MINUTES

1.

It was moved and seconded

That the minutes of the meeting of the Public Works & Transportation Committee held on Thursday, December 19^th, 2002, be adopted as circulated.

CARRIED

At the request of the Chair, the Manager, Facilities Planning & Construction, David Naysmith, introduced the City's new Staff Architect, Ms. Mary Brunet, who had recently joined the Department from the City of Surrey.  On behalf of the Committee, Councillor Howard welcomed Ms. Brunet to the City.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

2.

RICHMOND AIRPORT VANCOUVER RAPID TRANSIT PROJECT
(DELEGATION:  Jane Bird, Project Director, Richmond Airport Vancouver Rapid Transit Project)

Councillor Howard spoke briefly about the formation of the Richmond Airport-Vancouver Rapid Transit Task Force, and introduced the following members of the Task Force who were in attendance this afternoon Gary Cohen, Past President and a current Director of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce; Danny Leung, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Fairchild Property Group Ltd.; and Bruce Rozenhart, President of COUNTERPOINT Communications Inc.  Also introduced were the City's staff representatives David McLellan, General Manager, Urban Development; Gordon Chan, Director of Transportation; and Council representatives Mayor Brodie and Councillors Kumagai, Steves and Howard.

The Chair then introduced Ms. Jane Bird, Project Director.  Ms. Bird then gave a PowerPoint presentation to provide an overview on the status of the project to the present time.  A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is attached as Schedule A and forms part of these minutes.

Discussion then ensued among Committee members and the delegation on a variety of issues relating to the project, including:

the downside to the project, such as the challenges to be faced, including the expensiveness of the project, working with several different agencies and corporate cultures, and the need to reach a consensus with these agencies on the direction to take

the rationale for proceeding with the project as a means of dealing with increased volumes of traffic in the coming years

the technology being considered for use and how the technology would be described in the upcoming Request for Proposal Call (RFPC), if at all

the opposition of certain municipalities and cities within the Greater Vancouver Regional District to the proposed project, and how this opposition would be dealt with

the lack of financial commitment by the Federal Government to the project

whether the Provincial Government had agreed to contribute funding

whether the Cambie Street corridor had been officially chosen as the route for the Vancouver portion of the proposed rapid transit line

the proposed RFPC, and whether the proposed timeline would accommodate the proposed public consultation process and the presentation of the results of this process to the City prior to the issuance of the RFPC; and whether a consensus as to the parameters of the project would be expected prior to the issuance of the RFPC

the technologies developed by Bombardier for both elevated and ground level transportation systems and whether this company would be permitted to submit a proposal for each technology

whether a presentation similar to the one given at this meeting would be made to the City of Vancouver as it was important that the consensus of the City of Vancouver was obtained

how the transportation network for the north-east sector of the GVRD would fit with the strategy being proposed for Richmond and Vancouver

whether it would be worthwhile to have a joint meeting with the City of Vancouver to discuss the project.

(Councillor Barnes left the meeting at 5:08 p.m., during the above discussion, and did not return.)

Advice was given during the discussion that a further presentation would be made to the City by Ms. Bird following the completion of the Project Definition Phase at the end of January of this year.

Ms. Bird was thanked for her informative presentation and she then left the meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved and seconded

That the meeting adjourn (5:22 p.m.).

CARRIED

Certified a true and correct copy of the Minutes of the meeting of the Public Works & Transportation Committee of the Council of the City of Richmond held on Thursday, January 9^th, 2003.

_________________________________

_________________________________

Councillor Rob Howard
Chair

Fran J. Ashton
Executive Assistant