Next week, City of Vancouver Council will consider a report from the Engineering and Planning Departments seeking to approve a new City-wide utilities development cost levy (DCL) and a long term capital projects program for upgrades. The report also confirms the Utilities Servicing Plan for the Cambie Corridor Phase 3 area and the CAC target rates for the Cambie Corridor and Marpole areas.

Here is a summary of these new recommendations.

New Utilities DCL

The need for infrastructure upgrades was highlighted during the latter stages of the Cambie Phase 3 planning in which significant new density was introduced in the Oakridge Transit Centre area in plans laid out in 2017. A reassessment of the future demand on sewer, drainage and water service capacity has led to this city-wide strategy. The City is now looking at increasing DCL rates to help finance the servicing requirements across multiple developments rather than piggybacking off of the initial developments in certain areas.

The recommended new DCL framework for financing water, sewer and drainage utilities
upgrades includes a long-term capital program of approximately $1 Billion and the introduction of a dedicated City-wide Utilities DCL to cover approximately $547 Million of that cost (benefit to new development) through DCL’s by 2026.

Currently, utilities are embedded in the overall City-wide DCL rates, but the utilities component will now be separated in order to “improve transparency and certainty for developers.” 

The report highlights the utilities portion of current DCL and the proposed Utilities DCL to demonstrate the increased rates:

Interestingly, a background study by Coriolis Consulting noted the following (from report):

• New residential development downtown and on the west side of the city could
  accommodate the proposed rate increases.
• New residential development on the east side of the city has less ability to absorb
  the new DCL costs without impacting economic feasibility.
• For new non-residential development, Coriolis found in last year’s DCL report to the City that an increased DCL rate would have a negative impact on sites that are currently viable for redevelopment. For new industrial development, it would be challenging for most projects to support any increase in DCL rates given the
  inherent challenging economics. Similarly, it would also be challenging for most new office development to support an increased DCL rate.
• In all cases where there is a DCL rate increase, it is preferable to phase-in the rate increase so new development can adjust to the increased costs.

The report also recommends that the Utilities DCL be waived for market rental housing (Most rental rezonings are eligible for DCL waiver) on an interim basis until 2020 with a review by staff coming next year.

The new DCL rates will come into effect on September 30, 2018 (rates are protected for in-stream applications for one year from the effective date).

Utilities Servicing Plan for Cambie Corridor & CAC Rates

The City approved the Cambie Corridor Phase 3 Plan at council in May, though the land use plan has remained subject to a pending Utilities Servicing Plan, which intends to lay out the development sequence of sites based upon utilities upgrades.

Highlights of the plan include:

• City-initiated rezoning (“prezoning”) of townhouse areas in Stage 1 in the
  short-term (anticipated for referral and public hearing in summer/fall of 2018)
• Requirement for basic onsite rainwater and groundwater management

Here is a guideline for development in the Cambie Phase 3 area:

Lastly, here are the proposed new CAC target rates for the Cambie Corridor and Marpole Areas:

Cambie Corridor

Marpole

The full report can be viewed here: https://council.vancouver.ca/20180711/documents/cfsc1.pdf

A development permit application has been filed for the third phase and final tower at Seylynn Village, a 5.7 acre site that will total 790 units and commercial space when completed. The original rezoning for the site in the Lynn Creek area was approved in 2012 and the development has been ongoing since that time with the soon to be completed 28-storey Compass tower, and the already completed Beacon building as well as a 6-storey non-market rental building. The total density for Seylynn Village at rezoning is 3.2 FSR.

Our team acted in the sale of the site in 2011.

The final building, entitled “Apex” will be located at the intersection of Mountain Highway and Fern Street.

Details of the 32-storey tower include:

• 274 condo units;
• 113 one-bedrooms, 122 two-bedrooms, 38 three-bedrooms & 1 four-bedroom;
• 8,782 SF of retail space fronting Mountain Hwy;
• a total building height of 322 feet;
• 373 parking stalls on two underground levels.

Townline has applied to the City of Richmond for permission to rezone a 97,400 SF site on the west side of No 3 Road in Richmond. The assembly of four lots is located at the corner of Lansdowne Road, across from Lansdowne Centre. The lots are improved with older lowrise commercial buildings including the Milan Ilich Arthritis Research Centre. The site sits directly South of another large scale rezoning proposal currently in the latter stages of approval, named ‘Atmosphere‘, and directly across from the Lansdowne Canada Line Station.

The proposal calls to rezone the properties at 5591,5631,5651 and 5671 No.3 Road to “High Density Mixed Use – Lansdowne Village (City Centre)” in order to permit a high-density commercial, office and residential use development.

The proposal is for a new mixed use development comprised of a podium and tower form of development with below and above grade parking, ground level commercial, a signature 12-storey office tower and three 10-storey residential towers.

Details include:

• 365 residential units;
  • 354 condos;
  • 20 affordable housing units (low end market rental);
• 19,279 SF of retail space on the ground level;
• 77,740 SF of office space;
• a total density of 4.0 FAR;
• A 6,000 SF on-site community facility;
• Dedication for new north-south road on West side of site;
• Design, construction and transfer to the City of the area of the site designated for the Lansdowne linear park;
• 548 parking spaces (below and above grade).

The architect for the project is Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership.

Anthem Properties has submitted rezoning applications for two sites in the Metrotown area of Burnaby. If the applications are approved at Council, they will move forward to public hearing next month.

The proposals are:

6444 Willingdon Avenue & 4241 Maywood Street

The plan for this 65,486 SF site located at the comer of Willingdon Avenue and Maywood Street is a new 42-storey highrise, with townhouses fronting Maywood Street and Cassie Avenue, and a 3-storey non-market rental building. The site is in the Maywood neighbourhood and is utilizing the RM5s and RMS Multiple Family Residential Districts and Metrotown Downtown Plan as guidelines.

Details of this proposal include:

• 378 units;
  • 348 condo units;
  • 30 non-market rental units (New Vista Society);
• a total density of 5.32 FAR;
• a total tower height of 430 ft.;
• 470 underground parking spaces.

6075 Wilson Avenue

This site is located at the comer of Wilson Avenue and Central Boulevard and totals 62,641 SF. The Metrotown Downtown Plan identifies this neighbourhood as a high density neighbourhood with a garden-like setting that is defined by its relationships to Central Park, Kingsway, the BC Parkway and Patterson SkyTrain station. The rezoning policy for the site is based upon the RM5s and RM3 designations.

The proposed development plan is for a single 45-storey condo tower oriented towards the comer of Central Boulevard and Wilson Avenue with a 4-storey townhouse podium oriented towards Wilson Avenue and a 4-storey non-market rental housing component oriented towards Central Boulevard.

Details include:

• 379 units;
  • 347 condo units;
  • 32 non-market rental units;
• a total density of 5.37 FAR;
• a total tower height of 425 ft.;
• 419 underground parking spaces.

The architect for both projects is listed as GBL Architects.

A rezoning application has been submitted for a 4-lot land assembly at 1535-1557 Grant Street in the Grandview Woodland area of East Vancouver. The plan calls to rezone the 13,060 SF site from RM-4N to allow a 6-storey residential building over one level of underground praking and includes:

• • 38 secured rental housing units;
  • 22 one-bedrooms, 8 two-bedrooms & 8 three-bedrooms;
  • a total density of 2.25 FSR;
  • a building height of 63.6 ft; and
  • 23 parking spaces (including one care share).

This application is being considered under the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan.

The architect for the project is Stuart Howard Architects.