HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO 08-18From: Subject: T any Prevedel Chief Administrative Officer Report to Council Report Number: CAO 08-18 Date: October 1, 2018 City Centre Vision: Design and Implementation Strategy -File: A-1440-001 Recommendation: 1. That staff be directed to commence negotiations with OPB Realty Inc., the owner of Pickering Town Centre (PTC), on a joint venture initiative to develop Phase One of the City Centre Vision, which includes a portion of the PTC lands immediately west of Glenanna Road and City of Pickering lands immediately south of The Esplanade South, as shown in Attachment No. 1; 2. That the above negotiations include the construction of a new Arts Centre by PTC, with lease terms to be mutually agreed upon; 3. That the above negotiations include the construction of a new Seniors/Youth Centre and a new Central Library adjacent to a public square, on a parcel to be transferred to the City of Pickering; 4. That, as part of the above negotiations, consideration be given to transferring City of Pickering lands south of The Esplanade South to PTC, as part of the City's equity in the entire project; 5. That staff be directed to continue discussions with CAP REIT with respect to the adjoining 10 acre parcel immediately south of the Civic Complex, with a view to ensure compatibility of their proposed redevelopment and intensification with the overall City Centre Vision; and 6. That the appropriate City of Pickering officials report back to Council by the first quarter of 2019 with a proposed implementation plan and business case. Executive Summary: During the 2017 budget process, the concept of a Grande Esplanade Project was first introduced to Council. The initial concept plan envisioned the Arts Centre, the Seniors/Youth Centre, and the Central Library expansion being planned within the City of Pickering lands south of the Civic Complex. After further review and study during the course of 2017, funds were then included and presented to Council during the 2018 budget process, for the design and construction of the proposed new Seniors/Youth Centre ($26.5 million), plus $400,000 in soft costs to determine and set the City's facility operational statement of requirements, identify all building design criteria, system requirements, performance levels and other deliverables. This latter work was necessary to
CAO 08-18 Subject: City Centre Vision October 1, 2018 Page 2 ensure protection of the City's interests as part of a potential public/private partnership for construction of the facility. With the recent closing of Sears retail stores across the country, and in particular at the Pickering Town Centre (PTC), the relocation of the movie theatres to the west side of the mall, and the major shift occurring within the retail landscape, staff have had preliminary discussions with OPB Realty Inc., the owner of PTC, regarding the redevelopment of the east side of the PTC property to establish a variety of compatible residential and non-residential uses that would fit within the context of the City's vision for intensification within the City Centre. Specific consideration has been given to the creation of a public square, the relocation of the Central Pickering Library to the east side of the mall, and the development of an Arts Centre and a Senior/Youth Centre on the PTC property. Additionally, staff have been in contact with CAPREIT, owners of residential properties directly south of the Civic Complex, who are considering redevelopment of their lands to integrate with this overall vision. This presents a unique opportunity to integrate a number of distinct, yet significant, private and public interests in a cohesive and architecturally visceral manner, which would create a true landmark destination that would transform the downtown core and ultimately redefine Pickering's identity. The ability to combine a dense and walkable residential community with a dynamic commercial node, state of the art municipal facilities, and a central public. plaza will transform this City Centre into a vibrant and high quality sustainable community where residents can live, work, learn, and play. This transformation will require close cooperation between all stakeholders, including PTC, City Council, and staff in order to successfully implement the new vision. There are several significant components to be agreed upon, which consists of: developing the master plan for the City Centre Vision; working together to optimize the use of both City of Pickering and PTC owned lands; accommodating the new and improved community facilities in the area; and providing parking for all of the proposed uses. City staff will stress the importance of developing a mix of housing and home ownership opportunities to serve a broad and diverse spectrum of residents. In addition, staff will advocate for the integration of smart and technologically innovative features into the project to strengthen Pickering's reputation as a smart city, and attract the best and brightest residents and businesses. The City Centre is recognized as the heart of the City, a gathering place for residents and the focus of the City's revitalization efforts. This development will give the City Centre a definable identity, and a thriving and attractive environment offering distinct culture, arts; recreation, entertainment, retail, restaurants and employment. Effectively, this new City Centre will create a welcoming destination for all ages and cultural groups to use every day.
CAO 08-18 Subject: City Centre Vision October 1, 2018 Page 3 Financial Implications: There are 2 cost components to be considered for any new City facility: construction and operation. Both of these costs can have a large financial impact to the City/taxpayer. Capital Costs & Funding The most recent Development Charge Study (adopted December 11, 2017) includes major funding for the Seniors/Youth Centre and Library. A breakdown of the funding is presented below. DC Taxpayer Funding Funding Project % % Seniors/Youth Centre 87.74 12.26 Library 51.26 48.74 For every dollar spent on the Seniors/Youth Centre project, the taxpayer is only responsible for 12.26 cents. The preliminary Seniors/Youth Centre estimated (2018) cost is $26.3 million, of which $23.1 million will be funded from development charges. The finance strategy is to fund the taxpayer share ($3.2 million) through long-term (20) year debt. As the 2018 budget already includes funding for the debt charges, this project is shovel ready from a financial perspective. Development charge funding for capital projects is related to new growth. The new Central Library facility associated with phase one represents additional space attributed to new growth and replacement of the existing building. Therefore, development charge funding can only be applied to the additional space, and this results in a higher taxpayer funding component. However, with the new Seniors/Youth Centre building being in very close proximity to the new library, there may be an opportunity to achieve economies of scale regarding these two buildings to reduce their physical spa·ce and therefore, cost. Given the substantially higher level of DC funding available for the seniors/youth building, opportunities will be explored to take advantage of this funding opportunity. Operating Costs These new buildings will be designed with proven energy efficient technologies to reduce future energy and operating costs as much as possible. From a financial planning perspective, it is assumed that each building will have higher operating costs due to increased staffing (programming) and a higher level of service (longer hours). Staff's preliminary assumption is that each building's additional operating cost will be approximately $350,000 per year. City Centre Phase One Assessment Growth City Centre Phase One includes the construction of several new buildings that will generate additional assessment/taxation revenues. With greenfield development, the City experiences additional costs, such as snow removal associated with new roads and grass cutting for new parks. However, it is anticipated that the additional costs with the City Centre Phase One
CAO 08-18 Subject: City Centre Vision October 1, 2018 Page 4 development will be minimal and that the additional assessment growth will be applied to offset capital and operating costs. At this time, the overall planning is at a highly conceptual level. It is staff's understanding that Phase One will consist of construction of the following new buildings: A condominium tower along the South Esplanade, and 2 condominium towers, a hotel and retail on the PTC property. The property tax revenue for each condominium tower can range from $400,000 to $600,000, depending upon the number of floors and sales price of the units. The property tax yield for the new hotel and retail space cannot be estimated or calculated as detailed information necessary to establish the assessment value is not available. Additionally, the demolition of the Sears building and east wing of the mall will reduce the additional taxation revenue. The preliminary financial plan is to allocate the additional property tax revenue generated from the Phase One construction to the capital cost of the new city facilities. The financial outlook associated with this multi-building project will become clearer as the various building footprints and design are refined. Larger/taller buildings will generate additional property taxation revenues and smaller buildings will reduce the City's taxation revenue. Staff will include project details and costs estimates in future reports as they become available. Discussion: The development opportunity within the Pickering City Centre provides a long-term direction for the City. It is the culmination of concepts and ideas that originated within the City's visioning exercise completed in 2012. The City Centre Vision will be dynamic and flexible to accommodate the growth opportunities for current and future planning policies. Central Library The need for an expanded Central Library facility has been documented in previous reports prepared by the Library, with the assistance of Chamberlain Architects Services Limited. PTC is proposing to build a new, state-of-the-art expanded Central Library that meets the City's requirements, and placing the new library adjacent to and integral with the mall. The proposed new Central Library building is intended to be approximately 55,000 sq. ft.in gross floor area, which would address the space and facility deficits, which have been identified by the community. The new build library would be designed in alignment with principles established through community consultation and outlined in a report previously submitted to Council. It will be a spacious, highly visible, welcoming and accessible place where all members of the community can come together to gather information and exchange ideas. This new state-of-the-art library is also envisioned to incorporate the needs of a generation that reads, learns, and thinks differently. The relocation of the Central Library to the PTC lands will create vacant space within the Civic Complex, which will allow consolidation of City staff into one central location and offer room for expansion and growth.
CAO 08-18 Subject: City Centre Vision Seniors and Youth Centre October 1, 2018 Page 5 The Seniors Centre at the East Shore Community Centre has reached its end of life. With the vibrancy of the South Pickering Senior's Club and the need for youth facilities, it is essential to have a new state of the art multi-purpose recreation facility located in the heart of the City's downtown core. The new Seniors/Youth Centre is anticipated to feature a full sized gymnasium, meeting/program rooms, and youth and seniors spaces to meet the recreational needs of this growing and thriving demographic. Originally built in 1951 as a local elementary school, the East Shore Community Centre (ESCC) was later purchased by the City of Pickering and converted into a community centre. Several additions have been made to the building over the years, including the Seniors' Centre expansion in 1988 and Lawn Bowling/Community Room expansion in 1999. In the end, ESCC was not designed or built as a functional Seniors Centre and there are no further space efficiencies to be found within the confines of the existing structure. Unfortunately, the needs of Pickering's active seniors population, including the South Pickering Seniors' Club, are not effectively being met at the existing ESCC. Similarly, ESCC provides insufficient facility amenities to Pickering youth as the gymnasium is undersized and the youth room is heavily worn. For this reason, the City of Pickering often relies on school gymnasiums to provide municipal sport/recreation activities, which can be inefficient and unreliable. A dedicated full sized gymnasium within a new Seniors/Youth Centre will allow for a variety of shared uses over the course of the day. Clearly, today's youth and seniors are looking for safe, informal and creative social environments · where they can gather and participate in programs. A new Seniors/Youth Centre in Pickering's downtown (which has direct access to public transit, access on foot or bicycle, proximity to commercial areas and municipal amenities such as parklands, recreational facilities and libraries) will provide immediate and intangible benefits to Pickering's seniors and youth. Arts Centre The proposed Arts Centre has been endorsed unanimously by Council and the partnership with PTC will bring this much needed facility to Pickering. The Arts Centre is envisioned to include a theatre, visual arts gallery and rehearsal/program space and will create a cultural hub in Pickering's downtown. At this early stage, staff will consider the need to hire the Executive Director of the new Arts Centre so that the City has direct input into the design and construction of this world class facility. The City of Pickering will continue to collaborate with the Durham West Arts Centre (DWAC) Foundation on this important project. DWAC Foundation has provided invaluable expertise from its members, and worked very closely with the City of Pickering over the past several years to bring this vision to life. Planning Considerations The City's Urban Design Guidelines were endorsed by Council in April, 2017 and are intended to assist with decision making for all development proposals within the City Centre in terms of built form, streetscape and open space design.
CAO 08-18 Subject: City Centre Vision October 1, 2018 Page 6 One of the key objectives of the community vision for the City Centre is that it will be a place that contains a variety of housing choices that offer a high quality of life for people of different ages and incomes to enjoy. These places will be in close proximity to transit, their place of work, and the services that Pickering City Centre has to offer. Phase One of the City Centre development will combine a number of mixed use buildings, with City facilities on the ground floor(s) and office or residential towers above, effectively creating a financially viable and sustainable development that meets the objectives of the Urban Design Guidelines. To encourage affordable housing, City staff will be exploring the option of waiving development charge fees with matching contributions from the Region of Durham. As the master plan is refined, consideration will be given to strategically locate these buildings so as to optimize visibility of the iconic Pickering City Hall building and these new City facilities, while anchoring the public space. Moving Forward The City has retained Chamberlain Architect Services Limited to work closely with City staff and PTC in the development of design concepts and master plans to support the City's vision of the City Centre. Chamberlain previously provided conceptual facility designs for the Senior/Youth Facility and for the Central Library expansion as part of the original Grande Esplanade project. Given the firm's experience with these facilities, and the City Centre itself, Chamberlain Architects are well positioned to represent the City's interests to ensure consistency with the City's functional requirements and desired outcomes for the City Centre. Once our discussions with the stakeholders have reached a point where a feasible business case can be put forward, staff will report back to Council for further direction and implementation. It is our desire to see all of the above projects break ground within a 3 to 4 year window. In order to realize the fullest potential of the City Centre, it is essential for the City of Pickering to have a close and positive collaboration with its surrounding neighbours over these next several months and years. To this end, it is recommended that Council direct staff to commence negotiations with OPB Realty Inc., the owner of PTC, on a joint venture initiative to develop Phase One of the City Centre Vision and to continue discussions with CAPREIT with respect to the adjoining 10 acre parcel immediately south of the Civic Complex. Attachments: 1 . Sample Renderings
CAO 08-18 Subject: City Centre Vision Prepared By: Paul Bigioni Director, Corpor , .. ervices & City Solicitor Stan Karwowski, MBA, CPA, CMA Director, Finance & Treasurer Kyle Bentley, P. Eng Director, City Development & CBO Recommended for the consideration of Pickering City Council f-T~vedel, P.Eng. Chief Administrative Officer Prepared By: October 1, 2018 Page 7 ~ Cathy Grant CEO, Pickering Public Library Marisa Carpino, MA Director, Community Services
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