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The effectiveness of replotting as a community planning impliementation technique : a case study of the district of North Vancouver, B.C.

University of British Columbia

The pattern of land subdivision is a determinant of the quality of the physical environment. There appear to be areas of many British Columbia municipalities where subdivision design detracts from the quality of the environment, Since community planning is concerned with improving the environment, deficient subdivision is a significant planning problem, and there is need for effective implementation techniques to amend existing subdivision patterns. Commonly used implementation techniques such as subdivision controls, plans cancellation and public land acquisition are of limited value in dealing with this problem. It is hypothesized that replotting is an effective implementation technique for improving the physical pattern of urban land subdivision as part of the community planning process in British Columbia. The British Columbia replotting legislation, found in the Municipal Act, allows a municipal Council to define any area of the municipality as a Replotting District. If owners representing seventy per cent of the assessed value of land in such a District consent, the land may be resubdivided, and owners of former parcels receive a new parcel of equal value in exchange, or compensation in money. All charges and encumbrances against former parcels are transferred to the new parcels. The legislation prescribes the procedures to be followed, the basis for compensation, and the rights of appeal. The research method used is the case study. The case study is conducted in the District of North Vancouver, a British Columbia municipality which has used replotting extensively. The topography In North Vancouver is hilly, any most developable areas were laid out prematurely in a grid pattern unsuited to the topography. The community planning process is now well established in the District. The general use of replotting in the District is outlined, and the administrative procedures followed are described. Four typical replotting schemes are then examined in detail. An evaluation of the use of replotting in the District of North Vancouver indicates that replotting has been successful in improving the contribution of subdivision design to the quality of the environments that replotting appears to be an economical procedure; that the technique has won public acceptance} and that it has been possible to integrate replotting successfully into community planning administration in the District. It is concluded from the case study that, subject to certain qualifications, replotting is an effective implementation technique for improving the physical pattern of urban land subdivision as part of the community planning process In British Columbia. Replotting has a number of specific advantages and also some limitations as a technique for altering existing patterns of subdivision; further areas of research are indicated, which would help to delimit the precise parameters within which replotting is most effective. While there have been some indications of wider Interest in the technique recently, at present the District of North Vancouver is the only British Columbia municipality making extensive use of replotting. It is recommended that other municipalities having the required staff skills consider the use of replotting.

Text

2011-07-16

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/36087

Planning

University of British Columbia

Graduate