ALL WV ALDERMEN BUT ONE APPROVE REVISED PLAN

Twin t

THE CONSISTENT objec-
tions and arguments posed
by a small, die-hard group
of residents, and the un-
equivocal opposition of one
council member Ald.
Caro] Ann Reynolds — fail-
ed to stop West Vancouver
District Council from bring-
ing the enabling bylaw for
the twin tower project ai 320
Taylor Way to third
reading.

By MAUREEN CURTIS
Contributing Writer

Council approved the develop-
ment permit with its numerous
amendments and final adoption is
expected to be adopted next week.

The majority of council was
convinced that an optimal design
had been achieved through the
amendments, and that there was
no alternative but to live up to the
municipality’s agreement with de-
veloper Gateway Pacific, a com-
pany created by Newcorp Proper-
ties.

“We have a legally binding con-
tract,’’ said Ald. Mark Sager.

Ald. Andy Danyliu gave his vote
of approval, explaining that his
election platform stand against the
project had been ‘‘rendered irrele-
vant’? by the testing of the
municipality’s agreement with
Newcorp through a B.C. Supreme
Court judge.

He argued that ‘‘it might be eas-
ier to stick my hand up against the
project, knowing that it would go
through anyway,’’ but felt that

_ would just be ‘‘posturing.”’

That was not the attitude held
by Ald. Reynolds, however, who
voted against the bylaw, the devel-
opment permit and all of the
amendments.

“It's not posturing on my part.
My stand was ‘No’ and it still is
‘No’,’’ she maintained.

Reynolds, while not doubting
that a legal contract was in place,
said that council should have con-
sidered buying out the lease and
reselling it at today’s higher mar-
ket values.

‘We could have been creative
and come up with something else
that was revenue generating for
that site,”’ she said.

Ald. Rod Day, who has carried
the development through the

City wants input on parking

A SPECIAL Tuesday even-
ing meeting has been sched-
uled at North Vancouver Ci-
ty Hall to gather public in-
put into a city parking poli-
cy and the increasingly
serious parking problems in
Lower Lonsdale and other
areas of the municipality.

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW

The city’s Report on Parking
Policy will also be unveiled at the
meeting, which is scheduled to
Start at 7 p.m.

The report was initiated to
establish a city parking policy that
will cut current parking shortages
and determine ways to address the
future off-street parking needs
created by new development.

It also identifies the parking
needs of different city areas and
presents recommendations and op-
tions for alleviating the current city
parking crunch in such city areas
as Lower Lonsdale.

One of two main town centres in
the city, Lower Lonsdale has been

3 - Sunday, November 5, 1989 - North Shore News

photo Terry Paters

AND DOWN it comes...A local landnisk for decades, the Royal Pontiac car dealership at Taylor Way and Marine Drive in West Vancouver was torn
down recently to make way for the co:troversial twin tower development. West Vancouver District Council brought the enabling law to third reading

last week, paving the way for final app-oval Monday.

design phase, argued that he
couldn’t sanction subjecting the
community to the expensive
lawsuit that legal advice had in-
dicated could result from trying to
get out of the deal.

“Instead, I think that what
we've come up with is going to be
a good thing for West Van-
couver,”’ he said.

Except for Reynolds, council
members considered the various
amendments to the public benefit
and were not persuaded by argu-
ments that disapproval of them
would force the developer to
shorten the towers.

They agreed to allow Gateway
Pacific to delete some main floor
recreational space and the enclosed
balconies from the allowable floor
area ratio (FAR), and permit the
parking garage to be built three

SPECIAL
MEETING

TO ADDRESS
PARKING
SQUEEZE

historically short of parking.

A 1980 parking study of the
Upper and Lower Lonsdale com-
mercial and industrial areas
determined that Lower Lonsdale
was almost 1,200 off-street parking
spaces short of what was required
under zoning bylaws.

City director of purchasing and
property services Derwyn Owen
said that while the requirements
had changed since that report, the
Lower Lonsdale area was still
short between 900 and 1,000 park-
ing stalls.

The Report on Parking Policy
states that while the precise park-
ing need must be determined be-
fore solutions can be developed
“there is little doubt that action is

feet above grade without inclusion
in the FAR.

Danyliu said consistent
enclosure of the balconies was
preferable to the ‘‘sawtooth’’ ef-
fect that might résult from hap-
hazard enclosure.

Sager insisicd, however, that the
balconies be built so that they
could be used as sunrooms, but
not be made part of the rest of
each apariment’s living space.

He also argued that permitting a
partially above-grade carpark
would lower the potential for
flooding and subsequent costs to
the developer aad the municipality.

The municipality should not be
held legally accountable for any
flooding that still might occur,
Sager stipulated.

Council also approved a varia-
tion in height that would put one

required by the city in the im-
mediate future to address the
shortfall.”

Supplying adequate parking, ac-
cording to the city’s parking com-
mittee, ‘‘is critical to the present
and future viability of commercial
areas. The current lack of supply is
undoubtedly having an adverse
impact on the city's commercial
sector.”

But Owen said solving the city’s
parking problems was extremely
complex.

“There is no one panacea for
parking in downtown areas,”’ he
said.

Simply constructing a massive
parking lot in the Lower Lonsdale
area, Owen said, would not be the
answer.

Tuesday night's meeting, Owen
said, will give residents, businesses
and jndustry an opportunity to
provide their input on what they
think should be in the city’s park-
ing policy.

That input will be assessed and
included in a final parking policy
that will provide a framework for
future parking needs and deci-
sions.

In its report, the city’s parking

tower above the 200 foot height
limit (not including elevator shaft
and part of pitched roof) and one
below, for an average height of
195 feet.

“I feel we should vary the rules
because the municipality will
benefit,”* explained Danyliu.

Council had learned from three
architect advisors that the varia-
tion would prove more attractive
and have less of an impact on
views.

Danyliu objected to the idea of
shaving a total of !9 fect from the
height of the buildings, something
that could be achieved by flowering
the ceiling of each storey by six in-
ches.

Also rejected was the suggestion
that the height could be reduced by
taking immediate advantage of the
provision for the municipality to

identified what it
basic ‘problem

committee has
states are three
statements’:

* the need to establish a mecha-
nism whereby future development
will provide adequate parking;

® the need to reduce the current
parking shortfall;

@ and the need to assess on-street
parking to provide maximum ac-
cess to development and optimum
street capacity.

Included in the recommenda-
tions contained in the parking pol-
icy report for on-street parking in
the Lower Lonsdale area are:

* towing away violators of
restricted on-street parking and in-
creasing enforcement of restricted
on-street parking:

* reassessing that portion of the
Official Community Plan that
discourages long-term parking in
the Lower Lonsdale area by
SeaBus commuters;

* and encouraging the regional
transit authority to study the prab-
lem of-bus access to the SeaBus
Terminal;

The report also recommends
that a survey of the Lions Gate
Hospital parking facility be con-
ducted during the winter.

take up to a 30-foot road allow-
ance along Taylor Way and
Marine Drive (thus altering the
FAR).

“You can only take that land
after the substantial completion of
the buildings,’’ explained
municipal planner Steve Nicholls.

Gateway Pacific has agreed to
take over from the municipality
the financial responsibility of pay-
ing for the cost of building the
underpass that will provide access
to the towers from Clyde Avenue.

Ald. Pat Boname emphasized
the municipality’s long term ra-
tionale for developing the corner
site for revenue producing pur-
poses, and concluded that the time
and expense taken to review the
project had been worth it in terms
of the greater public understanding
of the issue that resulted.

Gary Bannerman. .
Business

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