PRESENT: Councillor S.A. Schechter. Bylaws. Nos. 7806, 7807 & West 23 rd Street File: W 116

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1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PUBLIC HEARING HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, CITY HALL, 141 WEST 14 th STREET, NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C., ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2006 AT 7:30 P.M. PRESENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS Mayor D.R. Mussatto Councillor P.J. Bookham Councillor R.J. Fearnley Councillor R.N. Heywood Councillor C.R. Keating Councillor B.W. Perrault Councillor S.A. Schechter STAFF MEMBERS A.K. Tollstam, City Manager S.E. Dowey, City Clerk R.G. Anderson, Deputy City Clerk F.A. Smith, Director, Community Development S. Ono, City Engineer I. Gordon, Director, Finance R.H. White, Co-Waterfront Project-Development Manager/Deputy Director, Community Development B. Themens, Deputy Director, Finance G. Penway, City Planner G. Venczel, Development Planner B. Susak, Deputy City Engineer T. Barber, Acting Manager, Engineering Planning & Design, D. Sigston, Manager, Lands Re: Bylaws. Nos. 7806, 7807 & West 23 rd Street File: W 116 The Public Hearing was called to order at 7:44 p.m. Mayor D.R. Mussatto Ms. Dowey! Ms. S.E. Dowey, City Clerk Thank you Your Worship. Bylaw No is to amend Schedule A of the City of North Vancouver Official Community Plan to change the Land Use Designation for 116 West 23 rd Street, legally described as Lots 19 & 20, except the east 10 feet now lane, of Lot B, Block 215, D.L. 545, Plan 1064, from Residential Level Two: Low Density to Residential Level Five: Medium Density

2 Bylaw 7807 is to rezone Lots 19 & 20, except the east 10 feet now lane, of Lot B, Block 215, D.L. 545, Plan 1064, located at 116 West 23 rd Street. The amending bylaw will have the effect of reclassifying the said property from RT-1 (Two-Unit Residential 1) Zone to CD-521 (Comprehensive Development 521) Zone to permit the conservation and relocation of the existing heritage building to the southwest corner of the site and a new building to be constructed along the north side of the subject site. There would be a total of 29 adaptable units, five units in the heritage building and 24 units in the new building. Underground parking will be provided for 34 parking stalls plus four tandem parking stalls. Bylaw 7808 in conjunction with Bylaw Nos and 7807, Lots 19 & 20, except the east 10 feet now lane, of Lot B, Block 215, D.L. 545, Plan 1064, at 116 West 23 rd Street, the lot occupied by the heritage home known as the H.D. Green Armytage Residence would be designated as a Municipal Heritage Site. The applicant is FRANCIS CONNOLLY, NEWPORT CONSULTANTS LTD./INTEGRA ARCHITECTURE INC. and Council will consider this under items 11,12, and 13 this evening, Your Worship. I would also like to mention that I received five letters that were opposed and one that was in favour and these have all been distributed to Council prior to this Public Hearing, Your Worship. Thank you very much Ms. Dowey. We have Ms. Venczel here to present. Correct me if I am wrong; is this your first presentation to Council on rezoning? Welcome and we are going to be easy on you in questioning. We will see how it goes. Please proceed with the presentation. Ms. Gloria Venczel, Development Planner Thank you, Your Worship. This is 116 West 23 rd Street. I am going to actually refer to this context map up here produced by the applicant. In terms of the project itself, I ll just briefly describe the context for 116 West 23 rd Street. The subject site is right here on the corner and its comprised of two lots. Right across the lane from it is the Chevron Gas Station and this is actually Lonsdale Avenue. This particular area right here across the lane from it is at a 1.6 Density and immediately north to it currently it is sitting at a 0.5 RS-1 and right along here is an RT Density and right along here a RS-1, 0.5 Density, and here, I believe, is an RT Zone here and a 1.46 Density through Comprehensive Development Zoning. Basically the property is, again it sits on two double lots and it is currently zoned as RT- 1 with an FSR of 0.5 Level-2 in the Official Community Plan (OCP). There is a heritage home that is listed in the City s Heritage inventory. It is a Tudor revival style circa The exterior of the building is mostly intact with the interiors having been extensively remodeled and not in very good shape at this point. City of North Vancouver Page 2 of 32 Public Hearing

3 This particular property is within the OCP designated Western Avenue Special Study Area. In the OCP it states that this area would be worthwhile to explore whether a higher density would provide a better transition from Lonsdale s Medium Density apartment uses to Western Avenue s low density single family attached. And so the City staff has embarked on that process and we are looking at the southern portion, below the highway, of the Western Avenue Study Area. 116 West 23 rd sits in this area. At our preliminary community meeting for the Western Avenue Study Area it appeared to staff that there was no negative commentary on the 116 West 23 rd Street project and we had recommended to Council to consider independently processing this application, independently of the Western Avenue Study Area, and Council accepted this recommendation. The applicants are seeking a rezoning to accommodate the upper limit of a 1.55 FSR, an OCP amendment to a Level-5 Medium Density at 1.6 and a Heritage Bylaw. There will be 29 housing units including the Heritage building. All of them designed to a Level- 2 of adaptability as per the City s Bylaw and there a four handicapped stalls accordingly and a relaxation of the visitor parking stalls from 6 down to 3 a it is a smaller site with some very significant historic trees trying to be maintained. The higher number of handicapped stalls was also taken into consideration by staff. There are 38 parking stalls, 4 tandem and 4 handicapped. Car access is from the lane and it is four storeys high. In terms of the little bit of planning analysis; it s a rather unique site in that directly east of the project there is a Chevron gas station and 1.6 FSR across the lane facing Lonsdale. There is also 1.46 FSR southwest of this site as well. The current transition is rather abrupt from Lonsdale Avenue at 1.6 FSR to 0.5 FSR. Staff doesn t actually know what the outcome of the Western Avenue Planning Study will be but we felt that the 1.6 FSR OCP amendment would be a reasonable consideration because of location of the site and the fact that it is maintaining a Heritage building through adaptive reuse. Both the Advisory Design Panel and the Advisory Planning Commission had each supported the project on June 21 st and June 14 th respectively. There is also a staff Traffic Study commissioned by the City for the Western Avenue Special Study Area and a representative of the IBI Group is here to answer any questions as it may pertain to this project and he will identify himself when the questions are posed. The applicants are here and thank you, Your Worship. Thank you very much, Ms. Venczel. Does the applicant, I see Mr. Connolly here, or their representative wish to make a presentation tonight? If you wouldn t mind just giving us your name for the record. City of North Vancouver Page 3 of 32 Public Hearing

4 Mr. Dwayne Seigerist, Integra Architecture Thank you. My name is Dwayne Seigerist from Integra Architecture and I have a short PowerPoint presentation for Council and Your Worship. With me tonight is Newport Consultants, Francis Connolly, is my client, Mar & Associates, its Rod.. is the Landscape Architect, Trevor Holgate is with me who will be finishing off this presentation and Mike Mills is the Arborist who is also here this evening. This project is about adding an adaptable residential building and making a North Vancouver landmark prominent. The site plan I have here tonight, just to supplement Gloria s presentation, sort of outlines the extent of the area highlighted in white. When we look at the site at a closer scale we can start to see a little more information of how the site is made up. There happens to be the larger building forms located to the south on, this being 23 rd, this being Western, Lonsdale is here, interestingly a lot of history is associated to this site, not only just being a house, but there happens to be the old stream bed and I ll talk a little bit about that as I get into the presentation. One of the more important features for this site is this very large tree in the corner. Its very dominant. It s a tree we ve been working with the Arborist to find all measures to ensure that we save it. There is also other trees located on the site but I think you get a real sense of this tree on the corner and how it adds to the concept of how this project is being put together. Just a quick introduction to the house, probably you re all familiar with it. It s under need of some tender love and care. Essentially the front façade and the side facades are very attractive to us. The rear sides are a little bit in disrepair. You will see additions on the front here and you ll see sort of added staircases and whatnot on the rear but in general this façade is one that is being maintained. I think all facades are being maintained with some exceptions and I ll highlight with Trevor. This is an old photo from the Archives. You can see how the existing addition was literally placed where my cursor is here, so the porch and all of those elements were removed and the 70 s addition was added. The intent of this application is to remove the addition and to restore the front of the building. Some of the initial concept work is thinking about how the project could relate to an urban framework and understanding that if this was Lonsdale that it would be potentially built out in a commercial form that thinking about how this project could be considered a gateway and how it would sort of respond to any future development. This access on 23 rd is very prominent and we ve looked at different building forms to highlight to maintain sort of a real sense of prominence on this interior corner. If we were to diagram the flow and how pedestrian movement works and how this building could flow into the City and urban framework, this is a drawing suggesting this movement. Some initial sketches talking about how we can relate this and tie it into the urban framework and one important consideration is this large open space. City of North Vancouver Page 4 of 32 Public Hearing

5 This again, the retaining of trees and tying in with what we would have as an existing streambed that we can utilize in storm water management. This section is important to us. It s really about how this large open space is being defined and having an overlook and a private garden space is sort of a feature to this whole front part of the development. When we get to Western we have the opportunity of opening up, creating a dry streambed on the west side, allowing again this sort of character of movement and decoration along Western. The building is to be relocated. It s proposed to be moved from its existing location to here. We are not changing the orientation but the facades do relate best at this position. When we look at the trees, again as I mentioned, the very large tree here in the corner, the one further to the north and then we have a tree here that we are trying to save but we found it would be best perhaps just to replace that tree. The concept is essentially to give prominence to this building and locating it, bringing it out onto the corner so that it is seen, and then the newer building serves as the backdrop so theatrically it is a backdrop or curtain and you have the Heritage building on stage. When we look at the other features to the site we have, I guess, essentially this entry up through this entry invited garden, entry garden here, we have the dry bed I mentioned and these bridges. We have the opportunity of also creating little sitting areas and that is sort of an amenity for the public and then again to move up and down Western. The south side of the building, the south site plan in this area highlighted, is we ve studied that and we were working with some soil treatment to have it be like a soaker medium so any runoff for the... is actually being soaked up into this perimeter so there would be planting and everything on the top side of this wall. Entries from the front, obviously, and then there is a secondary auxiliary entrance/exit to the west on Western; an invited corner access also. One of the important considerations of thinking about how it weaves into the City fabric is just the building form and this diagram is illustrating how we have the larger trees on the north that are on the existing northern property, that are quite dominant, which sort of suits the style that we re looking at and then obviously our corner tree here. Recessed roof forms are being highlighted. The rear again, these are the existing photos to the north and we have this large canopying tree on the adjacent property. The owner is electing to do some cosmetic work along the north as well and that is again to create this green barrier. I won t go too much into the architecture but it is important, that it is highlighting and is allowing the use of stone to be revived and it is putting this building out on stage. The other building is again, a traditional North Vancouver form and again, sort of recessed further into the background. Initial concept sketches are having this entry and its very dynamic and marrying al.. was considered here. City of North Vancouver Page 5 of 32 Public Hearing

6 A couple of the images that you have in your packet I ll leave, but I ll just quickly mention, the owner has gone through several Open Houses and Community Meetings and they are listed here as part of your packet I understand. Sustainability was also considered with some of the items I mentioned. I won t go into detail. At this point I d like to invite Trevor Holgate. He has a two-minute just to give a quick overview of some of the Heritage principles. Trevor! Mr. Trevor Holgate, Heritage Consultant My name is Trevor Holgate. I m acting as Heritage Consultant for this project. I m here just to comment about the condition of the existing property and what is envisioned for the future. The property, as was mentioned, was built in 1909 by Honeywell and Curtis, Architects, in the British Arts and Crafts style. It has a prominent location, residential form; two storey and basement H-shape plan and cross gables, symmetrical projecting front gables. It has granite foundations and a wood frame. The existing property as we ve mentioned is in a fairly bad state. I did a visual survey in August and September and found that the south and east facades were fairly badly decayed, particularly the stucco and the cedar shingles. The roof is currently asphalt shingles and was, of course, cedar shingles and the developer proposes to repair and replace the existing damaged shingles and also to replace and replicate a large number of the existing windows which again were fairly badly treated by previous owners. The project has some real pluses. There is a stain-glassed window in the north façade which the developer wishes to retain and use as a feature within the project. As has been mentioned previously there is also an intention for the property to be covenanted and designated. If you could just wrap up your presentation, Mr. Holgate. Mr. Holgate This would save the building for the future, for all future generations to appreciate. Thank you. I m going to go to the Speakers List that was posted earlier. We did have a number of people sign up. Then I will go to members of the gallery. The first speaker I have is Mario and Nicole Tancredi. Mr. Tancredi you may proceed. City of North Vancouver Page 6 of 32 Public Hearing

7 Mr. Mario Tancredi, 2324 Western Avenue Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I m a home owner immediately to the north of the proposed development and I m here to speak against proceeding with the development at this time, for two reasons. The first reason is that we re in the midst, and I m sure all the Council members know, in the midst of a special study for the area and it seems like proceeding with this development at this time is putting the cart before the horse a little bit and the second is from a purely personally point of view. You can notice from in the rendition on the bottom right hand corner, the bottom elevation of the building, that is what we will see from our property immediately to the north. I don t mean to be mean in this in any way but we will be in centre stage on this particular development. This is a four storey building that is essentially next door to a singlefamily dwelling at this time and we don t think it s within any sort of regular guidelines that the City might use for planning purposes to do a transition from such a density as shown here to the density that we have. What we are worried about is if the special study, when it is completed, results in the status quo with the densities on the street then we re going to have a rather large building right next to door to us in our singlefamily residence. Essentially that would force us to move from the neighbourhood. The other thing I wanted to take exception too is I guess the understanding of the Planning Department, that there wasn t any resistance to this particular development. When it was first brought to the attention of the community that did participate in some of the public meetings it was represented that this building would be included as part of the Special Study and so a lot of people said, okay we ll deal with it when we deal with it. Subsequent public hearings, or public meetings that we had, we had found out after the fact that it had in fact been removed from the Special Study and was proceeding through its application proposes through Council. So, I just want to say, I believe the reason there wasn t a lot of comment on this particular development from the community is because there was the understanding that there would be an opportunity to do so later. So, I respectfully ask Council to delay the processing of this application until such time as the Special Study is completed and I think it would give people more of a due process and people could comment on the applicability of the development in the context of whatever the Special Study results are. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Tancredi. I want to thank you for staying under the 5 minute limit there. I neglected to read that so I was hoping you were going to stay under five and you did well. I just would like to ask people in the gallery here if you wouldn t mind keeping your comments to five minutes. If you feel you have to go over that, that s fine but we ll put you back at the end of the line and if the applicant wishes to speak again we ll put you back at the end of the line. The next speaker I have is Mr. Ian Ferguson. Is Mr. Ferguson here this evening? Welcome. If you wouldn t mind just giving us your name and address for the record. City of North Vancouver Page 7 of 32 Public Hearing

8 Mr. Ian Ferguson, 168 West 23rd Street I m just on West 23 rd Street, just down from the development. I just want to look at basically the potential uses for this property. I guess the. is the status quo which would allow it to sit vacant and continue to deteriorate. I frankly don t see how this is a benefit to anyone in the community. I suppose the next option would be to construct two duplexes as per what the existing density would allow. This would undoubtedly result in demolishing of the Lodge, which again, I don t think is necessarily in the community s best interest. Another option, I guess, is have the Lodge return to sort of a transition or half-way house usage which it has been in the past. I ve actually spoken with the realtor who is representing the seller of the property and he stated that there were interested parties who would like to see it returned to a half-way house including the possibility of a First Nations half-way house. I m not sure that having convicted criminals living in our neighbourhood is a good use of that property and finally, I guess, the last option would be, as I see it, would be the refurbishment and redevelopment of the Lodge and its property. Mr. Connolly has been very diligent over the last 17 months. This proposal has been on the table for that long. He s hosted roundtable meetings and planning meetings and workshops and as the Planning Department observed I also haven t ever seen any negative things said about the project. I would hope Council would do the right thing and approve this project. Thank you very much Mr. Ferguson for that. The next speaker I have is Joan Elliott. Is Joan here? I want to make sure that people realize they can ask questions as well if they have questions or they can make comments, whichever you prefer. Welcome. Ms. Joan Elliott, 2329 Western Avenue My name is Joan Elliott; I live at 2329 Western Avenue. I have a letter that I ll read really fast. Ours is a unique neighbourhood; one of the few remaining single-family neighbourhoods this close to Lonsdale. This is mainly because its core is a one block long road that runs from 23 rd to the Highway, parallel too rather than branching out from Lonsdale. For over seventeen years I ve lived in a secluded neighbourhood, that s safe for kids to play in and I believe that the drastic density increase for the location at 116 West 23 rd will destroy our neighbourhood. The OCP s Schedule A adopted less than four years ago described the Western Avenue Planning Study Area as Level 2 Low Density Attached Form of housing with an FSR not to exceed.5 times the lot area. This category permits, in addition to single-family dwellings, duplexes or low-density or townhouses. The current OCP was supposed to stay in place until It s in place so the City won t be developed in a piece-meal fashion with one-off projects. On page 18 it talks about the Land Use Objectives; one of them is to avoid zoning cliffs at the edge of the high and medium density residential areas by designating lower City of North Vancouver Page 8 of 32 Public Hearing

9 density, multi-residential development, between higher density and single-family. This wouldn t be anything in between. 1.6 is at the high end of medium-density and if it s permitted would result in a massive four-storey structure that would exceed the set back lines, dwarf the nearby residences and would also be the largest building on the block, larger than any of the multi-family dwellings that are already on the block on Lonsdale. It would appear that because of this, I m going to call it the Lodge Project; it would appear that because that staff has solicited input from our neighbourhood residents in the form of a Neighbourhood Study. Initial stance is that no development proposal should be considered until a study is agreed too. Obviously this is just common sense otherwise the new development would end up redefining our neighbourhood. Planning staff have given the impression that the Lodge Project is a done deal and any options they ve offered the residents, other than status quo, have always included the Lodge Project as FSR 1.6 which more than triples the current zoning, violates the OCP Guidelines for gradual zoning transitions and is de facto redefining our neighbourhood without the benefit of the Neighbourhood Study. I m not opposed to development but I m opposed to the density proposed under the Lodge Project which is in contradiction to the OCP recommendations. The area warrants special study considerations to determine whether a slightly higher density would provide a better transition. This may be an appropriate location for additional, ground oriented family housing. I m also opposed to the timing of the whole thing. I don t think I ll be able to finish. But I will say You could do your best and if not we can have you come back. Ms. Elliot Okay. I do want to say to Council that there was not any objection because we weren t given the opportunity to object and also that our objections are duly noted by the number of letters that I have from the community that area against this higher density. And if I have a chance, maybe I can finish later. Sure. You have another minute and a half. We ll let you keep going and see how well you do. Ms. Elliot While I m not saying that there has been any deliberate misleading or misdirection during the three neighbourhood meetings that have been held to discuss the study I have some serious concerns about the inconsistencies that have come up during the study process and they relate to the study and the Lodge Project. City of North Vancouver Page 9 of 32 Public Hearing

10 Some of the inconsistencies I refer to, include the following: at the first meeting which supposedly was to discuss the study, the developer of the project was present, was asked by staff to show renderings of the proposed development and explain them. The presence of him raises serious issues. He is not a resident or owner of property in the Study area and as an aside his very presence at the invitation or consent of staff seems to indicate staff bias with respect to the Lodge Project. A resident asked if we could vote on this and was in effect told, no, this isn t the time or place. At the next meeting another resident asked, are we going to be discussing the Lodge Project, and was told that s not what the meeting is about. Also on the front page of the first meeting handouts it states, Council decided not to allow this, the Lodge Project application, to be processed until the Planning Study was done. The rezoning application wasn t supposed to be reviewed until after the Study was complete. What I will do Ms. Elliot, thank you for that, I m going to give you the opportunity to come back after and finish up, if that s okay with you. Ms. Elliot Thank you. Ms. Dowey I think Ms. Elliot wanted to hand in some letters. I think so, yes. We will have those copied and circulated to all members of Council before the evening is out. Thank you very much Ms. Elliot. The next speaker I have is Ivo van Selst. Welcome. Mr. Ivo van Selst, 2401 Western Avenue My name is Ivo van Selst. I m a resident at 2401 Western Avenue. Not at the top end of the Special Study Area of Western Avenue. For the record I d like to say that I m strongly opposed to the proposed application. As part of the preliminary findings of the Western Avenue Special Study Area conducted this summer by the City Planning Department the majority of respondents have opposed significant density change in the area. I don t know whether Council can get copies of those reports.. the process is still in process. The OCP designated the United Lodge property is supposed to be evaluated for transitional density as per the Development Application. It.. with the OCP. On Lonsdale Avenue where we re talking transitional density, on Lonsdale, right adjacent the property in question, there is a one-storey Chevron and across the street a one-storey Kentucky Fried Chicken, one-storey White Spot. Transitioning up from that to a four-storey building is not transitional in the sense of coming away from Lonsdale. City of North Vancouver Page 10 of 32 Public Hearing

11 While I appreciate the desire to have something a little bit denser there than the Lodge Property, and for sure the City needs to do something with that property, the idea of having 29-units all of a sudden on a street where there has been nothing before, absolutely changes the character of the neighbourhood overnight. The other night we had about a dozen kids up at the end of the street, riding their bikes around at the end of street, on Western Avenue and what these 29 units entail, that is the population density of the whole rest of the street from north of 23 rd. It s just a huge change and it is not consistent with the idea of transitioning down from Lonsdale. Also, as already suggested by the Trancedi s, the propsed development creates an unbuffered zoning cliff of 1.1 FSR drop between the, well it s a four-storey, be a 29-unit development and then immediately joining in the family home. In practical terms what this means is that the Trancedi family who have raised their boys in their home will now be looking into the wall of a four-storey building. I wouldn t want it for me. I wouldn t want it for you. And I don t want it for them. The Tancredi s are good people and they don t deserve to be treated that way. That s about all I have to say. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. There are no more speakers signed up. I m going to ask now if there are members of the gallery that wish to speak. Certainly sir, if you could make your way down and if there is anybody else in the gallery we are certainly going to give you every opportunity this evening to speak, to make your opinions known, or to ask questions. All we ask is that you keep it to five minutes. If you would give us your name and address. Welcome. I m sure that some of you have never been in front of Council before, so welcome. Mr. Paul Culling, 2340 Chesterfield My name is Paul Culling and I live at 2340 Chesterfield. My house backs on to Western. I ve been involved with the Special Study since it started. I know that it has been brought up before, but I wanted to bring it up again, to drive home the point that from the very first meeting the Lodge Project was always portrayed as part of the Special Study Group. So, when the presentation came up and it showed all this community planning it was totally misleading that these were community planning based on the Lodge Projects. Those community meetings were, at least the ones for the Special Study, the ones that the actual community was involved in, had nothing to do with the Lodge Project, according to them. It was supposed to be part of the overall Special Study. To reiterate the point that to go ahead and put in a 1.6 FSR building in an area that is part of a Special Study is removing it from the Special Study area and why they would remove a chunk of it and then decide, okay, well now we re going to decide what the rest is. It doesn t make a whole lot of sense to me. City of North Vancouver Page 11 of 32 Public Hearing

12 I also think that this Special Study was brought up and said; let s push the Special Study forward by some interested parties in the neighbourhood looking to redevelop their property. Some of those people have spoken tonight and I think that I ve lived there with my two boys on Chesterfield, which is a very similar neighbourhood to Western and very unique to that area, and I think that putting something like this in, I m realistic in knowing that density has to go up, I will be very upset. The reason why I m here tonight primarily is because the entire process seems like it has been driven from the beginning, even the Special Study, by special interests. I wrote in the last survey that I had to hand in, I wrote in it specifically, that the process with the City Council in the Planning seems flawed to me when I can t have confidence that it is actually the residents deciding what happens in our neighbourhood. Because it truly feels driven by people behind the scenes. That s all I have to say. Thank you very much for your comments Mr. Culling. Are there any other members of the gallery that wish to ask questions or make any comments? There are no bad questions. There are no bad comments. You re welcome to do so. Welcome sir. If you wouldn t mind just giving us your name and address for the record. Mr. Jonathan Atkins, 2370 Western Avenue My name is Jonathan Atkins and I live at 2370 Western Avenue, just 4 houses up from the proposed development. I m not personally against the development, per se. I agree with comments that were made by other speakers that it seemed rather strange that all of a sudden this was separated from the original Western Avenue Study and I m not really sure that I agree with that. In fact, I will state now that I am against that because it is an integral part of the neighbourhood. However, what I think really needs to be assessed and looked at in more depth is certainly the impact that this will have on traffic. This has been suggested by one of the other speakers and perhaps looked at again to work and come up with some ways that the street can best benefit from such a development. There has been talk in the past of reopening laneways behind the houses on the west side of Western Avenue to give access to those houses. Right now the people on the west side of Western Avenue, not all of those houses have parking available on their property. I live on the east side. I have two parking stalls at the back of my house. Pedestrianization was one idea that came up early on, in one of the early meetings, with the Planning Study. So I think that, I personally would like to see something happen to the Lodge because I think something needs to happen. I think it really needs to be looked at again and it really has to be somehow involved once again in the Western Avenue Special Study Area. That s all. City of North Vancouver Page 12 of 32 Public Hearing

13 Thank you very much Mr. Atkins. Are there any other members of the gallery who wish to make any comments or ask any questions? Okay, I m going to ask Ms. Elliott then. I know she had spoken earlier. You re welcome to come down and speak again. I want to thank you for allowing other people to speak. Ms. Elliott Just to continue from where I said we had over 50 letters today and continuing with the inconsistencies. At the second meeting, two options were presented. One was, status quo that was for the Study, and the other option calls for doubling and tripling the density throughout the neighbourhood, including the Lodge Project to FSR of 1.6. Further, at the second meeting, a resident suggested that there were other options between the two that could be considered and was told, sure there is lots of options but that they, the planning staff, wanted to narrow it down. Although at the next meeting staff brought forth an even higher density or more areas that were 1.6, not in the direction of a transitional compromise. The Traffic Study that was done with regards to the neighbourhood and the Lodge Project is incomplete and that one of its purposes was to identify issues and mitigation measures which it hadn t. Many issues were raised by the residents at the third meeting and some of the responses to those included, that s a very good point, you should write that in your comments. We only have about six road type classifications. Apparently none for a unique avenue like Western and we based our study on information that was given to us by the Planner. Strangely enough the topic of parking wasn t part of that presentation although residents had raised the issue at previous meetings. After the second meeting a survey was sent to residents within and near the study area along with a cover letter that explained the purpose of the survey. On page 2 of that letter it states, There are two properties off of Lonsdale Avenue that are part of the Western Avenue Special Study Area that are identified in the OCP as Level 5 density with a maximum achievable of FSR 1.6. My study of Schedule A of the OCP shows that within the Study Area there are indeed two properties south of the Highway that are at that zoning. One of them is the empty lot owned by the Department of Highways and the other is an existing development on Lonsdale which as we all know is North Vancouver s major north/south arterial road, 1.6 on that side of the lane towards Lonsdale. Neither of these properties can be considered to be comparable in any respect to the Lodge Project, which if the rezoning is approved would provide the wedge for the redevelopment of our neighbourhood. I would petition the City not to grant any rezoning applications in the Western Avenue Special Study Area until the neighbourhood study has been agreed to and request Council to reject the proposed OCP Bylaw 7806 and Zoning Bylaw Respectfully yours. City of North Vancouver Page 13 of 32 Public Hearing

14 Thank you very much Ms. Elliott and we have distributed to all members of Council, hot off the press here, copies of your letters. Thank you. Were there any other members of the gallery wishing to make any comments or ask any questions? Does the applicant want to talk about the traffic issues or do you have your traffic engineer here? It is up to you, whatever you like. Mr. Seigerist Yes, we do have the Traffic Engineer here. Maybe he can respond to the traffic issues. Certainly or maybe just to explain the traffic issues. Maybe just explain the ins and out, how people enter and exit the building. Mr. Seigerist Perhaps, I could just make a point. The Traffic Engineer is working with City staff on the Planning Study but part of his job is to look at the general implications of change in the area. So, I m not sure he is able to talk very well to talk about the specifics of the development but if Council has questions about the overall traffic impact or change I think he s here to speak to that. Am I putting words in your mouth? If you have any comments to make otherwise we can wait for as a Council. Mr. Hamide Bahiti, IBI Traffic Consultant My name is Hamide Bahiti. I m with IBI Group and we are the consultants to the City on the Western Avenue Traffic Study, which includes this area as well. I guess the question I have is there a specific question that you would like me to answer or just comment on what I ve heard. Maybe point out where the access is to the parking and such because there has been some questions with regards to that. Mr. Bahiti In light of what was said the actual development per se is not something that we looked at. The City in preparation for tonight estimated what the traffic volume going in and out of this particular development would be, which are in the range of twelve to ten vehicles during the peak hour and we verified those numbers as being accurate. City of North Vancouver Page 14 of 32 Public Hearing

15 Thank you very much. I thought you were employed by the applicant. That is understood. Thank you. I am now going to go to members of Council who have questions. I see Councillor Schechter has a question. Councillor Schechter Thank you Your Worship I do. If staff could advise Council and members of the audience what the expected time line for the Special Study is. Mr. Van Selst or Mr. White! Mr. Richard White, Deputy Director, Community Development If I may, Gloria and I are working on that project together. When we started this Study the application for this site was already in play. It had been applied for and Council actually had held it up pending the Study. We got busy with the Study at Council s direction. Council actually put in and got us approval to do some transportation work, which wasn t funded initially, as well, and that s why the Traffic Consultant is here because Council made a special allocation on that point. Your Worship, the Study is well under way. We ve come up with a variety of options as you ve heard from speakers already. Nothing has really gelled as a consensus approach but what we are hoping to come back to Council with in the near future, we basically owe another report out in terms of the notification to the community, but the community meeting part of the work is done. And then what we hope to do is come to Council in October with our recommendations from a staff perspective. My guess is, Your Worship, there won t be consensus in the community about that. It ll be Council s business to pick from a number of options. We are, as one of the speakers mentioned, we tried to work it down to a few options rather than a lot of different options, because Council will ultimately have to pick one option, but we haven t found the magic mix that solves everybody s concerns just yet. Councillor Schechter! Councillor S.A. Schechter Your Worship, could I ask Richard a question? You certainly can. Councillor Schechter Your Worship, did staff encourage, at all, the applicant to defer the application until the completion of the Study in October? City of North Vancouver Page 15 of 32 Public Hearing

16 Mr. White Your Worship, the last time we spoke about the process of the application was prior to the report that went to Council and was resolved on May 15, Where, Council said no, we couldn t allow you to allow the project to carry on and the Study to happen independently. Now, that report, Your Worship, gave Council options and the options still remain and one of the options would be to hold off on finalizing this application until the Study is done. That option is always in front of Council. But Your Worship, in May we thought that the application was closer to being supported by the broad neighbourhood, than it appears to be tonight. But, Your Worship, that was in good faith. We really thought that was accurate and we brought that to Council, gave you options about how to proceed, you directed us to allow both things to happen simultaneously but one hasn t stopped for the other. We re much closer to resolving the Study now than we were in May. Councillor Schechter And finally, Your Worship, perhaps staff could lend some clarity to the role of the site in the study. Perhaps if staff could comment on the inclusion of this site proposal in the overall Study. Ms. G. Venczel Your Worship, my understanding is that because Council gave staff direction to process this application independent of the Western Avenue Special Study Area, that while it physically sits in the Study Area itself, it is not part of the Western Avenue Special Study Area per se. Does that satisfy? Excuse me, we will wait till we finish here and we can bring you down later. Mr. White! Mr. White Your Worship, if I could add to that. There definitely is a disconnect with what we thought we were advising the public. This was done in open Council discussion in May and we thought it was a public kind of decision that s made but Council still has the ability of holding up the application until the Study is done. Councillor Schechter Could I ask one last question? Yes you can, Councillor Schechter! City of North Vancouver Page 16 of 32 Public Hearing

17 Councillor Schechter When the study is presented, whenever that may be in October, would the site area be included in the final report? Mr. White Your Worship, if I may. This is kind of tough for Gloria. I think Ms. Venczel sort of came in after we had started this process. Mr. White If I may, that remains to be Council s decision as well. If Council finally adopts a Zoning change and an OCP amendment for this project then it is not in the Study Area anymore because what the Study Area is determining is what the OCP designation should be for the entire Study Area. Council could, take this property and redesignate it and change the zoning, bingo, it s outside the Study Area. The Study has been determined for this site. In fact, not only has the Study been determined, but the eventual use of the property would also be determined to the Zoning change and the Heritage designation. So, you know, unless the project fails for some other reason, the applicant would be away to obtaining a Building Permit and proceeding. Everybody else in the Study Area, if Council decides to allow some change, or even if Council says leave the OCP the way it is. There is still redevelopment potential on these properties. The properties are all designated for multiple-family of some sort at the present time, low-density and for the most part, I think uniformly in fact, other than United Lodge, the whole Study Area still sits at single-family. You know, the plan has been, since 1980 basically, to allow some change in this area. The change hasn t occurred and Council has the ability to confirm the plan at the way it is now but you could still expect some rezoning applications in the future. Even if the status quo remains it still encourages to some redevelopment. The question is whether the status quo has been allowing redevelopment or are we discouraging because maybe there hasn t been any redevelopment because it isn t the right sort of mix for the area. That s one of the reasons, Your Worship, that the Planning Study was suggested, is to take a good look at that and it hasn t resulted in uniform position. Councillor Schechter I ve exhausted my questions, Your Worship. Councillor Bookham! City of North Vancouver Page 17 of 32 Public Hearing

18 Councillor P.J. Bookham Thank you, Your Worship! Mr. White, we ve heard tonight the suggestion that at an earlier meeting the residents wanted to take a vote to give a preliminary sense of how they were feeling about changes to their neighborhood and they were dissuaded from doing that, I believe it was said that it s too early, and at the next meeting there was some suggestion that there was some emergent consensus. Tonight, of course, by the people that have spoken and the letters that we ve just received its very clear that this is not a neighbourhood that is sort of divided down the middle. It seems to me that there is quite a strong measure of support. I guess I m curious about how you explain your inability to come to us and tell us honestly what the neighbourhood is thinking. I mean, what tools did you use to draw the conclusion, that there appeared to be support for the 116 West 23 rd application. Mr. White! Mr. White Your Worship, we circulated over 100 letters to residents and people who live outside the area in the Study. The letters go to property owners, to tenants as well and basically there has been some support for a change within the Study Area, opposition to change outside the Study but that s not uniform, Your Worship. I think it s something like 60% support a change within the Study Area and even, I think, 18% of people outside the Study Area support change to the existing OCP, which I said already, allows multiple-family already. Your Worship, the question about whether there should be a show of hands about the application at the public meeting that was convened by staff, Your Worship; I don t recollect the precise details of that request by a member of the public. But you know, the people that are at the meeting, one of things we did do, at the request of a member of the public, is ask people who lived in or near, or not even close to the area who were just basically visiting, and there was quite a large number of people at the meeting that neither lived in or near the meeting. So I m not sure you would have got a resident s response or even a neighbourhood response if you had a show of hands in a meeting of that nature. Your Worship, our public meetings are such that anybody can come to them. It was news to me really, that maybe close to a third of the people that was at that meeting, were people that were generally interested, perhaps as investors, but generally interested in the topic rather than specifically. Councillor Bookham Thank you Mr. White. In the report, I read that the decision that the Council took was to allow this application to proceed concurrently. My understanding of concurrent is that they were going to go along, sort of parallel. City of North Vancouver Page 18 of 32 Public Hearing

19 In other words, this development proposal would not be set aside and waiting on an outcome from the neighbourhood but in fact, would be going along simultaneously, but because of the potential for Heritage preservation, that it would be given some special consideration. What is your understanding of concurrent? Mr. White! Mr. White Can you quote me the sentence please? Councillor Bookham I don t have it in front of me but I did circle the word and I will find it before the meeting is over but the report does speak of, I believe it was in the resolution, must be fairly early, where Council was asked to approve the concurrent processing of this development at 116 West 23 rd. Mr. White Your Worship, that is still Council s decision. If Council wants to defer any action on this until the Planning Study catches up, that s certainly a possibility. Council could resolve that. Certainly! Councillor Bookham Thank you Mr. White. I have a question for the applicant and it has to do with the photographs and the map that I m looking at in the package here. You number the single-family homes, give their specific street addresses along West 23 rd and you number 2 properties to the north of your site. You don t identify by house number the properties that are, I guess, on the west side of Western Avenue above the lane and nor did you present them in pictures. I guess I am curious to know why you would leave those out because they represent the single-family ambiance of that neighbourhood. I wonder if you would like to comment. That is for the applicant please. Mr. Siegrist or Mr. Connolly who wants to handle that one? Mr. Seigerist Your Worship, to Councillor Bookham, just so I m clear as to what area you re speaking of. I m looking, I think, at the same graphic as you have. At the site, there is a number of 2324 to the top, and then above that is Am I going the wrong direction? City of North Vancouver Page 19 of 32 Public Hearing

20 Councillor Bookham That s right. I m looking at A0.2. Mr. Seigerist I m sorry. And the site you were referring to? Councillor Bookham Well, I see photographs of the gas station. I see photographs of Lonsdale Elementary. I see photographs of the highest density developments across the street. But, the context statement suggested that immediately across the street, I think its RT-1 Duplex, and there is no representation of those single-family homes on Western that are north of the lane. Mr. Seigerist North of the lane, that s correct. I think I don t have them in front of me. Is it Page 1? Actually we do. Perhaps if I could just direct you to A0.1, there are where the arrows are showing the site, there is the single-family on 23 rd. There are no photographs on Western to the west but I think you re talking about the single-family that I see on the photo on the bottom right and then up a page. Councillor Bookham Yes, I m speaking about the single-family homes on Western because Western is a dead end street that goes up to the highway and it s sort of a little pocket of tranquility, quite frankly. Mr. Seigerist So, the housing form that you see then would be the photo on the extreme top right of your page of Western. Councillor Bookham So, that would be the corner property on 23 rd and Western? Mr. Seigerist Correct. Councillor Bookham And that represents the single-family neighborhood? Mr. Seigerist Correct. That is the building form. City of North Vancouver Page 20 of 32 Public Hearing