Date:

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Place:

Anderson Room

Richmond City Hall

Present:

Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt, Chair

Councillor Bill McNulty, Vice-Chair

Councillor Linda Barnes

Councillor Sue Halsey-Brandt

Councillor Harold Steves

Mayor Malcolm Brodie (arrived at 4:11 p.m.)

Also Present:

Councillor Greg Halsey-Brandt

Councillor Ken Johnston (arrived at 4:22 p.m.)

Call to Order:

The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.

MINUTES

1.

It was moved and seconded

That the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, be adopted as circulated.

CARRIED

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING DATE

2.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, at 4:00 p.m. in the Anderson Room.

It was agreed that the order of the agenda should be changed and that Item 4 Richmond Heritage Commission 2008 Annual Report and 2009 Work Plan and Item 5 Manager’s Report would be discussed before Committee heard the Metro Vancouver Delegation’s presentation regarding the Draft Regional Growth Strategy.

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

4.

RICHMOND HERITAGE COMMISSION 2008 ANNUAL REPORT AND 2009 WORK PLAN

(Report:  April 22, 2009, File No.:  ) (REDMS No. 2577757)

In response to a query regarding the Heritage Fair as a method of engaging young people in local heritage, Laurie Wozny, Chair of the Richmond Heritage Commission, advised that this year’s fair, the seventh annual, took place on May 2 and 3, 2009, at the Museum at the Richmond Cultural Centre.

Mr. Wozny noted that this year’s event featured 120 displays created by students from Richmond and Delta and the winning display featured the story of Hugh McRoberts.

It was moved and seconded

That the Richmond Heritage Commission 2009 Work Plan (attached to the staff report dated April 22, 2009, from the General Manager, Planning and Development) be approved.

CARRIED

5.

MANAGER’S REPORT

(1)

Steveston Study

No report was given.

(2)

Official Community Plan (OCP)

No report was given.

(3)

Regional Growth Strategy

Please see Item 3 on Pages 3 through 5 of these Minutes.

(4)

Social Planning Strategy

No report was given.

(5)

City Property on Fifth Avenue in Steveston

In response to a comment, staff advised that a memorandum to update Committee on the possible consequences of the recent sale of the City owned property at the corner of Steveston Highway and Fifth Avenue would be forthcoming. 

DELEGATION

3.

Presentation by Johnny Carline Metro Vancouver to discuss the draft Regional Growth Strategy.

Delia Lalagoran, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Metro Vancouver (MV) advised that illness prevented Johnny Carline, MV’s Chief Administrative Officer, from presenting the draft Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) to Committee.  

Ms. Lalagoran stated that throughout April and May, 2009 a series of meetings will take place in order to collect input on the draft RGS from (i) the public and (ii) municipalities. The Richmond meeting will take place on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at the Richmond Cultural Centre at 7700 Minoru Gate. Newspaper and radio advertising will be used by MV to advertise and promote attendance at this meeting.

(Mayor Brodie entered the meeting at 4:11 p.m.)

Ms. Lalagoran introduced Hugh Kellas, MV’s Manager of Policy and Planning, and Christina DeMarco, MV’s Regional Development Division Manager, Policy and Planning. Mr. Kellas stated that the future of the Lower Mainland region comprises both challenges and opportunities, and the RGS is an important tool for managing growth in the region.

He used a power point presentation (a copy is on file in the City Clerk’s Office) to underscore the six main challenges:

·          

advancing livability and sustainability while managing growth: MV is expected to continue to grow by over 35,000 residents annually;

·          

maintaining communities: (i) regional housing costs, (ii) an aging population and (iii) a growing population present challenges to achieving inclusive, diverse and affordable communities;

·          

supporting economic prosperity: MV’s economic base requires an adequate supply of appropriately located industrial spaces;

·          

protecting natural assets: natural areas must be protected from urban development;

·          

protecting agricultural land to support food production: loss of agricultural land would conflict with economic, environmental, health and food security objectives; and

·          

reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions: development patterns, which limit travel requirements and foster the use of transit and other alternatives to the car must be encouraged.

(Councillor Johnston entered the meeting at 4:22 p.m.)

Mr. Kellas drew Committee’s attention to the five goals in the draft RGS:

(i)

create a compact urban area;

(ii)

support a sustainable economy;

(iii)

protect the region’s natural assets;

(iv)

develop complete and resilient communities; and

(v)

support sustainable transportation choices.

At the conclusion of Mr. Kellas’ presentation, discussion among Committee, staff and the three MV delegates ensued regarding the following topics:

·          

land use policies, designed by individual municipality policies focussing higher density residential development along public transit corridors and how these policies coincide with the RGS;

·          

the 50-plus-1 vote by the MV Board necessary if a municipality desires a change to the location of industrial and commercial land as designated in the RGS;

·          

the Local Government Act dictates the adoption process of the RGS, but a public hearing must be completed before the RGS is adopted;

·          

the RGS should accurately reflect the status of railway lines and identify lines that are active, and those that are former railway line beds;

·          

the viability of industrial areas and how a municipality doing its own industrial land use study can impact the RGS;

·          

the distinction between production/distribution/maintenance jobs generally located outside city centres, on industrial lands, and non-industrial jobs, such as service/commercial/retail jobs generally located in office parks;

·          

municipalities manage agriculture lands by their OCP, Area Plans, Zoning Bylaws, and through consultation with the Agricultural Land Commission, and the need for Richmond to confirm that maps in the RGS are accurately designated ‘Agricultural’;

(Councillor Barnes left the meeting at 4:38 p.m. and returned at 4:39 p.m.).

·          

an earlier draft of the RGS used the phrase ‘Green Zone’, and the current draft RGS distinguishes between ‘Agricultural’ and ‘Conservation/Recreation’ land uses to better clarify the concept of ‘green’;

·          

the amount of acreage required for industrial land for 2 million Metro Vancouver residents;

·          

the process by which changes to Richmond’s OCP/RCS could be communicated to MV in order for the RGS to reflect the municipality’s land use changes;

·          

the existence of a dispute resolution process at the MV level to accommodate a municipality’s request for changes to the RGS;

·          

how population projections by individual municipalities and population projections by MV are arrived at, and to ensure the numbers are consistent and comparable.

Councillor Steves distributed an excerpt from the Municipal Act Amendment of April 18, 1973 (a copy is on file in the City Clerk’s Office) and remarked that he believed that members of the Metro Vancouver Board should be elected, not appointed.

(Councillor Barnes left the meeting at 5:04 p.m. and returned at 5:05 p.m.)

In response to queries from the Chair, MV’s representatives advised that: (i) the draft RGS requires acceptance from each of the 22 member municipalities, as well as approval by MV’s Board, TransLink and the adjacent regional districts, and (ii) in June, 2009, MV will report the results of the series of public meetings.

Mr. Kellas added that: (i) MV will seek guidance from the Planning Committee, and (ii) the methodology of industrial lands will be carefully scrutinized.

Pretrial Remand Centre

In response to a query regarding the Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General asking the Metro Vancouver Mayors Committee to provide input into the site selection for a new pretrial Remand Centre in the Lower Mainland, and MV’s subsequent advice to municipalities of the May 15, 2009 deadline for municipalities to submit correspondence on the matter, advice was given that a staff task team is working on the issue.

Revitalization of Broadmoor Shopping Centre

In response to a query from resident Loreen Long, Barkerville Court, regarding the process by which a delegation can address a Standing Committee regarding matters such as the application to revitalize the Broadmoor Shopping Centre, the Chair advised Ms. Long that a written request to address a Standing Committee should be submitted to the Director, City Clerk’s Office, no later than 5 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding the date of the Standing Committee meeting.

The Chair further advised that if Ms. Long wished to learn about the progress of the application to revitalize the Broadmoor Shopping Centre, that the Director of Development is the staff member to advise her.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved and seconded

That the meeting adjourn (5:21 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, May 5, 2009.

_________________________________

_________________________________

Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt

Chair

Sheila Johnston

Committee Clerk