no matter how strict; these proposals focus on the bad examples of a few buildings and ignore the many positive designs;
· the proposed guidelines will not achieve the desired objective since they will not prevent the conversion of balcony space to interior living space by residents;
· the application, if approved, will create more problems and misunderstandings, lengthen the development application process and render it more difficult, and require more time to administer;
· the relaxations permitted for balconies in the past few years have allowed the space to be relatively usable;
· allow the purchasers of suites to decide how they want to use their space;
· given the high cost of housing in Vancouver, it is understandable that purchasers will wish to use their balconies as small solariums or breakfast nooks;
· the industry is currently trying to simplify building exteriors to deal with the problemof "leaky condos"; the requirement for projecting balconies will complicate building facades and add to the building envelope problem;
· the proposals will lead to balcony spaces which are not energy efficient, promote condensation problems, and cause fire hazards; unheated areas are more vulnerable to rot, and floor drains frequently cause problems of leakage into suites below;
· building requirements should be kept out of zoning by-laws and dealt with through building codes;
· there is a concern that outdoor living space be usable and meaningful; people want to use their balcony space year-round, rather than just a few months of the year;
· there are already opportunities to judge the design and quality of a proposal without requiring yet more rules; weed out improper design by other measures;
· the industry as a whole should not be penalized by problems caused by a few;
· Council was invited to view examples of good balcony design in addition to the bad examples illustrated by civic staff;
· the guidelines need to be thoughtfully reviewed, in consultation with the industry, to ensure the desired objectives are met;
· while favouring the status quo, several speakers indicated that should Council consider it necessary to choose either Recommendation A or Consideration item B this evening, they would prefer B; the representative of UDI indicated a preference for A if Council felt it must choose one or the other.

Chuck Brook, Brook Development Planning, felt that the July 1, 1999 date proposed by staff for implementation of the new regulations was too soon for completion of a development at 959 Richards Street, and requested the implementation date be changed to September 1, 1999.

The Mayor called for any further speakers on this application, but none came forward.

Staff Closing Comments

Ted Droettboom, General Manager of Community Services, responded to questions regarding his rationale for recommending A (approval of the application). The intent of the regulations approved in 1995 was to allow space which functions as a balcony, admitting light and air, yet acknowledging Vancouver's weather conditions. However, in practice, the term "balcony" has become almost meaningless and has lead to serious and time-consuming enforcement problems. The rationale for Consideration item B was also explained.

Ms. Forbes-Roberts clarified that Consideration option B had not been referred to Public Hearing, and therefore, could not be approved by Council this evening. Should Council wish to consider B, it would have to be referred. Should Council wish to approve A, it could do so this evening. It may be possible to deal with the problem through revisions of the guidelines only, without amending the zoning by-laws, but staff would need to consultwith the industry and report back.

Council Decision

MOVED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT this Public Hearing on Balcony Enclosures be concluded, and that staff be instructed to meet with the Urban Development Institute and the architectural community and report back with Guidelines which would deal with the problem.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

5. Text Amendments: Bingo Halls

An application by the Director of Community Planning was considered as follows:

Summary: The proposed text amendments would define bingo hall and determine in which zoning districts and under which conditions such a use would be permitted.

Also to be considered are proposed Bingo Hall Guidelines as directed by City Council on January 12, 1999.

The Director of Community Planning recommended approval.

Staff Comments

Jacquie Forbes-Roberts, Director of Community Planning, reviewed the history of the application, and provided an overview of the provisions and rationale for recommending approval. A new definition for bingo hall is proposed that distinguishes this use from general hall use, and defines appropriate bingo gaming. In addition, guidelines and pre-site clearance procedures have been drafted. The guidelines include a spacing restriction between bingo halls and casinos. Ms. Forbes-Roberts also responded to questions raised by Council at the time these amendments were referred to Public Hearing. It was noted these amendments deal only with the three halls in Vancouver whose principal use is bingo.

Ms. Forbes-Roberts also advised that, should Council approve the application and wish to proceed with enactment this evening, the relevant by-laws were available. It was noted that a housekeeping amendment had been made to the enactment by-law defining "Bingo Hall", in order to place it in correct alphabetical order in the use listing in I-2. There was no change of content. Staff also recommended that the Bingo Hall Guidelines be presented for adoption by resolution of Council following enactment of the amending by-laws.

Heike Roth and Pat Johnston, Planners, and Mario Lee, Social Planning Analyst, responded to questions about potential relocation of bingo halls, spacing, numbers of seats, and liquor licensing.

Summary of Correspondence

Council received no correspondence on this item.

Speakers

Wendy Thompson, Mount Pleasant Starship Community Charitable Association, generally supported the application. Ms. Thompson also raised questions concerning grandfathering and the possibility that casinos may include "personal" play electronic bingo.

Staff Closing Comments

Ms. Forbes-Roberts and Mr. Lee responded to the questions raised by Ms. Thompson and provided information about the upcoming public information meetings on gaming.

Council Decision

MOVED by Cllr. Kennedy,

THAT the application be approved, and that the Bingo Hall Guidelines, as set out in the agenda of the Public Hearing, be brought forward for adoption by resolution of Council following enactment of the amending by-laws.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

RISE FROM COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,

THAT the Committee of the Whole rise and report.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

ADOPT REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,
SECONDED by Cllr. Kennedy,

THAT the report of the Committee of the Whole be adopted, and the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare and bring forward the necessary by-law amendments.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

BY-LAWS

1. A By-law to amend By-law No. 3575,

being the Zoning and Development By-law

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Don Lee,

THAT the By-law be introduced and read a first time.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The By-law was read a first time and the Presiding Officer declared the By-law open for discussion and amendment.

There being no amendments, it was

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Don Lee,

THAT the By-law be given second and third readings and the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign and seal the By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

2. A By-law to amend Schedule A to By-law No. 4912,

being the Downtown Official Development Plan

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the By-law be introduced and read a first time.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The By-law was read a first time and the Presiding Officer declared the By-law open for discussion and amendment.

There being no amendments, it was

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Puil,

THAT the By-law be given second and third readings and the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign and seal the By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

3. A By-law to amend By-law No. 7592, being a by-law which amended

the Zoning and Development By-law by rezoning an area to CD-1

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,

THAT the By-law be introduced and read a first time.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The By-law was read a first time and the Presiding Officer declared the By-law open for discussion and amendment.

There being no amendments, it was

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Bellamy,

THAT the By-law be given second and third readings and the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign and seal the By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

4. A By-law to amend By-law No. 7648, being a by-law which amended

the Zoning and Development By-law by rezoning an area to CD-1

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Daniel Lee,

THAT the By-law be introduced and read a first time.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The By-law was read a first time and the Presiding Officer declared the By-law open for discussion and amendment.

There being no amendments, it was

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Daniel Lee,

THAT the By-law be given second and third readings and the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign and seal the By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

5. A By-law to amend By-law No. 6059,

being the Parking By-law

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Don Lee,

THAT the By-law be introduced and read a first time.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The By-law was read a first time and the Presiding Officer declared the By-law open for discussion and amendment.

There being no amendments, it was

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Don Lee,

THAT the By-law be given second and third readings and the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign and seal the By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

6. A By-law to amend By-law No. 4450,

being the License By-law

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Kennedy,

THAT the By-law be introduced and read a first time.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The By-law was read a first time and the Presiding Officer declared the By-law open for discussion and amendment.

There being no amendments, it was

MOVED by Cllr. Chiavario,
SECONDED by Cllr. Kennedy,

THAT the By-law be given second and third readings and the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to sign and seal the By-law.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

MOTIONS

A. Bingo Hall Guidelines

MOVED by Cllr. Bellamy,
SECONDED by Cllr. Daniel Lee,

THAT the document entitled "Bingo Hall Guidelines" be adopted by Council for use by applicants and staff for development applications involving bingo halls.

- CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Special Council adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

* * * * *

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver