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2015-09-21_Agenda Packet--Dossier de l'ordre du jourCity of Saint John Common Council Meeting Monday, September 21, 2015 Committee of the Whole 1. Call to Order Si vous avez besoin des services en frangais pour une r6union de Conseil communal, veuillez contacter le bureau du greffier communal au 658 -2862. Each of the following items, either in whole or in part, is able to be discussed in private pursuant to the provisions of subsection 10.(2)(4) of the Municipalities Act and Council / Committee will make a decision(s) in that respect in Open Session: Closed Session Meeting 4: 00 p.m. Ludlow Room 8th Floor City Hall 1.1 Financial Matter 10.2(4)(c) 1.2 Potential Litigation 10.2(4)(g) Open Session Meeting 5:45 — 7: 00 p.m. Ludlow Room 8th Floor City Hall 1.3 Facilitated Discussion on Related Parking Issues (Bill Edwards) Identification of Issues Identification of Impediments Identification of Opportunities Potential Revenues / Optimization of Parking Garage Action Items — Identification of Lead Agency/Department (Short & Long Term) REPORT TO COMMON COUNCIL September 21, 2015 His Worship Mel Norton and Members of Common Council Your Worship and Councillors: SUBJECT Parking Lot Compliance Pilot Program Update BACKGROUND :4 City of Saint John This report provides an update on the Parking Lot compliance program in response to the Council -driven initiative to address the proliferation of illegal parking lots in the Uptown and Southern Peninsula. This pilot program initiative is intended to: • Ensure community standards for commercial parking lots in the City's new Zoning By -law are being met with respect to site improvements such as paving, curbing, stormwater drainage, access and landscaping requirements, which are aimed at ensuring a high quality of development in the Uptown and surrounding area. The pilot project demonstrates the City's commitment to upholding the City's new Zoning By -law. • Create a level playing field for public and private parking lot operators who have invested in their facilities in accordance with approved community standards and bylaws (e.g., Saint John Parking Commission). • Support development of these prime lands for more productive use as envisioned by PlanSJ. In January of this year, Growth and Community Development Services began a pilot project to address non - compliant parking lots in the Uptown area. The focus of the project is in the area surrounding the Carleton Street parking garage (Station St., Garden St., Union St., Richmond St. areas), and the south peninsula between Water Street and Charlotte Street. These areas were selected due to their proximity to the City's business district and the high concentration of parking compliance issues. With Council support, staff has been engaged in a pilot project for 2015 to focus resources during the winter months to achieve results and promote improved compliance for unapproved parking lots in the defined Uptown area. The program has involved the following efforts: Common Council - 2 - September 21, 2015 • Property research and inspections to verify property information and records from the initial mapping exercise. Each property file was then thoroughly researched to determine if the property is legally non - conforming and what is needed to have the property conform to the current Zoning By -law. • A multi- faceted enforcement strategy was developed and implemented using various compliance tools to achieve voluntary compliance, such as personal contact, formal notifications, and the land gazette notification system, to name a few. • Notifications and follow -up with individual property owners to confirm their intentions. The level of effort for a focused program of this nature is extensive for inspection, planning and management staff. To date, time spent on inspection and research is estimated at 200 hours at a minimum; program management, tracking, and administration is estimated at 175 hours; time for internal discussions and meetings with property owners is estimated at 40 hours, not including time to process conditional use or rezoning applications. Total estimated time spent to date is 415 hours, which equates to 60 full workdays, or 12 work - weeks. At the conclusion of inspections and research, thirty-six properties were identified as being non - compliant. ANAT,VCTC The City's Zoning By -law provides for parking lots to be established, with specific requirements depending on the location and zoning of the property. The specific provisions of the Zoning By -law will inform the compliance options available to the City. Under the Zoning By -law, parking lots generally fall into one of four categories: 1. Commercial Parking Lots - there are essentially two ways in which a commercial parking lot can be established in the Uptown/Southern Peninsula, depending on a property's zoning. The majority of properties (89 %) subject to the Parking Compliance Program are zoned either Uptown Commercial - CU (50 %) or Urban Centre Residential - RC (39 %) and fall in this category. Conditional Use Application: In the commercial CU zone, a commercial parking lot is a Conditional Use in the Zoning By -law, meaning it is permitted subject to adhering to the parking standards in the By -law and any reasonable conditions imposed by the Planning Advisory Committee (PAC). Rezoning Application: In the mixed use Urban Centre Residential (RC) zone or the Mixed Commercial (CM) zone a commercial parking lot is not a permitted use; therefore, a rezoning application would be required to permit the use. PAC hears the application and makes a recommendation to Council; Council has the authority to decide to approve or deny these applications, with or without conditions. 2. Accessory Parking Lots — parking is permitted on the same lot as a business or residence. With these lots, no enforcement action is being taken provided they Common Council - 3 - September 21, 2015 are legally existing accessory parking lots; and none of the parking spaces are being rented to persons who are not customers, employees, or tenants. 3. Legal Non - Conforming Parking Lots - these are parking lots that have been legally established at some point in the past. No enforcement action is currently being taken on these lots; however, there may be some properties that have outstanding compliance issues associated with previous approvals. 4. Non - Compliance with Required Conditions and /or Zone Standards - these are parking lots that are legal but have not been developed in accordance with the conditions and/or standards that were required at the time the commercial parking lot was approved. The pilot program is currently focused on addressing commercial parking lots due to the concentration and visibility of these sites within the Uptown business district. While the pilot program has been resource intensive, focused efforts have resulted in surprising cooperation by property owners. It is unprecedented to have such high and positive response to notices of non - compliance. With the exception of five properties that required additional research and were only recently notified of the program, all property owners contacted Staff upon receiving the notices of non - compliance and most are cooperating with the intention of complying, by either making the necessary applications or ceasing the use of their properties as commercial parking lots. Of the thirty -six properties currently subject to the program: • 12 properties fall into the conditional use category, requiring an application to PAC to continue the commercial parking use; • 10 properties require rezoning in order for the use to continue; • 5 properties were determined to be permitted (legal non - conforming), but required a formal Change of Use permit to be issued; • 4 properties were previously approved for parking, but conditions attached have to be amended to allow the parking to continue; • 5 properties are those where parking is permitted as an accessory use, as long as only tenants, employees, or customers park there. For those property owners who have advised they intend to cease using or allowing the use of parking on their property, staff developed a specification to essentially block off access to the property. Some of the property owners were concerned that even if they "evict" their parking tenants, unauthorized vehicles may end up parking there without their permission. To address this, staff will be looking for property owners to comply with the installation of bollards that meet the attached Bollard Specification. Bollards will be placed by property owners at access points /curb cuts on the property to discourage illegal parkers. The specifications were developed by Planning and Heritage staff to ensure appropriateness in the City's Uptown. Common Council - 4 - September 21, 2015 Summary of Property Compliance and Recommendations for Non - Compliant Cases A summary of the status of the 36 cases is shown in the table and explained in further detail below: Status # Cases Compliance 8 Conditional use applications pending 9 Ongoing cooperative discussions — voluntary compliance expected 9 Early stages of program (15Y notice just sent) 5 Non - compliant — legal action recommended 5 Five properties now fully comply; "change of use" permits have been issued and the cases are closed. Three property owners have taken steps to ensure only permitted tenants, employees and customers will be parking in the lots; staff will monitor these lots for a period of time to ensure continued compliance. Currently, there are nine applications to the Planning Advisory Committee for conditional uses (6 cases) and amendments to previous conditional use approvals (3 cases) that will be addressed at either the September 15th or the October 20th meeting of the PAC. For these properties, staff recommends no further action be taken until the planning processes are concluded. If PAC imposes conditions, staff will monitor to ensure compliance with the conditions and report back to Council if there is non - compliance. Legal action may be recommended at that time. Staff is still in positive discussions with a number of property owners who have shown a willingness to comply, but have yet to finalize their go- forward plans (9 cases); voluntary compliance is expected for these files. For example, one property owner has been out of the province for a number of months and has committed to staff to address the issue of non - compliance once she returns to Saint John later this month. In another case, the organization's representative contacted staff after receiving the notice and has indicated that they will be making application for a rezoning, but has not yet completed the paperwork. Staff recommends holding off on legal action with these property owners at this time while discussions continue, but commit to reporting back to Council in due course with a status report on these properties. If resolution has not come about with these files at that time, legal action may be recommended Five cases are in the early stages of the compliance program, with the first notice recently being sent out (4 cases) and research is being finalized on another case before contact is made with the owner. Finally, there are five properties that continue to be in violation with no applications pending that staff recommends for legal action Common Council - 5 - September 21, 2015 Advancing these files to legal action is strongly recommended and is imperative in sending a strong message that non - compliance will not be accepted. It also supports the concept of building a culture of compliance in the City, which is a key focus of the improvements coming forward with the One -Stop Development Shop initiative. As has been experienced with other focused by -law enforcement programs, such as the Vacant and Dangerous Buildings program, comprehensive and dedicated compliance programs achieve positive results and the outcomes the City is looking for. The high response rate in this pilot program to date is evidence of the benefit of a focused, multi- faceted compliance program that is fully supported by Council. INPUT FROM OTHER SOURCES The City Solicitor's Office has been consulted in the preparation of this report. Next Steps Once the properties subject to the pilot program are resolved and concluded, staff will look to Council for direction on how to proceed further. For instance, staff could advise Council on how the program could be expanded to other areas of the City, or on how the program could be refocused to investigate approved parking lots that have not complied with previously imposed standards and conditions. Alternatively, staff could explore other focused compliance programs, preferably in line with the implementation of the One -Stop Development Shop. RECOMMENDATION Your City Manager recommends the following resolution: RESOLVED that the City Manager be directed to provide a report to Common Council at its meeting of October 13, 2015, identifying the properties with respect to which prosecution proceedings are recommended. Respectfully Submitted, - Amy Poffenroth, PEng, MBA Chief Building Inspector and Deputy Commissioner Growth and Community Development Services Jacqueline Hamilton, MCIP, RPP Common Council - 6 - September 21, 2015 Commissioner, Growth and Community Development Services Jeff Trail City Manager Attachments: Bollard Specification Bollard Specification Parking Lot Compliance Program Intent To cease the use of a parking lot, bollards must be installed in accordance with these specifications to prevent vehicular access to the site. Dimensions • Bollards must be a minimum of 0.15 metres by 0.15 metres in diameter. • Bollards must be a minimum of 0.75 metres in height to a maximum of 1.25 metres in height. Materials • Bollards may include fence posts and guardrail posts. • Bollards must be made of hardwood. Placement • The bollards must be installed on private property, not in the public right -of -way. • The bollards must be installed along the entire width of each access at a maximum spacing of 1.75 metres. • Where a curb cut exists, bollards must be installed spanning the entire width of the curb cut with the outer bollards in alignment with the curb cut. Example Site Plan ■ H Parking lot ■ U ■ a Access Street 1�. a Growth and Community Development Services City of Saint John I August 6, 2015 Bollard Drawing U a; aj is min 0.15 metres Growth and Community Development Services City of Saint John I August 6, 2015 Ln v E Ln N rl C Ln P i N E Ul O C