Rigid zoning by-laws that were a logical solution to land-use control in the North American social milieu resulted in an equally logical wish for more flexibility in land-use controls. Experiments resulting from this brought about various devices to make zoning more flexible in its application. One of these devices was zoning for comprehensively planned developments. The need to improve this zoning device is important because an increasing number of large-scale developments are built in our cities as they seem more suitable to modern living conditions than the single house on a single lot. In Vancouver, the city of the case study, such a zoning device for large-scale developments of mixed land-uses has existed since 1956 in the form of the CD-I district schedule. Since that time various criticisms have been levelled against it. These criticisms were collected in this paper and an attempt was made to rectify what was found at fault in the CD-I schedule. Means to rectify these faults were taken from planning experiences in Vancouver, B. C.; Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Several major solutions were found suitable as a result of this study. It was seen necessary to have a general development plan for the city before any rezoning to CD-I projects should be allowed. Without such a plan it would not be possible to assess the impact of each development, and rezoning decisions would, as a result, be very arbitrary. A general development plan does not exist in Vancouver. A further fault was found in the absence of any guide-lines in the CD-I schedule. Developers, property owners, planners and City Council cannot properly assess what constitutes a proper CD-I project without them. Much misuse of the CD-I schedule results from this. Suggestions to rectify these misuses are to clarify the objectives of CD-I zones. Out of these objectives certain standards should be set in respect to land parcel sizes, requirement of a minimum of two land-uses, completion dates of the project, placing of performance bonds for fulfilment of imposed conditions and others. It was also suggested that a clause be inserted in the existing zoning schedules which would permit comprehensively planned developments of a similar land-use as in the respective schedules. Because the CD-I schedule leaves much discretionary power to civic officials, certain needs to check these were also found to be important considerations. Suggestions were made to have each alderman record his reasoning for permitting a rezoning and to provide a cooling-off period after a public hearing before decisions were made. Finally, it was found that with the increasing complexity of planning a provincial review board of planning experts should be established to hear appeals of aggrieved citizens. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Reports published recently by the Planning Departments of both the City of Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver Regional District have referred to the suburbanization of industry and the need for an industrial land use policy for both the City and the Region. The City of Vancouver has expressed concern about the negative consequences of suburbanization of industry and adopted a policy favouring industrial development in the City. In considering the factors which influence the supply and location of industrial land, the impact of planning legislation warrants investigation. Planning legislation is the major implementation tool of urban planning. The relationship between planning legislation and residential development has received considerable attention in the literature. Significantly less interest has been expressed in the impact of legislation on industrial land. The evolution of industrial zoning in Vancouver and its impact on the supply and location of industrial land in the city are the focus of this thesis. Early zoning by-laws were established to protect residential and commercial areas from the encroachment of industry. Planning legislation in more recent times has reflected a policy toward industry in urban areas that has ranged from restrictive control to neglect. Vancouver's planning legislation as it applies to industrial areas allows office commercial uses to be developed in industrial areas. The impact of this practice on the pattern of industrial land use in Vancouver is examined. Data from the City of Vancouver's Development Permit Records was obtained and showed a concentration of applications for office and office/retail developments in the city's inner city industrial areas. Data from the city's assessment records also confirmed a concentration of office and office/retail buildings in the city's inner city industrial areas. An examination of time series land use information showed that the supply of inner city industrial land was declining significantly. The data examined therefore, supported a conclusion that Vancouver's industrial zoning regulations permitted a process of land use succession to occur by allowing industrial land to be developed for commercial use. The principal impact of this permissive feature of the legislation was found to be in the city's inner city industrial areas. The implications of the study's findings for public policy were then discussed. The arguments in favour of retaining the existing industrial zoning regulations were examined. These arguments focused on the growing importance of the service sector of the urban economy and the need to make land available for service related functions which typically are office and retail in nature. The arguments in favour of adopting legislation that is more protective of industry were also examined by exploring the unique role that Vancouver's inner city industrial areas play in providing "incubator" space for new and smaller industries. The findings of the study strongly suggest that a significant research effort needs to be undertaken to provide insight into the long term economic and social consequences for the City of Vancouver of a process of land use succession in the city's industrial areas. Planning policies for the city's industrial areas should then be established followed by changes to planning legislation. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Regulation of land through zoning is inherently controversial as it involves individual rights and freedoms often in conflict with public goals and policy. To ensure the general rules of regulation are not dispensed in an arbitrary and capricious manner, thereby causing undue or unnecessary hardship in specific cases, the zoning board of variance has been established. This board is a quasi-judicial lay tribunal statutorially limited to resolving issues concerning individual cases of hardship, administrative misjudgment or errors of interpretation related to zoning matters. In recent years concern has been expressed over whether or not the board of variance can appropriately respond to appeals of administrative decisions which are the product of an increasingly dynamic and complex zoning and development process dependent on the discretionally judgment of professional planning staff. Correspondingly, concern has also been expressed that procedures established by these lay boards only inadequately provide for the rights of the individual. The purpose of this thesis is to document and evaluate the decision-making procedures established by the board of variance. It is hypothesized that the board system of zoning administration, as exemplified by the operation of the existing Vancouver Board of Variance, enables maximization of public benefits accruable through the exercise of discretionally zoning techniques while adequately meeting the equity requirements of a quasi-judicial appeal body. To test this hypothesis, the evolution of zoning in Canada and the United States of America was reviewed and two case study models of zoning administration, the Vancouver Board of Variance and the Seattle Hearing Examiner, introduced. Examination of their history and operation identified several administrative problems with these systems. With this background, a model with eight normative criteria of administration was established using selected socio-political and judicial elements of our society. The two case study systems were then compared with the theoretical model and the hypothesis disproved. It was concluded the Vancouver Board of Variance displayed shortcomings resulting from the local zoning process, the lack of required qualifications for Board members, and the informal procedures of the Board. It was further concluded the Seattle Hearing Examiner system, while better meeting the normative criteria, could not be adopted to the Vancouver administrative setting. It was then suggested the Vancouver Board of Variance could be modified so as to better meet the criteria of the normative model, thereby rectifying the identified shortcomings. A set of recommendations pertaining to these shortcomings was- presented and a method of implementation suggested. These recommendations included: a) eliminating those appeals concerning the use of either land or structures from the Board's jurisdiction; b) permitting the Planning Department to issue variances in certain cases; c) modifying the public hearing requirement from mandatory to discretionary in certain circumstances; d) creating a citizens' advisory committee to provide a policy overview of variance decisions for City Council; e) permitting wider judicial review of individual variance appeals by incorporating policy statements under the protection of the "Official Development Plan"; f) requiring Board members have qualifications; g) limiting the term of membership to the Board and requiring attendance of meetings; h) requiring the Chairman of the Board have a legal background, a judicial temperament and be appointed jointly by the Province and the City; i) modifying the procedures and operation of the Board so that: (i) the appeal form indicates grounds for appeal and advises of requirements for any subsequent judicial appeal, (ii) public notice is given all appeals and provision is made to involve local groups, (iii) an information pamphlet on the Board is published, (iv) information can be exchanged prior to the hearing, (v) the powers of the Chairman are specified, (vi) ex parte communication is limited, and (vii) upon request, reasons in writing are given for decisions of the Board. It was concluded the recommendations would result in the significant improvement of Board of Variance by: a) returning policy decisions to the legislature, b) expediting the handling of variance appeals, c) increasing the accountability of the Board to the legislature and the judiciary, d) re-establishing membership qualifications for Board members, and e) establishing procedures to ensure the Board conducted its deliberations with fairness, clarity and openness, free from political interference. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

A sample of Vancouver's zoning has been expressed as an expert system, microcomputer program, - Euclid - in order to demonstrate the feasibility of applying this tool in municipal planning, and to explore the desirability of such computer applications. Review of the literature on Expert Systems from a planning practice perspective showed that this is considered one of the more exciting and potentially useful developments emerging from Computer Science. Expert Systems are thought to be applicable to some planning tasks which are difficult to handle using the computer tools currently available yet suited to automation, however, there is in the literature very little empirical work on developing systems and testing the potential utility of expert systems in land use planning. Euclid is programmed in Turbo Prolog 2.0, a language accessible without extensive or specialized computer training. The first conclusions of the thesis are that simple but useful expert systems can be built rather quickly by planners, and that development control is a good application domain. The thesis also uncovered several weaknesses and inconsistencies which appear related to the way Zoning By-laws have been written, and suggests that the discipline of programming in logic may avoid or resolve such problems. Finally the process of developing a system is shown to be just important as the system itself: Expert systems are a way of thinking about a problem just as they are a way of solving it. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, to examine mixed-use development outside of the downtown core as a means to increase the housing stock of Vancouver by determining why this form of development is occurring and to assess the habitability of the housing provided in these projects. Secondly, the survey methodology utilized in the study was designed to obtain information in an exploratory manner, to both assist in the future design and management of mixed-use projects, and to provide the basis for speculating on the potential role for mixed-use projects in commercial districts outside of the Central Business District. Chapter One outlines the scope of the study. Four objectives are established for the thesis: to determine why mixed-use projects are being developed; to derive a profile of mixed-use building residents; to evaluate the level of housing satisfaction expressed by these residents; and, to discuss the implications for commercial districts if mixed-use development was to be encouraged. Two hypotheses are presented to explain why this form of development is occurring: first, there is likely an excess of commercially zoned land relative to market demand for space above the ground floor; and second, a mixed-use building possibly offers investment diversification by combining two different uses in a single building. As well, the study sought to test hypotheses regarding mixed-use residential rent levels, building security and the type of residents attracted to this form of housing. The second chapter traces the practice of land use separation from its initial emphasis on segregating non-compatible activities through to the recent reassessment of strictly separating uses with the widening acceptance of permitting and encouraging mixed-use. Based on a review of land development trends and planning policies implemented in Vancouver, the study finds that while the inducement of a floorspace bonus offered in certain areas of the downtown core has met with limited success, mixed-use development has occurred for some time in many of the commercial districts outside of the CBD. The survey-questionnaire methodology utilized in the study is described in Chapter Three. Of the 144 mixed-use projects built in the study area between January 1, 1974 and June 1, 1983, 50 were randomly selected for the two-stage sampling procedure. Questionnaires were first distributed to the developer/owners of the sample group. With the permission of those owner respondents participating in the survey, a second questionnaire was then delivered to the residential occupants. Both questionnaires were pre-tested through a pilot survey. The survey-questionnaire methodology was found to be difficult and time-consuming, but the only means available to obtain the data necessary to address the research objectives of the study. The results of the two survey-questionnaires are presented in Chapter Four. The study hypotheses are re-examined in light of the research findings discussed in Chapter Five. The results of the developer/owner survey are found to validate the two hypotheses suggested to explain the occurrence of mixed-use development outside of the downtown. Developer/owner respondents reported few problems in either developing or managing a mixed-use building and stressed the importance of careful design, quality construction, and good management practices in ensuring the success of these projects. The resident survey indicated that combining residential with commercial uses appears to provide a satisfactory housing environment. Athough the residents surveyed indentified several problems with living in a mixed-use building (noise, inadequate security, lack of parking), the overall level of satisfaction reported was high and corresponds closely with the findings of other medium density housing evaluation studies. The resident survey group was found to be similar demographically to an apartment comparison sub-population, though the sample group contained proportionately fewer residents in the elderly age cohorts. The study found little support for the assumption that mixed-use building rents would be discounted due to location and combination of uses. The hypothesis that combined uses would enhance building security due to mutual surveillance was likewise rejected. In the concluding chapter the implications of the research findings are discussed. Conclusions drawing upon the results of the two survey-questionnaires are presented to assist in future mixed-use project design and development. It is suggested that mixed-use, in addition to being a viable form of development as demonstrated through the developer/owner survey, may offer several public benefits: the more intensive use of scarce urban land; a broadened choice of housing; and, increased market support and added diversity in existing commercial districts. The need to critically examine these various arguments in favour of mixed-use is emphasized. Lastly, the role of the public sector vis-a-vis mixed-use development is discussed and the need for further research is identified. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis investigates empirical analysis as a means of providing information to planners and policy-makers on specific policy decisions. The problem examined in the study is whether empirical analysis can determine the influence of zoning on multiple family development. It was assumed that the main influence of zoning is in determining the location of new multiple family development. The objective was to define the significance of zoning among the factors involved in the locational decision. Through a review of planning and related literature, basic concepts of land use models were examined, identifying some of the limitations of these models. The literature review also included a number of empirical studies, representative of the wide variety of existing research. The factors considered to have the greatest influence of the location on multiple family development were identified from the studies including availability of land, ease of assembly, physical conditions of the neighbourhood, social characteristics of the neighbourhood and local demand. These factors were included in a multiple regression equation, a statistical technique for measuring the amount of variation in the dependent variable (the location of multiple family development) which can be explained by the variation in the independent variables. It was hoped that two years could be analyzed but problems with the data limited the study to one year, 1975. The descriptive data for the City of Vancouver indicated that in 1975, 17 acres of multiple family development was started from a possible 300 acres of developable multiple family zoned land. The results of the regression analysis indicate that the zoning variables which define the availability of land explained four times as much of the variation in the location of multiple family development starts as the combined explanatory power of the remaining significant independent variables. The results are interesting because, they suggest the powerful influence of zoning even when there appears by observation to be an adequate supply of multiple family zoned land. Such empirical analysis cannot determine how much development potential is needed so as not to significantly constrain multiple family development. It does however indicate the relatively small proportions of available land being developed and the strength of zoning in developers' locational decisions. Further analysis could demonstrate how the proportion of development activity to available land changes over time as well as the changing influence of zoning. This information could benefit policy-makers, providing them with a better understanding of the relationship between development and development potential. The advantage of a simple form of empirical analysis, such as undertaken here, is that it is a relatively easy method of generating new information. The type of data used in this study is often available in urban centres and the regression analysis does not involve a large committment in time or money. Provided that planners are careful to recognize the weaknesses of empirical analysis, the additional information which is possible to obtain is justification for its continued use in planning research. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate