REQUEST FOR DECISION
DATE: August 11, 2020 Report No. DEV-20-057
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Bill Brown, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT:
Title
Official Community Plan Amendment Consultation List for 1237 Esquimalt Road, 510 Park Place, and 500 Carlisle Avenue (Schedule “A”).
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That Council, having considered Sections 475 and 476 of the Local Government Act, authorize staff to circulate the Official Community Plan amendment concept plan, attached as Appendix “B” to Staff Report DEV-20-057, detailing the proposed development of the Public Safety Building to be located at:
Street Address: 1237 Esquimalt Road (West Lot)
PID: 006-386-407
Legal Description: Lot 273, Suburban Lot 40, Esquimalt District, Plan 2854
Street Address: 1237 Esquimalt Road (East Lot)
PID: 006-386-423
Legal Description: Lot 274, Suburban Lot 40, Esquimalt District, Plan 2854
Street Address: 510 Park Place
PID: 006-385-991
Legal Description: Lot 275, Suburban Lot 40, Esquimalt District, Plan 2854
Street Address: 500 Carlisle Avenue
PID: 029-349-320
Legal Description: Lot 1, Suburban Lot 40, Esquimalt District, Plan EPP36750
To those persons, organizations, and authorities identified in Appendix “A” of Staff Report DEV-20-057.
Note: The Township of Esquimalt has submitted a Reference Plan to the Land Titles Office that would consolidate the four lots into one lot with the following Legal Description: Lot A, Suburban Lot 40, Plan EPP103969.
Body
RELEVANT POLICY:
Local Government Act
Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 2922
Host Community Impact 5-Year Agreement
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE:
Strategic Goal and Priority - Healthy, Livability, and Diverse Community: Fully utilize the McLoughlin amenity funds to maximum potential.
Operational Strategy - Finalize design and award construction tender for Public Safety Building (PSB) utilizing McLoughlin amenity funds.
BACKGROUND:
Appendix “A” - Official Community Plan Consultation List
Appendix “B” - Proposed Development Concept Plan
The four subject parcels are owned by the Township of Esquimalt. The Township has submitted a Reference Plan to the Land Titles Office which would consolidate the four parcels into one parcel with an area of 0.281 ha. The proposed Public Safety Building would be located on this parcel and would have a gross floor area of approximately 4381.3 m2 (47,160 ft2) and would house the following uses:
- Ground Floor Commercial along Esquimalt Road
- Fire Hall - Suppression Teams and Equipment
- Fire Administration Offices
- Police Department
- Shared Fitness, Training, and Meeting Space
- Emergency Operations Centre
- Community Safety Services Offices
- Capital Regional District Offices
Further details are available in Appendix “B”.
Although Section 9.1 of the Official Community Plan states:
“Institutional uses are generally considered to be appropriate within any land use designation and need not be specifically designated on the “Proposed Land Use Designation Map” (Schedule “B”).”
staff feel that given that the Township places a strong value on transparency, it is advisable to amend both the “Present Land Use Designation Map (Schedule “A”) and the “Proposed Land Use Designation Map” (Schedule “B”) accordingly.
Currently, both the “present” and the “proposed” land use designations in the Official Community Plan are the same. The southern portion of the site (500 Carlisle Avenue), where the current Public Safety Building is located, is designated “Institutional”, and the northern portion of the site (510 Park Place, and 1237 Esquimalt Road) is designated “Commercial/Commercial Mixed-Use”. The proposed Public Safety Building would not conform to these designations, therefore, as noted above, it is recommended to amend both Schedule “A”, Present Land Use Designation, and Schedule “B”, Proposed Land Use Designation. The new land use designation would be specific to the proposed development.
In addition, Schedule “F”, being the map showing the location of Public Parks and Facilities, needs to be amended to indicate that the institutional use will expand to the northern portion of the parcel.
Also, Schedule “H”, being the map that designates Development Permit Areas, needs to be amended since the southern portion of the site has no designation and the northern portion of the site is designated as Multi-family Residential. Again, a site specific Development Permit Area will be created that is specific to the proposed development. A concomitant Development Permit Area section would be added to the Official Community Plan with all of the development permit guidelines. As with all properties in Esquimalt, the site is designated under the three environmental development permit areas, namely:
- DPA No. 1 - Natural Environment,
- DPA No. 7 - Energy Conservation & Greenhouse Gas Reduction, and
- DPA No. 8 - Water Conservation.
Finally, the third policy under section 9.2 states:
“Recognize the value of maintaining the Esquimalt Municipal Hall as the primary emergency operations centre and Esquimalt Public Works Yard as a secondary site.”
This will be amended by deleting, “maintaining the Esquimalt Municipal Hall as the primary emergency operations centre” and replacing it with, “having the primary emergency operations centre located in the Public Safety Building”
ISSUES:
1. Rationale for Selected Option
Section 475 of the Local Government Act states that a local government (i.e. Council) must provide one or more opportunities it considers appropriate for consultation with persons, organizations, and authorities it considers will be affected and specifically must consider whether consultation is required with the following:
(i) the board of the regional district in which the area covered by the plan is located, in the case of a municipal official community plan;
(ii) the board of any regional district that is adjacent to the area covered by the plan;
(iii) the council of any municipality that is adjacent to the area covered by the plan;
(iv) First Nations;
(v) boards of education, greater boards and improvement district boards;
(vi) the Provincial and federal governments and their agencies.
Section 476 of the Local Government Act requires that a local government must consult with the boards of education of any school district in an area affected by an amendment to an Official Community Plan.
2. Organizational Implications
The proposed amendments to the Official Community Plan will be dealt with as part of the normal operations of the Township.
3. Financial Implications
The proposed amendments to the Official Community Plan will not have significant financial implications. The financial implications of the actual project will be brought to Council by the Chief Administrative Officer or her delegate in a separate staff report.
4. Sustainability & Environmental Implications
The Township is committed to environmental leadership and will incorporate a wide spectrum of initiatives to reduce corporate greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water, and promote a healthy urban environment.
5. Communication & Engagement
The process to redevelop the subject property started with a public consultation process designed to obtain feedback from the public about features that they would like to see incorporated into the new Public Safety Building. This information was reviewed by Council and subsequent direction was given to staff to begin the design process. A conceptual design has been produced (Appendix “B”) which has formed the basis for a series of amendments to the Official Community Plan including development of design guidelines. This has triggered the consultation process outlined above.
Once the amending bylaw has been drafted and given first and second reading, a public hearing will be required before the bylaw is given third reading and adopted.
ALTERNATIVES:
1) That Council authorize staff to circulate information that will form the basis of a series of amendments to the Official Community Plan to the list of persons, organizations, and authorities in Appendix “A”.
2) That Council amend the list in Appendix “A” by adding or removing persons, organizations, or authorities.
3) That Council not authorize staff to circulate information that will form the basis of a series of amendments to the Official Community Plan.