The City of North Vancouver council will be considering a policy report outlining a formalized density bonus and community benefits policy that was expected after the adoption of the new Official Community Plan back in April.

If endorsed by Council, the new policy will apply to all rezoning applications that seek an increase in bonusable density within the OCP guidelines. The bonus system breaks down into two categories:

1. Category ‘A’ Bonus. An increase in density up to the OCP Schedule ‘A’ density, or effectively the baseline density for rezoning or sites that are already pre-zoned. The amenity contribution is $20.00 per SF of increased gross floor area above existing zoning.
2. Category ‘B’ Bonus. An increase in density that exceeds the OCP Schedule ‘A’ density, up to a maximum bonus amount set out in the OCP. This type of bonus would only be for rezoning of higher density. Within the Category ‘B’, there are four paths to providing the requisite benefits, as follows:
   1. Amenity Contributions (CACs) – $140 per SF of increased density in the Lonsdale area; $110 per SF outside this area. City reserves right to negotiate a different rate in unique circumstances.
   2. Secured Rental Housing – Bonuses will be permitted for properties where the new project is secured as 100% market rental; however, mixed rental and condo development will now not be permitted on existing rental apartment sites.
   3. Employment Generating Use – Bonuses for commercial uses above 1.0 FSR will not be charged a contribution.
   4. Heritage Conservation – Bonuses may be offered outside of this policy in unique circumstances.

For those not familiar, here is a depiction of the above Bonus categories:

As City of North Vancouver council painstakingly scrutinized the document that will dictate the next 30 years of planning and development for the municipality, one thing was certain: there was hardly a consensus on what should be done.

Council plodded through each neighbourhood in the draft official community plan, during the 90-minute debate Monday night, targeting mainly density.

Perhaps the most contentious piece of the planning puzzle is the East Third Street area. A group of Moodyville residents joined neighbour Trevor Gorety, who lives on the north side of the 700-block of East Third Street, to support six-storey midrises with commercial storefronts at ground level.

But Coun. Guy Heywood moved a wholesale change for East Third – suggesting density only take the form of townhouses.

“It’s unfortunate, but most of our OCP process seems to be taken up with the periphery of our concern, which is really the kind of style of housing in the Third Street area – as opposed to the core, where we are accomplishing the city’s main goals for affordability, density, potential amenity,” said Heywood.

He further explained, it would not be prudent for the city to allow a 350 per cent increase in density along that stretch of East Third Street, without first seeing how the area takes shape after the Low Level Road construction is completed and traffic patterns are normalized.

Read more: http://www.nsnews.com/news/city-of-north-vancouver-council-divided-over-ocp-1.1202176