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 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.

A rezoning application has been submitted to the City of Vancouver to rezone the site at 878-898 West Broadway, between Laurel Street and Willow Street, currently improved with an older 117-room 7-storey hotel Park Inn & Suites, which was built in 1965. The owner of the property is Dingye Property Group Ltd.

The proposal consists of the construction of two high-rise hotel buildings (13 and 11 storey, respectively) including a mixed-use podium, to be comprised of:

• • 28,839 SF of retail use at grade;
  • 438 hotel units (258 short-term and 180 long-term stay);
  • a proposed density of 8.38 FSR;
  • a building height of 142 ft; and
  • 485 underground car parking spaces, 35 bicycle spaces, and on-site loading.

The application describes the rationale for the project: “The existing structures on the site represent an underutilization of land for this strategic location. With the expansion of the Vancouver General Hospital and the more recent announcements regarding an expansion of a rapid transit line along the Broadway Corridor, the timing for the rezoning of the site to build on the demand for new retail and hotel uses in the area is now.”

The rezoning is being considered under the Metro Core Job and Economy Land Use Plan.

The architect for the project is Arno Matis Architecture.

The full rezoning application can be viewed here: http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/878wbroadway/index.htm

A formal rezoning application has been submitted to the City of Richmond for permission to develop the project called “Atmosphere” at the corner of No. 3 Road and Alderbridge, across from Lansdowne Shopping Centre. The developer is South Street Development Group.

The 4.9 acre site at 7960 Alderbridge Way and 5333 & 5411 No.3 Road is in the City Centre High Density Mixed Use (Urban Centre T6) designation area of Richmond’s City Centre plan and allows for rezoning for residential and commercial uses.

The project envisions a podium and tower form of development with three levels of below grade parking, ground level commercial, one office tower and six residential towers.

Full details of the rezoning application include:

• a total of 872,585 SF;
• 824 residential units;
  • 674 condos;
  • 112 market rental units;
  • 38 affordable housing units;
• 71,163 SF of retail space;
• 129,172 SF of office space;
• a total density of 3.89 FAR;
• improvements to No. 3 Road & Alderbridge.
• a new North-South Road.
• 1,161 parking spaces.

The site sold in September 2017 for $113,000,000, or $130 per buildable SF based on gbl arthe application.

The architect for the project is GBL Architects, and the marketing company is Magnum Projects.

Darwin Properties, in conjunction with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation have submitted a rezoning application to the District of North Vancouver for the “North Shore Innovation District”, a 45-acre site located on Dollarton Highway.

Details can be viewed on the project’s website: https://www.darwinconstruction.ca/nsidlands

The site is currently vacant and treed, save for the Canadian International College property (also part of the proposal) which has been leased by Capilano University for student housing.

Darwin’s ambitious vision for the property is a mixed-used “innovation district” which includes a mix of light industrial commercial, institutional, recreational and residential uses concentrated within a compact employment hub to co-locate people and jobs. The proposal is in keeping with the Official Community Plan and the Maplewood Village Centre and Innovation District Implementation Plan and Design and Guidelines which was passed by council earlier this year.

Details of the proposed rezoning include:

• 18 buildings ranging in height from 2 to 8-storeys;
• 1,424,905 SF of employment floor space;
• 713,544 SF of residential floor space;
• 680 rental units (450 affordable & 230 market);
• 220 condo units with discount to site employees;
• 200,000 SF of student/faculty housing;
• 56,295 SF of hotel space;
• 73,459 SF of live-work space;
• child care space;
• a 52,000 SF central plaza;
• a new Berkley Road connector linking Dollarton and Mount Seymour Parkway;
• a maximum density of 1.1 FAR;
• a new 1.17 acre “Hillside Park”;
• 6.5 kms of multi-use trails;
• a $7.5 Million CAC in addition to offsite improvements and DCC’s.

The application describes the site layout: “The project includes two specific character areas with different uses which generally align with the OCP designations: the “Upper Bench” and the “District Heart” as shown on the map below. The District Heart and the Upper Bench are divided by the Berkley Road and Internal Road A alignments. The central part of the site is anchored by a public plaza, surrounded by industrial, office and retail uses. A new creek channel for the existing seasonal watercourses runs north/south through the site and divides the site into east and west portions.”

Upper Bench
The “Upper Bench” or northern portion of the site is proposed to include mixed-use residential with commercial/ industrial buildings and live-work units at grade.

District Heart
The “District Heart” is the primary site for employment uses within the Maplewood Innovation District. It is located on the south portion ofthe site immediately north of Dollarton Highway across form the Maplewood Conservation Area and east of Berkley Road.

Central Plaza
The central plaza is the focus of the public realm and is designed to be programmed for a variety of events, activities, and seasonal uses such as a water play park in summer, outdoor skating in the winter, and opportunities for concerts, markets, and festivals. Industrial uses and retail use at-grade provide vibrancy to the public space and help attract a wide range of people.

The project will be built in a number of phases with a minimum of 50% of the employment space being in the first phase.