MINUTES

1.

It was moved and seconded

That the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on Tuesday, September 20^th, 2005, be adopted as circulated.

CARRIED

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING DATE

2.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Tuesday, October 18^th, 2005, at
4:00 p.m. in the Anderson Room.

DELEGATION

3.

Mr. David Reay, Chair, Affordable Housing Task Force, addressed Committee concerning the lack of affordable housing in the City (his comments are attached as Schedule 1 and forms a part of these minutes).  He then requested that affordable housing be an option when the Oval site was developed.

In response to queries from the Committee, Mr. Crowe, Manager, Policy Planning advised that:

§                approximately 1100 - 1300 residences were being developed during the first phase, on the Olympic Oval Site;

§                when the City’s financial mandate was met, affordable housing as a bonus density option would be explored on the sites;

§                a draft “request for proposal” on the Olympic Oval site would be brought to Committee in the near future, this would also include social components;

§                subject to 2006 budget approval, staff would start work to update the City’s Affordable Housing Strategy in 2006;

§                part of the vision of the West Cambie Area Plan concept includes affordable housing and day care as part of its cost, and this would be brought to Committee for endorsement in the near future;

In response to queries from the Committee, Mr. Joe Erceg, General Manager, Urban Development Division advised:

§                that the outcome of a meeting with the Honourable Rich Coleman, Minister Responsible for Housing, concerning affordable housing was positive.  He noted that the Province was looking at initiatives, and that a provincial strategy may be forthcoming shortly;

§                staff was working on a secondary suite report possibly to legalize certain suites;

§                that staff was negotiating with the developer for the Pinnacle Project, for both community space and affordable housing; and

§                staff would continue negotiating for affordable housing with developers, however, this was not possible on sites which were already rezoned.

Discussion then ensued on the topic of affordable housing and a suggestion was made that the Poverty Response Committee meet with UDI, the Chamber of Commerce and the business community concerning this issue.

Mrs. Annie McKitrick, member of the Poverty Response Committee, stated that one of the concerns of the Committee was the rapid displacement of affordable housing in the regular housing market.  She noted that older apartments were being demolished and/or refurbished and were no longer affordable and requested that the City pass a bylaw to prevent the demolition of existing affordable housing.  She also thanked Council for being proactive in the preservation of affordable housing.

In response to this request, Mr. Erceg, advised that the City did not have the jurisdiction to preserve rental housing; however, he noted that staff would look at this issue to see what, if anything can be done.

A tenant at Richmond Gardens, spoke about the eviction notices at Richmond Gardens and the effect that this was having on their lives.

In response to a query from the Committee, Mr. Erceg stated that staff had met with Amacon Property Management Services to discuss tenant eviction notices and would be meeting again on October 5^th, 2005 to continue discussions.  He stated that at the conclusion of the meeting he would request that Amacon provide a summary of these discussions to each tenant, and advised that the City would issue a press release on the result of these negotiations.

FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES DIVISION

4.

HOME OCCUPATION BUSINESS LICENCES IN STRATA TITLED COMPLEXES

(Report:  September 7^th, 2005, File No.:  12-8275-06) (REDMS No. 1589205)

Mr. Wayne Craig, Development Program Coordinator, briefly reviewed the report (dated September 7^th, 2005).  He stated that he had been advised that the issue which had caused the initial referral motion had now been satisfactorily resolved.

It was moved and seconded

That Council not support the position of requiring a Strata Council “Letter of Authorization” for all Home Occupation business licences in Strata Titled complexes but rather encourage individual Strata Councils to implement and enforce their own Strata bylaws regarding Home Occupations.

CARRIED

URBAN DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

5.

APPLICATION BY LOBLAW PROPERTIES PACIFIC INC. TO AMEND "COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT (CD/109)" TO ADD LICENSEE RETAIL STORE (TYPE 2) AS A PERMITTED USE IN ORDER TO PERMIT A PRIVATE LIQUOR STORE AT 4651 NO. 3 ROAD

(ZT 05-298232 - Report:  Sept. 16/05, File No.:  8060-20-7978) (REDMS No. 1652073, 1651841, 1652051, 1505481, 1604727, 1601365)

Mr. Wayne Craig, Development Program Coordinator, reviewed the report (dated September 16^th, 2005).  In response to a query from the Committee, he advised that a restrictive covenant would be put on the current site to ensure that a private liquor store could not operate on these premises.

Discussion ensued on this matter and it was noted that dedicated parking should be provided to alleviate traffic safety concerns.

It was moved and seconded

That Bylaw No. 7978, to amend "Comprehensive Development District (CD/109)" to add “Licensee Retail Store (Type 2)” as a permitted use, at 4651 No. 3 Road, be referred to staff, to discuss the issue of providing dedicated parking stalls for this business, with the applicant.

CARRIED

6.

MANAGER’S REPORT

Mr. Terry Crowe, Manager, Policy Planning, updated Committee on the West Cambie Implementation Strategy stating that he anticipated that the Implementation Strategy would be brought to Committee in December 2005.  Mr. Crowe advised that staff were in discussions with UDI on the provision of affordable housing on No. 3 Road.  Staff were also holding open houses on the Integrated Olympic Gateway Strategy.

Mr. Joe Erceg, General Manager, Urban Development Division, advised Committee on the proposed rezoning of the Steveston Academy Site.  He also advised that neither the Fraser Port Authority nor the Forest Industry would be providing funding for the Debris Trap.  He stated that the Fraser Basin Council would try to get funding from either the Provincial or the Federal Governments.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved and seconded

That the meeting adjourn (5:40 p.m.).

CARRIED

Certified a true and correct copy of the Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee of the Council of the City of Richmond held on Tuesday,
October 4^th, 2005.

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Councillor Bill McNulty
Chair

Desiree Wong
Committee Clerk