Carpere Canada’s proposed Valley View Centre project has taken another step forward after city council agreed to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaw to allow for further site redevelopment.
The entire site will be rezoned as a direct control district (DCD) — the first within the city — because it will take nearly a decade to build everything in the concept plan and because of changing market demands and various proposed uses.
The OCP says the city may create DCDs to deal more effectively with larger developments that face unique situations and do not fit traditional zoning requirements.
During its May 8 meeting, council voted unanimously to have city administration proceed with public notices to amend the OCP to accommodate a DCD, change the OCP future land use map of the Valley View site to DCD1 from community service (CS), and amend the OCP’s development constraints map to remove the environmental conservation easement from the site to address a mapping error.
City hall will then proceed with public notices to add DCD1 to the zoning bylaw and rezone the Valley View site to DCD1 from CS.
City administration will also post large signs in the area announcing the proposed amendments. Council specifically asked for this because of how frequently residents access that area.
Once these changes occur — the province must officially approve them — Carpere Canada can apply to council to subdivide the land, have affected streets and lanes closed and enter into service agreements.
“I really appreciate that we’re moving toward a direct control district because that gives a very distinct communication … . This is a big project with a lot of moving parts,” said Coun. Crystal Froese. “… we’ve never had this before because we’ve never had a neighbourhood quite like this come before us.”
Valley View was initially zoned as a community service/institutional district because of its past operations, a council report explained. Meanwhile, the OCP development constraints map inaccurately identified areas near the site — but not Valley View proper — as part of an environmental conservation easement.
Some DCD regulations include:
- Added land use definitions, including pop-up retail, live work units, urban farming and business incubators
- Regulations for pop-up retail spaces and to encourage active and pedestrian-oriented development
- Requirements for landscaping plans
- Flexible parking regulations
- Bicycle parking standards
- Council must approve all development proposals, excluding one-dwelling and pop-up retail spaces
Furthermore, the DCD1 development proposals must include:
- The conceptual design of the proposed buildings
- The colour, texture and type of materials and window detail and architectural details of the exteriors of the proposed buildings
- The relationship of the proposed buildings to adjacent accessible buildings
- Details of interior walkways, stairs and escalators to which residents have access from streets, open spaces and walkways in nearby buildings
The Richmond, British Columbia-based company held an open house at Grant Hall on April 13 as part of this process, which saw only seven residents — plus consultant Wallace Insights, Carpere owner Terry Tian, and two city staff — attend, the report continued.
The event featured four display boards, an OCP amendment map, the zoning bylaw amendment map and the DCD1 zoning provisions. There was also a continuously running PowerPoint presentation, the concept plan and a project fact sheet.
There was no opposition to the proposed rezoning, although most people wanted clarification about how far the development would be from the valley’s edge. They learned the development is away from the edge — Carpere must obey the city’s slumping regulations — and that area will be left as parkland.
There was also talk about Aboriginals’ historic use of the area.
“Former unmarked graves … may exist on the periphery of Valley View, but do not appear to be near the development sites,” the meeting summary said.
Attendees also had questions about what would happen if Carpere did something that went against the concept plan, the council report said.
Municipal officials said the city would not issue development permits if the plan did not conform to the OCP or zoning bylaw. Any major changes would have to occur as an amendment to the concept plan or zoning bylaw.
“Overall, most people did not appear to have concerns with the proposed DCD1 zoning district,” the report added.
The next regular council meeting is Tuesday, May 23.
