Finance and Economic Development Committee
Comité des finances
et du développement économique
and Council / et au Conseil
28 February 2012 / le 28 février 2012
Submitted
by/Soumis par: Kent Kirkpatrick/Directeur municipal,
City Manager’s Office/Bureau du directeur
municipal
Contact Person/Personne-ressource :
Steve Box, Director, Corporate Programs, Outreach and Business Services /
directeur, Programmes municipaux, Rayonnement et Services opérationnels, City
Manager’s Office / Bureau du directeur municipal
613‑580‑2424, ext/poste 24200
Ref N°: ACS2012-CMR-OCM-0004 |
SUBJECT:
|
QUARTIER
VANIER MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION (BIA) BOUNDARY EXPANSION |
|
|
OBJET:
|
MARCHANDS DU VANIER MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
AGRANDISSEMENT DES LIMITS DE LA ZAC |
That the
Finance and Economic Development Committee recommend Council:
1.
Designate the area described by Document 1 as an
expanded Business Improvement Area (BIA), under Sections 204 and 209 of the
Municipal Act, 2001;
2.
Authorize and direct the City Clerk to send out a
notice of Council's intention to pass a by-law to alter the existing BIA
boundaries, as defined in Document 1, in accordance with Section 210 of the
Municipal Act, 2001;
3.
Authorize and direct the City Solicitor to prepare a
by-law to designate the area as an expanded Business Improvement Area, as
described in Document 1, in accordance with Sections 204 and 209 of the
Municipal Act, 2001; and
4. Enact the aforementioned by-law in accordance with section 204 and 209 of the Municipal Act, 2001, subject to the City Clerk receiving favourable results on the notices referred to in Recommendation 2, advising of the intention to pass a by-law expanding the boundary.
Que le Comité des finances et du développement économique recommande ce
qui suit au Conseil :
1.
Désigner le secteur décrit dans le
document 1 comme étant une zone d'amélioration commerciale (ZAC) élargie, en
vertu des articles 204 et 209 de la Loi de 2001sur les municipalités;
2.
Permettre et prescrire au greffier
municipal de publier un avis de l'intention du Conseil d'adopter un règlement
municipal modifiant les limites actuelles de la ZAC, définie dans le document
1, conformément à l'article 210 de la Loi de 2001 sur les municipalités;
3.
Permettre et prescrire au chef du
contentieux de rédiger le texte d’un règlement municipal désignant le secteur
décrit dans le document 1 ci-joint comme zone d’amélioration commerciale
agrandie en vertu des articles 204 et 209 de la Loi de 2001 sur les
municipalités;
4. Adopter le règlement municipal susmentionné en vertu des articles 204 et
209 de la Loi de 2001 sur les municipalités, à condition que le greffier de la
Ville reçoive des réponses généralement favorables à l’avis, mentionné dans la
recommandation 2, de l’intention d’adopter un règlement municipal agrandissant
la ZAC.
Created in 1985, the Vanier Business Improvement Area
(BIA) included the three primary commercial streets in the former City of
Vanier: McArthur Road, Montreal Road and the south side of Beechwood Avenue. While
these streets were at the commercial heart of the Vanier community, they were
not the only businesses operating in the area.
Despite the prevalence of other commmerical activities in the vicinity,
it was not possible to extend the boundary of the BIA beyond the former jurisdiction
of the City of Vanier even though the businesses were essentially operating
next door.
As as a result, the
following important business areas were excluded from participation in the BIA:
This jurisdictional
limitation was most pronounced along Beechwood Avenue. Over the years, the BIA
had installed lighting on the south side of Beechwood as part of street
beautification initiatives. However, the BIA could not replicate the look on
the north side of Beechwood because it was outside their jurisdiction and,
where developers installed new fixtures as part of private redevelopment
projects, the lighting was of a different make and colour.
Similarly, the BIA
recently initiated a street banner program that included Beechwood Avenue, but
because one side of the street was outside the boundary, the BIA could only
place banners on one side of the street. Clearly, there is a need for change.
Ottawa’s
amalgamation in 2001 opened the door to expanding the limits of the BIA to
include those businesses that had previously been excluded due to the limits of
Vanier’s municipal jurisdiction. While expansion of the BIA has been considered
for some time, it had been deferred in order to address pressing priorities, including
safety and maintenance issues in the
area.
In 2010,
Shore-Tanner and Associates completed a trade area and market analysis on
behalf of the BIA that outlined the nature and extent of the business activity in
the area and highlighted the
relationships between the businesses located in Vanier. In February 2011, as
part of a visioning exercise, the BIA’s Board of Management adopted a direction
to move forward with the expansion. Since that time, the BIA has carried out a
number of outreach activities (described later in this report under
Consultation) among both members and potential members to gauge the level of
receptiveness to the idea of expansion. The results of these activities have
been largely supportive.
Based on the positive support, the Board of Management passed a motion at its meeting of October 4th to initiate a formal request to the City of Ottawa to initiate a boundary expansion for the BIA (the proposed boundaries are shown in Document 1). A copy of the BIA's formal request to the City is attached as Document 2.
Section 204. (1) of the Municipal Act states, in part, that a municipality may designate an
area as an improvement area. The section goes on to describe that the purposes
of a BIA are to oversee the improvement, beautification and maintenance of
municipally-owned land, buildings and structures in the area beyond that
provided at the expense of the municipality generally; and to promote the area
as a business or shopping area. It is clear that these purposes are meant to be
applied to a unique and discrete trade area where businesses share both a
common geography and character. A business improvement area provides an
efficient vehicle and a reliable source of independent funding for just these
purposes.
Previous jurisdictional limitations related to the municipal boundaries of the City of Ottawa and the former City of Vanier blocked the inclusion of all businesses within the logical trade area. However, the amalgamation of the City of Ottawa in 2001 removed this impediment. Since Ottawa and Vanier are now both included in the new City of Ottawa, the development of a BIA with boundaries that reflect the unique Vanier trade area is possible, and the Board of Management of the BIA wishes to work towards including these previously excluded businesses.
On June 21, 2011, approximately twenty people
representing various businesses on Beechwood Avenue, as well as members from
the BIA's Board of Management, attended an information meeting to discuss the
proposed expansion of the BIA. Additionally, Councillors Mathieu Fleury and
Peter Clark were present to represent their respective wards. The BIA sent
invitations to the meeting to all businesses in the area and supplemented this
by making some door-to-door visits. Discussion during the meeting was lively
and positive and the general outcome of the meeting was a clear indication of
support for moving the expansion process forward.
Following the public meeting, the BIA carried out a
thorough survey to gauge the level of support among the businesses in the
proposed expansion area, as well as the level of support from businesses in the
existing BIA. The BIA also attempted to
contact the businesses that were not in attendance at the meeting of June 21 to
make them aware of the BIA’s expansion plans. As shown in Figure 1, the survey results
indicate substantial support in favour of the proposed boundary expansion: 80% reported that they were in favour or
neutral about the expansion, 18% were unreachable or undecided, and only 2%
indicated that they were against the expansion.
Figure
1 - Results of a survey to gauge support for an
expansion of the Quartier Vanier BIA boundaries
The detailed survey also revealed that support was strong among both businesses in the existing BIA area as well as businesses in the proposed expansion area.
Survey of Expansion Area:
Ø
McArthur
Avenue
o 24 businesses surveyed – 58% were in favour of the expansion; 42% are neutral or did not respond.
Ø
Montreal
Road
o 3 businesses surveyed – one business was in favour of the expansion; two businesses did not respond.
Ø
Beechwood
Avenue
o 25 businesses surveyed – 76% were in favour of the expansion; 24% are neutral or did not respond.
Survey of Existing BIA Area:
Ø
McArthur
Avenue
o 29 businesses surveyed – 83% were in favour of the expansion.
Ø
Montreal
Road
o 18 businesses surveyed – 83% were in favour of the expansion.
Ø
Beechwood
Avenue
o 21 businesses surveyed – 95% were in favour of the expansion.
Councillor Fleury: “I am aware of and fully support this boundary expansion for the
Quartier Vanier Merchants Association. I look forward to seeing the excellent
results that the BIA has consistently achieved now extended to the complete
central Vanier Business Area.”
There are no legal impediments to approving the recommendations in this report.
N/A
This initiative is directly aligned with the City’s Economic Prosperity priority (EP3 – Support growth of local economy) and will enable the achievement of short- and long-term success of enterprises in our City.
The City’s cost for the notice of Council’s intention mail out is approximately $400, and will be funded from within Economic Development’s operating budget.
Any additional budget requirements of the BIA would be funded through the BIA levy, and would have no direct financial implications to the City. Should the expansion be passed, any associated budget and levy changes will be brought forward in 2013.
Document 1: Proposed Boundary Expansion map
Document 2: Formal Request to amend the Business Improvement Area boundaries
City Clerk will forward notices to affected property
owners as provided for in the Municipal
Act, 2001.
Legal Services
Branch will prepare a by-law to designate the area as an expanded Business
Improvement Area, as described in Document 1, in accordance with Sections 204
and 209 of the Municipal Act, 2001,
and place the aforementioned by-law on the Orders of the Day, subject to the
responses to the aforementioned notices.
Economic Development staff will report back on the results of the
circulation, and whether the expansion was successful.
Document 1
Quartier
Vanier Merchants Association (BIA)
Proposed Boundary Expansion map
December 6, 2011
Rick O’Connor
City Clerk & Solicitor Department
City Manager’s Office
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1J1
Dear Mr. O’Connor,
Please accept this letter as a formal
request to amend the boundaries of the Business Improvement Area (BIA) for the
Quartier Vanier – business area #041.
This request for a BIA boundary amendment
is based on the need to be inclusive of all businesses, and potential
businesses in our community. When the Vanier BIA was first formed in 1985, the
north side of Beechwood Avenue from the Crichton Street to Acacia Avenue along
with the sections of Montréal Road, east of Ducharme and McArthur Ave., east of
Belisle to St. Laurent Boulevard were not made part of the business improvement
area, as they were not within the boundary of the former City of Vanier.
Since 2001, the Vanier BIA has been
working to include these businesses as they are part of the natural trade area
with the existing BIA. This creates an unfair situation for members and
excluded businesses alike, most notably on Beechwood Avenue, as the BIA programming
provides some benefits paid for by the existing members but supporting the
broader area which currently do not contribute to the levy. The proposed expansion of the boundary for
the Quartier Vanier Merchants Association (BIA) would encompass all properties
within this area.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I
would request that the City of Ottawa initiate the process to amend the BIA
boundary amendment and keep the Quartier Vanier BIA apprised at key points,
through correspondence with the Executive Director, as the application follows
its course to completion. It is our desire to have the boundary
amendment process completed and a new by-law adopted by City Council by spring
2012.
Thank you and best regards,
John Therien
Chair, Quartier Vanier
Merchants Association (BIA)
Cc. Suzanne Valiquet
Chris Cope
Attachment: (Background
Report)
(Board
Motion)