It was moved and seconded

That the order of the Agenda be varied to deal with Item Nos. 3 and 4 –Appointment Of Approving Officer, and Richmond Yacht Club – Liquor Primary – Club Licence prior to hearing the delegations from the Steveston Harbour Authority and the Richmond Public Library Board.

CARRIED

MINUTES

1.

It was moved and seconded

That the minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on Monday, July 21, 2008, be adopted as circulated.

CARRIED

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

3.

Appointment of Approving Officer
(Report:  August 19, 2008, File No.:  0172-02) (REDMS No. 2489701)

It was moved and seconded

(1)

That Part (2) of Resolution No. S03/10-02, adopted by Council on October 20, 2003, regarding the appointment of Approving Officers for the City, be rescinded; and

(2)

That Mr. Brian J. Jackson, Director of Development, be appointed as Approving Officer for the City; and that Mr. Reg Adams, Supervisor, Urban Development (Utilities), be appointed Approving Officer in the absence of Mr. Jackson; and that Mr. Joe Erceg, General Manager of Planning and Development, and Mr. Wayne Craig, Program Coordinator – Development, be appointed as Approving Officers in the absence of both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Adams.

CARRIED

BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

4.

Richmond Yacht Club - Liquor Primary - Club Licence

(Report:  August 26, 2008, File No.: 12-8275-30-030) (REDMS No. 2494448, 2477235)

Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt in accordance with Section 100 of the Community Charter, declared herself to be in a conflict of interest because she was a member of the Richmond Yacht Club, and then left the meeting 4:04 p.m.

It was moved and seconded

That:

(1)

the resolution adopted on July 28, 2008, in relation to the Richmond Yacht Club Liquor-Primary Club License application be rescinded; and

(2)

the application by Richmond Yacht Club for a Liquor Primary-Club License be supported by Council, and that a letter of resolution be forwarded to Liquor Control and Licencing Branch advising that;

(a)

the premises of the Richmond Yacht Club located at 7411 River Road is zoned School and Public Use which permits the use of a recreational facility and that the area surrounding the Richmond Yacht Club is a mixture of industrial, office uses and other water-related activities

(b)

the purpose of the club is to serve club members and invited guests only and not open to the general public. Consequently, if successful in obtaining a liquor license, the operation would not conflict with any nearby social, recreation or public buildings;

(c)

the establishment is not expected to negatively affect vehicular traffic patterns in the area and as the building is located under the flight path of Vancouver International Airport traffic and on the dyke next to the middle arm of the Fraser River, it is anticipated that the potential of any additional noise would have little or no impact on the surrounding properties;

(d)

as the proposed liquor sales is to club members and invited quests only and not to the general public; the proposed hours of liquor sales of 9:00 a.m. to Midnight, Sunday to Thursday and 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays with a patron capacity of 120 has been reviewed and is acceptable;

(e)

Council considered the views of area residents by having the applicant erect signage in front of the establishment as well as publish an advertisement in a local newspaper for three consecutive issues with detailed information of the application and the required contact information for submitting any comments on the proposal.  In addition, the City mailed letters to businesses, residents and property owners within a 100 meter radius of the building to gather their views of the application.  This public consultation was for a period of 30 days and ended on July 9, 2008.  Council noted that there was no community responses received from the letters mailed out, posted signage or newspaper advertisements; and

(f)

there were no other local issues Council considered relevant to this application.

CARRIED

Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt returned to the meeting 4:05 p.m.

DELEGATIONS

2.

(1)

Bob Baziuk, General Manager of the Steveston Harbour Authority accompanied by Adrian Rowland, Regional Engineer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Small Craft Harbours Branch, made reference to two conceptual drawings of the Steveston Harbour Long Term Development Plan (Attached as Schedule 1), and briefly reviewed the concept which included reconfiguration to the harbour entrance, and to the east side of Shady Island.

Mr. Baziuk noted that issues related to making the harbour fit into the community better; to supporting the active fishing industry; and to keeping the harbour viable were all being explored. He concluded by stating that silting and dredging were the most important issues facing the Steveston Harbour.

Mr. Rowland noted that the harbour’s primary mandate was to support the fishing industry. He further noted that primary objective was to reduce long term financial impact including the costs of dredging. Mr. Rowland advised that involvement from many stakeholders would be required in developing the Steveston Community Fishing Harbour Long Term Development Plan, including the City of Richmond.

A discussion ensued during which the following was noted:

§      

a $50,000 modeling study for the Steveston Harbour had been undertaken, and was expected to be completed by the end of September 2008. The study would not include detailed information related to costs of construction for the Steveston Harbour;

§      

the recreational boat industry could possibly provide some financial and economical benefits to the harbour;

§      

the concept of the Steveston Community Fishing Harbour Long Term Development Plan had been presented to the Steveston Harbour Authority Board of Directors;

§      

an accurate time line could not be predicted for completion of the Steveston Harbour Authority Long Term Development, however it would be a project that would take several years to complete;

§      

other parties needed to participate in developing the Steveston Community Fishing Harbour Long Term Development Plan would include Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Environment Canada; the Canadian Wildlife Federation, among others;

§      

a meeting with Port Metro related to the Steveston Community Fishing Harbour Long Term Development Plan concept is scheduled to take place on September 29^th, 2008; 

§      

deflection of debris was essential to the Steveston Harbour;

§      

dredging costs had been reduced by cleaning the sediments; and

§      

the size of waves would increase as a result of erosion of the banks.

During the discussion, several questions were raised related to the City owned lands adjacent to the harbour, and reference was made to previous studies that had been done in connection to the Steveston Harbour.

Mr. Baziuk was requested to send Committee members copies of aerial photos that had previously been taken of the Steveston Harbour during a low tide.

It was moved and seconded

That the matter of the Steveston Harbour Authority Long Term Development Concept be referred to staff for analysis and a report back on the issue of FREMP designations and potential land offsets, and the options for City land in the harbour.

CARRIED

(2)

Lyn Greenhill, Chair, Richmond Public Library Board, accompanied by Greg Buss, Chief Librarian, Richmond Public Library, reviewed the briefing paper submitted to the General Purposes Committee by the Board (Attached as Schedule 2). During her review she spoke about the (i) planning for the future; (ii) services in Hamilton; and (iii) Richmond having the highest per capita circulation in Canada. During her presentation, the following highlights were noted:

§      

the library was requesting involvement in the development of the City’s Corporate Facilities Implementation Plan;

§      

the library services offered to the Hamilton community were inadequate, and a permanent facility was recommended;

§      

Richmond had the highest per capita circulation in Canada, even higher than Toronto, and there were issues related to the heavy usage such as worn out materials, and difficulties restocking shelves with returned or new materials; and

§      

automated self sorting technology would be an effective solution to offset the need for greater staffing resources.

A discussion ensued between the delegation and Committee members, during which the following was noted:

§      

funding for Richmond’s libraries was slightly above average on a per capita basis;

§      

the library information computer kiosk located in the Hamilton community was unstaffed, therefore users would not be able to obtain assistance; 

§      

a limit of having 25 items checked out at a time was in place, but was difficult to conform to as people who return material usually pick out new material to check out prior to library staff having a chance to check in the returned materials; and

§      

an automated self-sorting technology unit could be obtained at a one time cost of $250,000 and $25,000 annually. It would consist of a conveyor belt with a laser system that would automatically check books in and activate the security system. The unit would sort the books into appropriate bins by the type of book and location for return, resulting in a reduction of on call staff.

The Richmond Library Board was requested to provide Committee members with statistics related to the sorting of materials and library usage.

It was moved and seconded

That the briefing paper submitted by Richmond Library Board be referred to staff for further analysis.

CARRIED

Greg Buss provided an update related to a flood that had taken place on the second floor at the Brighouse library on August 1, 2008, resulting in a brief shut down of the library. Mr. Buss expressed his appreciation to City staff for their assistance and reported that approximately 150 books had been lost.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved and seconded

That the meeting adjourn (5:19 p.m.).

CARRIED

Certified a true and correct copy of the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee of the Council of the City of Richmond held on Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

_________________________________

_________________________________

Mayor Malcolm D. Brodie

Chair

Shanan Dhaliwal

Executive Assistant, City Clerk’s Office