(Nov. 12 2007 - refined proposals may be different from the ones from Sept 2006 listed in this posting. See the bottom post for the latest)
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On Wednesday, September 20, 2006 the City's Land Use, Planning and Transportation Committee will consider a report that outlines a program to give downtown developers the right to build more parking spots in exchange for saving a heritage building.
Herald Story:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 8ce90d4c23
Details from the City website:
Proposal going to the City's Land Use, Planning and Transportation Committee on Wednesday, September 20, 2006:
SUMMARY/ISSUE
Amendment to the Land Use Bylaw to allow the transfer of unused parking potential in the Downtown Restricted Parking Area to support historic preservation.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL DIRECTION/POLICY
On 2006 March 20, Council gave first reading to By-law 25P2006 relating to a new Downtown Parking Strategy. Council then adopted the following motion:
“F. Direct Administration to investigate the potential of amending the Land Use Bylaw to allow for the transfer of unused parking potential from designated Municipal Historic Resources located in the Downtown restricted parking area to alternate sites, to support the rehabilitation and economic viability of heritage buildings and report back to Council through the S.P.C. on Land Use, Planning and Transportation no later than 2006 June. “
At its meeting of 2006 June 21 the S.P.C. on Land Use, Planning and Transportation received a progress report and requested a further report on this topic at their meeting on 2006 September 20 (LPT2006-55).
ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the S.P.C. on Land Use, Planning and Transportation recommend that Council:
1. Approve the implementation of a program to allow the transfer of unused parking allocations from sites within the Downtown Restricted Parking Area, and the principles set out in the Attachment;
and
2. Instruct Administration to prepare the necessary administrative procedures and amendments to The Land Use Bylaw and process same to Council through the S.P.C. on Land Use, Transportation and Planning, and the Calgary Planning Commission (CPC).
INVESTIGATION
Over the last three months, Administration has undertaken an evaluation of the policy and other implications of allowing the transfer of unused parking potential between sites in the Downtown Restricted Parking Area (RPA). This has included consultation with key stakeholders, hiring of consultants to assist in the evaluation of the economics of this proposal and formulation of draft principles for such a program.
Principles
In formulating principles, Administration has followed the concepts already included in The Land Use Bylaw related to the transfer of potential density transfer for heritage preservation.
The attachment lists ten principles that Administration proposes form the basis of such a program. The key principles are:
1. To participate in this program a heritage site must be prepared to accept a Municipal Heritage Designation;
2. The number of potential parking stalls that could be transferred from a heritage site would be based on calculating a theoretical development density of 7 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for the area of that site to which the Municipal Heritage Designation applies;
3. A new development site wishing to acquire stalls from a heritage site would be limited to increasing their existing on-site allocation by a maximum of 20%; and
4. The owner of the heritage site will have to provide a statement to Council as to how they propose to use the proceeds of the transaction to protect and enhance the sustainability of the heritage resource.
Economic Analysis
Work undertaken by consultants for The City indicates that the ability to transfer a parking stall to a new development should have a monetary value. This value will vary depending on the location and design constraints of the site which receives the stalls. The consultants estimate that in today’s market that value could be between $4,000 and $12,000 per stall. The actual value paid for a stall will be the subject of negotiations between the two owners and will not involve The City.
Issues/Opportunities
The key issues raised by this proposal are:
1. It will allow the provision of long-stay parking stalls in the RPA without requiring the construction of new development that would generate a demand for that parking. This is contrary to the Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP) policies aimed at restricting the amount of long-stay parking in Downtown Calgary. Transportation Planning has expressed a concern that this will result in further traffic congestion, both within and accessing the Downtown.
2. It offers the potential to allow The City to place a Municipal Heritage Designation on sites within the Downtown with the support of the owner and without the need to provide any further compensation.
Given these two conflicting objectives the Administration has incorporated the following concepts into the proposed principles to achieve the heritage objectives while minimizing the potential adverse impact on the CTP objectives.
1. The number of potential stalls that can be transferred is highest on Category A heritage sites and less on the Category B and heritage C sites to ensure the program targets the most significant buildings. Based on this categorization, it is estimated that the potential maximum number of stalls which could be transferred under this program is in the order of 1500, if all the sites on the current Inventory of Potential Heritage Sites were to take advantage of it. Given the requirement to accept a Municipal Heritage Designation, and because it is likely more financially attractive to transfer the density potential as currently outlined in the Land Use Bylaw, as opposed to just parking, it is considered unrealistic that all existing heritage sites would take advantage of this program in the next five years.
2. It is proposed that this program have a “sunset clause” of 2011 December 31. This will enable The City to evaluate the success of the program in achieving its heritage objectives, assess the impact on CTP objectives and make a decision to continue, modify or abandon the program at that time. A more realistic estimate is that up to 500 stalls may be created under this program. If built, this number of stalls is not considered to pose a significant threat to the CTP objectives, particularly as they will be spread throughout the downtown.
Stakeholder Input
Administration has circulated the draft criteria to the Calgary Downtown Association (CDA), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP). Preliminary feedback from all three organizations is that they believe this is a positive program. BOMA has indicted that they do not believe it will be used by a large number of land owners given that the requirement for a Municipal Heritage Designation is the same as for a density transfer which would be more valuable.
The matter was reviewed at the July meeting of The Calgary Heritage Authority and they indicated strong support for such a program.
IMPLICATIONS
General
This proposal aligns with the ongoing work to prepare a comprehensive city wide Historic Resource Management Plan, by encouraging potential heritage sites in the RPA to accept a Municipal Heritage Designation.
Social
The preservation of heritage resources is a major contributor to ensuring an attractive and vibrant Downtown which will include a mixture of uses, users, activities and buildings.
Environmental
This proposal will encourage the retention rather than demolition of heritage resources in Downtown Calgary.
Increasing the supply of long-term parking stalls will encourage more vehicles to come Downtown in peak periods leading to increased traffic congestion and air pollution.
Economic (External)
This proposal will encourage innovative development in Downtown, by encouraging the retention and re-use of heritage resources and providing developers of new projects with the ability to increase the amount of parking they provide on-site.
BUSINESS PLAN/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS
The impact of implementing this program on Administration’s resources will depend upon the number of sites that wish to take advantage of it. It is anticipated that after an initial surge of enquiries to understand the program’s potential, the number who actually choose to pursue it will be limited. Therefore, it is anticipated that the resultant work load of the Heritage, Approving Authority and Law
will be involved in implementing it could be handled within existing budget allocations.
RISKS
This program could result in additional long-stay parking stalls in Downtown which could exacerbate traffic congestion, particularly if all the sites utilizing the additional parking option are concentrated in one area.
The strategies to manage these risks are:
1. The program will only be available initially for 5 years following which Council will have the opportunity to review and refine or abandon the program.
2. To utilize this program, a site must accept a Municipal Heritage Designation and this will limit the number of stalls created.
3. No individual development site can increase its on-site parking by more than 20% under this program, thus its impact should be spread out.
4. A Receiving Site is required to prove that its access arrangements can handle the increased traffic attributable to the transferred parking stalls.
ATTACHMENT
Principles related to Transfer of Unused Parking Allowance
from Heritage Sites in the Downtown Restricted Parking Area
Background
The following principles will be used to prepare the administrative procedures and necessary amendments to the Land Use Bylaw regarding the transfer of potential parking allowance from heritage sites to development sites within the Downtown Restricted Parking Area.
PRINCIPLES
1. Both the site from which the unused parking allowance is being transferred (the Donating Site) and the site to which the unused parking potential is being transferred (the Receiving Site) must be located in the Downtown Restricted Parking Area (RPA) as defined in Section 18 of Bylaw 2P80.
2. These provisions only apply to Donating and Receiving Sites which are restricted to providing a maximum of 50% of their required parking on-site. (Note: All sites in the RPA will meet this requirement after January 1, 2008.
3. To be eligible for consideration under this program the Donating Site must:
• Be on the City of Calgary Inventory of Potential Heritage Sites;
• Be prepared to accept a Municipal Heritage Designation under Section 28 of the Heritage Resources Act with compensation being the ability to sell the unused parking potential; and
• Provide a statement to the City indicating how all or part of the proceeds from the sale of parking will be utilized to protect or enhance the sustainability of the heritage site.
4. The number of stalls that may be transferred from a Donating Site shall be determined by:
• Calculating the amount of development potential of the area of the to which the Municipal Heritage Designation applies at 7 FAR;
• Calculating the total parking requirement for that amount of development; and
• Taking the following percentage of that figure and subtracting from it the number of structured parking stalls provided on the site.
o Category A Sites – 50% of overall requirement (on-site plus Cash In Lieu stalls)
o Category B Sites – 25% of overall requirement (on-site plus Cash In Lieu stalls)
o Category C Sites –10% of overall requirement (on-site plus Cash In Lieu stalls)
5. The Receiving Site may incorporate the transferred stalls it has obtained from the Donating Site, as additional to the number of stalls it is allowed to provide on-site to meet the 1 stall per 140 square metres parking requirement, provided the number of transferred stalls does not exceed 20% of the allowed on-site parking.
NOTE:
Should a site also provide additional short-stay stalls as per Council’s decision of 2006 September 11, these stalls cannot be counted in determining the 20% limit.
The provision of stalls transferred from a Heritage Site on a new development site is additional to that site’s normal parking obligation and does not reduce either its on-site or its Cash-in-Lieu of Parking obligation
6. The immediate street system providing access to the Receiving Site must be capable of handling the additional vehicles entering and leaving the parking facility.
7. A Receiving Site may receive parking from more than one Donating Site and a Donating Site may transfer stalls to more than one Receiving Site.
8. The Receiving Site(s) must be identified and accept a caveat at the time the Donating Site is designated as a Municipal Heritage Resource.
9. The transfer of unused parking allocation may occur separately from the transfer of density as per Section 42.3.5(h) of Bylaw 2P80. If, at a subsequent time, a density transfer occurs, such density shall not be entitled to or required to provide the number of parking stalls that have been transferred to another site.
10. This program is limited to heritage sites (The Donating Site) for which a Municipal Heritage Designation is approved prior to 2011 December 31. There is no time limit on when the Receiving Site must build the transferred parking stalls.