Public Hearings Explained

With a Public Hearing date now set for April 1, we offer the following information regarding Public Hearings and what to expect from this process.  


What exactly is a Public Hearing? 

Public Hearings provide an opportunity for Council to hear from those who believe their interest in a given property may be affected by proposed changes to either a Zoning Bylaw or the Official Community Plan. In Harbourside’s case, the Public Hearing is being held in order to review Concert’s rezoning application. 


What will happen at Harbourside’s Public Hearing?

Before the Public Hearing begins, sign-up sheets are placed outside of the Council Chambers 90 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Stakeholders who wish to speak during the Public Hearing have the opportunity to sign-up any time up until the hearing begins. There will be two sign-up sheets, one for speakers in support, and another for speakers in opposition.

The Public Hearing will begin with an introduction by the City Clerk. Next, there will be a comprehensive review of the project which will be given by City Staff. Following the project review, representatives from Concert will have the opportunity to make a 10 minute presentation on the development. Next, those who have signed up will have the opportunity to speak. Speakers will be called up in an alternating fashion between the two sign-up sheets. Once everyone has been heard, Council will then ask questions of City Staff and Concert’s representatives. After the Public Hearing is concluded, Council will make a decision on Concert’s rezoning application. 


Public Hearing
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
6:00 pm in Council Chambers
City of North Vancouver’s City Hall
Click here for map

Summary of the Process to Date

Concert’s rezoning application for Harbourside has now been referred to a Public Hearing on April 1, an important milestone which will culminate in Council making a ruling on Concert’s application. In this blog post we recap the extensive City and public consultation process which has occurred to date. 

Just over four years ago in December 2009, Concert fist applied to the City of North Vancouver to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) to permit a more diverse, animated and active Harbourside. Specifically, the application proposed to retain the land’s current commercial capacity and add residential to the land use mix. In response to Concert’s OCP amendment application, the City initiated the Harbourside Waterfront Policy Statement Process – an extensive land use study involving the City, Concert and the community to determine the appropriate land uses, densities and building heights. As part of this study, the adjacent City lands including Kings Mill Walk were also reviewed. The Policy Statement was submitted to City Council in February 2011.

Concert’s OCP amendment application was subsequently revised to align with the recommendations of the community consultation. In addition, several stakeholder meetings and community consultation events were held as part of the OCP amendment process. With the support of the community and City staff, Concert’s OCP amendment application was approved by City Council in July 2012.

In November 2012, Concert initiated the rezoning application process. In addition to the application, two key documents were created in collaboration with City staff to dictate how the site would ultimately be developed – the zoning bylaw and the development permit area guidelines. While not a requirement of rezoning, Concert then organized a Town Hall Meeting in October 2013 as a way of providing further public engagement. At the Town Hall, Concert presented a revised application for Harbourside which included a number of changes since it was first submitted.

With the feedback received from the Town Hall Meeting, our rezoning application was further refined before going back to Council. The application, along with a comprehensive development zoning bylaw and development permit area guidelines, was then submitted to Council for what is known as “first reading”. The development zoning bylaw regulates density, height, setbacks, site coverage and other qualitative restrictions while the development permit area guidelines document controls the form and character of the development and the public realm. Because Council was satisfied with our revised application, the rezoning application was subsequently referred to a Public Hearing on April 1. Public Hearings provide an opportunity for Council to hear from those who believe their interest in a given property may be affected by proposed changes. Following the Public Hearing, Council will make a decision on our application.

As a result of the extensive process that has occurred, the rezoning application that will be presented at the Public Hearing is truly a reflection of the feedback we have received over the years from both the community and the City. As a result, we are confident that our plan will result in a win-win scenario for all stakeholders in Harbourside’s redevelopment. 

Harbourside progress update: Oct 19 – Nov 28

A summary of what’s happening in the Harbourside planning process.

First Reading

Concert has been working collaboratively with the City of North Vancouver to finalize details related to the Harbourside Waterfront development. That means revising the rezoning application based on feedback received at the Town Hall meeting, updating the development permit area guidelines, drafting the rezoning bylaw and deciding upon Concert’s community amenity contributions. Once finalized, we anticipate that our application will be put before Council for a “first reading” prior to the holidays.

Public Hearing

Once Concert’s application has had a first reading, it can proceed to a Public Hearing. Anticipated for early 2014, this will be Council’s opportunity to hear presentations from City staff, Concert and other stakeholders who have an opinion on the rezoning proposal. Following the Public Hearing, Council will make a decision on Concert’s application.

Harbourside progress update: Sept 8 – Oct 18

A summary of what’s happening in the Harbourside planning process.

Town Hall Meeting

On the night of September 30, Concert held a Town Hall Meeting as a way of providing further public engagement. For a complete recap of the event, click here.

Finalization of DPA guidelines
The revised Development Permit Area (DPA) guidelines for Harbourside have now been finalized and resubmitted to the City on October 9. DPA guidelines control the form and character of a development in addition to regulating the look and feel of the surrounding public realm. This document will be submitted to Council for review and consideration at Harbourside’s Public Hearing. 

  

Rezoning Application submission

While Concert’s application to the City to amend their Official Community Plan (OCP) was approved in July of 2012, an application for rezoning is required prior to submitting individual development permit applications. Following the recent Town Hall Meeting, the Harbourside team refined the rezoning application and resubmitted it to the City on October 10. The rezoning application aligns with the amended OCP and proposes significant public amenities. To learn more about the proposed amenities, click here.

  

Additional parking under construction
Having secured City approval for a “temporary use permit” to allow for the development of 50 on-site parking stalls at the northwest portion of 925 Harbourside Drive, construction is now underway with completion targeted for early 2014. While the ultimate plan for Harbourside includes the permanent addition of approximately 50 on-site street parking stalls on a new internal street network, these temporary stalls will alleviate demand through pre-development and construction.

Stakeholder meetings

In an effort to continuously engage the organizations within and adjacent to Harbourside, the team met with representatives from Bodwell High School as well as the North Shore Automall in September. These meetings served as a forum for answering questions, gathering feedback and communicating where we are in the process.

Harbourside’s Town Hall Meeting recap

A Town Hall Meeting for Harbourside was held on the evening of September 30 in order to present Concert’s revised rezoning application which integrates a number of changes since it was first submitted in December 2012. The event also served as a means of providing further public engagement prior to a formal Public Hearing.

More than fifty attendees represented various stakeholder groups and members of the public. Other attendees included the Mayor of the City of North Vancouver, five City Councillors, various other members of City staff, representatives from Concert and the consultants that have been engaged on the project.

The meeting was facilitated by CitySpaces Consulting. Retained by Concert with City approval, CitySpaces provided third-party meeting facilitation to help ensure a fair and open meeting process. Colette Parson of CitySpaces acted as the evening’s facilitator, while Sebastian Lippa (also from CitySpaces) recorded the questions and comments from the Q&A portion of the evening.

The first hour of the Town Hall Meeting served as an Open House where attendees could review comprehensive display boards which spoke to important aspects of the proposed development. In addition, they could informally speak with members of the project team about various aspects of the proposed development. The project team on hand included Concert’s President & Chief Operating Officer, Brian McCauley, key members of Concert’s development team and various consultants retained by Concert. Following the Open House, there was a formal presentation and an open forum for audience questions.

Based on CitySpace’s analysis of comment cards collected at the event, response to Concert’s proposal was overwhelmingly positive. In a direct question that asked respondents if they support Concert’s rezoning of Harbourside, approximately three quarters indicated they were in support. Feedback also showed a high level of support for the community benefits being proposed across all four areas of focus including enhanced access and parking, creating communities, environmental benefits and adding economic value. To learn more about proposed community benefits see “Community Amenity Contributions at Harbourside”.

Of the concerns raised, the majority were focused on transportation. The issues of parking, access and transit service were recurring hot topics. Fortunately, these are all aspects which have been key areas of focus for the Harbourside team. In conjunction with transportation consultants, Bunt & Associates, many strategies to address parking demands as well as traffic flow have been devised for Harbourside. To learn more please see “Addressing parking at Harbourside” and “Traffic concerns at Harbourside”. Regarding transit, Concert has fully recognized that good public transit service is integral to the success of this community. Concert has been working with TransLink and the City to explore options to improve service. While a firm plan has yet to be finalized, Concert is committed to finding solutions and funding transportation options.

With the feedback received from the Town Hall Meeting, the Harbourside team has since refined the rezoning application and submitted it to the City. For more information on the upcoming project milestones, please see “Harbourside Waterfront’s Next Steps”.

Sharing community feedback – part three

This week we bring you more samples of feedback we received via comment cards at Harbourside community engagement events. 

“I worry about the market for office this far away from transit.”

Actually transit does currently serve the Harbourside community. That being said, we recognize that enhanced transit service would be a necessity going forward. Our team has been in talks with TransLink to enhance service by instituting a new route that would serve not only Harbourside, but surrounding communities as well. To facilitate this, Concert would directly subsidize the service through payments to TransLink, a first among the Lower Mainland’s development community. 

“I think it is good...the opportunity to live and work in the same neighbourhood is the right direction. The addition of residential area is mandatory to the development.”

We totally agree, your thoughts align perfectly with our vision for Harbourside. After all, this strategy of mixing uses within a community is not a new concept. Rather, this time-honoured tradition has produced the most renowned cities in Europe by imparting upon them a certain “something special” which is extremely difficult to reproduce in single-purpose communities.  

“I really like the concept of a “whole community”. I just hope that it will be sustainable for the retailers.”

It is our belief that Harbourside will not only be sustainable for our retailers, but that the community will ultimately become a premiere space for entrepreneurs to select. A primary method of increasing traffic to our retailers will be the transformation into a true mixed-use community by adding 800 residential and rental homes, 200,000 sf of high-quality office space and a full-service hotel with banquet capacity. Also, by carefully casting our retail tenants we will be able to expand upon the boutique/artisan tone already set by current Harbourside tenants, thereby drawing visitors from across the North Shore and beyond. To learn more about our vision for the retail space, see “Building on Harbourside as a Destination”.

“Area is clearly underutilized with current zoning as proven by peak-time only congestion. Addition of residential could add work/live opportunities and tier on to Lonsdale Quay could alleviate traffic. Proposal would largely produce counterflow traffic.”

That is exactly the conclusion that our traffic consultants, Bunt & Associates have drawn.

While one might imagine that adding density to an area would automatically equate to traffic congestion, when the use is varied, this is not necessarily the case. To learn more about how we plan to address traffic concerns see “Traffic Concerns at Harbourside”. 

For your opportunity to learn more about Concert’s plans for Harbourside in person, and to pose your own questions, be sure to attend our Town Hall Meeting in September.

Town Hall Meeting

September 30, 2013

Unit 300 – 889 Harbourside, North Vancouver

6:30 – 7:30pm (open house)

7:30 – 9:00pm (presentation and Q&A)

Harbourside progress update: July 10 – Aug 16

A summary of what’s happening in the Harbourside planning process.

Meeting with engineering
The Harbourside team recently met with the City’s engineering department to discuss details related to traffic and transportation planning. Their comments will be integrated into the final traffic and transportation strategy document that is being prepared by our transportation consultants, Bunt & Associates. 

Mediator’s report on CACs
Sandra Cawley of Burgess, Cawley, Sullivan & Associates – the mediator the City hired to help to assess the calculation methodology and amount of community amenity contributions – has now completed her recommendations report. Both Concert and the City are currently reviewing the document and are working together to finalize a CAC proposal in advance of Harbourside’s Town Hall Meeting. For more information on the CACs being contemplated, click here. 

Sponsoring North Vancouver’s “Concerts in the Square”
Have you been to “Concerts in the Square” in North Vancouver? Now in its third year, this unique outdoor event features free outdoor concerts each Saturday night in August. The event is hosted in Shipbuilders’ Square, an outdoor plaza along the waterfront which is adjacent to the Lonsdale Quay, transit and ample parking. Concert is proud to be the presenting sponsor on Saturday, August 17 which will feature a wide variety of musical performances from Five Alarm Funk (funk), Redeye Empire (rock-reggae), Good for Grapes (folk/alternative) and Stef Lang (pop). In addition to the music, there will also be an “Art on the Pier” exhibit showcasing local artisans and vendors. Gates open at 5:00pm, with live music starting at 6:00pm.