Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services
In Consultation with the Director of Non-Market Operations,
the Director of Legal Services and the Manager of Real Estate Services

SUBJECT:

Mountain View Cemetery - From 38th Avenue to 41st Avenue and Fraser Street to Prince Edward Street, Portions of District Lot 641

Cadastral Boundary Matters

 

RECOMMENDATION

COUNCIL POLICY

The authority for closing and disposing of street and lanes is set out in the Vancouver Charter.

The Vancouver Charter allows Council to dispose of property deemed to be surplus to the City's needs.

On June 18, 1998 , the Standing Committee of City Services and Budgets approved the report of the Director, Non-Market Operations (formerly the Manager of Non-Market Housing) including expenditures totalling $405,000.00 to develop a Master Plan for the Mountain View Cemetery.
On January 26, 1999 Council approved the recommendations contained in the report of the General Manager of Engineering Services, including:

SUMMARY

This report represents step "two" in the "clean-up" of the 93 different titled parcels of land and legal roads that make up the Mountain View Cemetery.

On January 26, 1999 Council granted the authorities required to resolve issues south of 41st Avenue. A plan to consolidate the six (6) properties was registered as Plan LMP 41103 on February 19, 1999.

This report deals strictly with those lands created as Blocks 1 to 38, District Lot 641 by the deposit of Plan 733A on July 9, 1895. We seek authority to close and stop-up the 33 foot wide portion of 39th Avenue that runs between Fraser Street and Prince Edward Street and

to consolidate it with the abutting lots. Further, we seek the authority to establish as road portions of the subject lands that now physically form portions of Fraser Street, 41st Avenue and Prince Edward Street. We do not seek to establish all lands covered by a "building line" but only those portions now physically road.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to seek Council authority to:
1. Close and stop-up portions of 39th Avenue ;
2. Consolidate portions of Blocks 1 to 8, 10 to 38, and Block B, Plan 12211 into two parcels; and
3. Establish as road portions of City-owned lands (Mountain View Cemetery) for widening of Fraser Street, 41st Avenue and Prince Edward Street.

BACKGROUND

On January 26, 1999 Council approved a report which laid the foundation for the work required to clean-up a number of title anomalies within Mountain View Cemetery.

The first step dealt with those portions of the Cemetery south of 41st Avenue.

This report deals with all those portions of District Lot 641 occupied by the Cemetery, and lies north of 41st Avenue, between Prince Edward Street and Fraser Street.

This portion of the Cemetery is presently made up of 38 legal lots and a portion of 39th Avenue. There are waterlines that traverse the various lots crossing internal lot lines.

The area was originally Blocks 1 to 38, District Lot 641, as created by the deposit of Plan 733A on July 9, 1895. This subdivision plan created a 33 foot wide road, being 39th Avenue between Fraser Street and Prince Edward Street and shown hatched on the plan attached hereto as Appendix A.

To this day, it remains a dedicated road although it is unopened to the public. Engineering Services has undertaken a review and determined that it is no longer required for road purposes.

Blocks 1 to 8 and 11 to 38 were acquired by the City on August 1, 1901. The East 7 feet of Blocks 1 to 8 are subject to a 7 foot wide Building Line for widening of Fraser Street. Fraser Street is presently constructed at a width greater than the standard and original 66 feet. As

the 7 foot Building Line has never been "excepted" from the title to Blocks 1 to 8, a survey has been completed to determine which portions of the 7 feet are physically constructed as road and which portions form part of the Cemetery.

Block 9 was subdivided by the deposit of Reference Plan 372 on the 20th of January 1912. Reference Plan 372 created Parcel "A", which was transferred to the Vancouver Cremation Society Limited on September 14, 1915.

The balance of Block 9 and Block 10 were acquired by the City on May 5th, 1916.

The South 17 feet of Blocks 8 and 10 to 18 are subject to a 17 foot Building Line along 41st Avenue. At the intersection of Fraser Street and 41st Avenue, the majority of the 17 feet is constructed as road. This width tapers to approximately 8 feet at Prince Edward Street.

In 1959, the 17 feet as covered by the Building Line was acquired and established as road from the above-mentioned Parcel "A" as then owned by the Vancouver Crematorium Limited. In 1965-66, there was a minor exchange of lands between the Vancouver Crematorium Limited and the City which resulted in the creation of Block C , District Lot 641, Plan 12211 owned by the Vancouver Crematorium Limited and Block B, District Lot 641 Plan 12211 owned by the City.

A survey has been completed to determine which portions of Blocks 8, 10 - 18, Plan 733A, and Block B, Plan 12211 as covered by the 41st Avenue Building Line are physically encumbered by roadworks and, as such, should be established as road.

Finally, the West 33 feet of Blocks 18, 19 and 38 are physically a portion of Prince Edward Street. Key maps back to at least 1912 imply that this area is road, but it has never been "excepted" from title.

DISCUSSION

We seek the formal authorities to close and stop-up all that portion of 39th Avenue as shown hatched on Appendix A and to consolidate it with the abutting Cemetery lands. We propose to create two parcels out of the subject area.

The reason for two parcels is to keep the parcel sizes under 20 acres. If future development plans require a subdivision of the parcels, the Subdivision By-Law may require dedications for park purposes if the lots were greater than 20 acres.

Once the lands are consolidated into the two parcels, we propose to establish as road those parts now physically occupied with road and road related features.

With respect to Fraser Street, this means that at 41st Avenue we propose to establish 7 feet as occupied by the road and matching the Building Line. At approximately 39th Avenue, the width of acquisition tapers to be only 5 feet in width at the northerly limit of the consolidated parcels.

With respect to 41st Avenue, we propose to establish at the corner of Fraser Street a strip 17 feet wide. This matches the building line and is coincident with the existing hedge and fence along the as constructed edge of 41st Avenue. At a point on 41st Avenue that matches the westerly edge of the Crematorium lands, the proposed limit of the area to be established begins to taper until it reaches a width of 8 feet wide at a point approximately 260 metres east of Prince Edward Street, then runs in a parallel line to Prince Edward Street. At all times, the proposed area of road establishment matches the existing fence and hedge.

Along Prince Edward Street, it is noted that legally the road has only been 33 feet wide. The road is physically constructed as a standard 66 foot wide road and has been for many years. Various records indicate the as constructed width including sidewalk and utilities has been at 66 feet since as early as 1912.

At this time, the issue of utilities that cross internal lot lines is not being addressed. In moving from 38 titles to 2, there is a significant improvement in regard to this concern. While the issue remains, the time it will take to identify the occurrences of utilities crossing lot lines and achieving regularization of the same by rights-of-way does not justify delaying this process.

CONCLUSION

Approval of the recommendations contained herein continues the process of cleaning up a number of boundary anomalies at the Mountain View Cemetery, as originally described to Council in January, 1999. This is step two of a six or seven step process.

The result will be those areas that are legally road but physically form a part of the Cemetery will be formally turned over to the Cemetery operation and those portions of titled land that form a portion of Fraser Street, 41st Avenue and Prince Edward Street will be formally established as road.

The resultant reduction from 38 titles to two will make administration of the lands easier and will reduce problems that would occur when Development Permits are sought for construction over multiple parcels.

The General Manager of Engineering Services, in consultation with the Director of Non-Market Operations, the Director of Legal Services and the Manager of Real Estate Services recommends approval of Recommendations A to D.

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