Good afternoon. I'm Erin
McEnerny Ogle, mayor for the
City of Vancouver, and you're
joining us for the Vancouver
City Council meeting. Today is
Monday, August 17th, 2026. And
City Manager, I see that we
have housing and urban
development priorities in
scoring. And then we have the
Arts Hub plan. Any item you'd
like to add?
>> No, we can get right into it.
>> Okay, Sam, it's all yours.
>> Well good afternoon. I'm
Samantha Whitley, I'm the
housing programs manager, and
I'm joined here this afternoon
by Tasha Slater, our senior
housing coordinator. And thank
you for having us here to
discuss the 2027 HUD Annual
Action Plan application and
award process, which will begin
this October. We have some
proposed that and concerns that
council raised during our May
2026 action plan process, and
we'll be proposing changes,
gaming, application scoring and
a new funding set aside for
child care. So our agenda today
includes a look first at our
2024 2028 consolidated plan,
how we that was developed, and
the goals and outcomes that
we've achieved so far. We'll
walk through a revised timeline
with the compressed staff
review and plan development to
provide the draft plan to
council in April, and allow the
full 30 days of public comment
prior to the public hearing.
We'll also review expected 2027
resources and set asides and
updated priorities and scoring,
as well as, like I mentioned,
the $100,000 reserve for child
care businesses. So our
consolidated plan is a HUD
required document that
determines our funding
priorities over a five year
period. And developing this
plan took more than a year and
a half and required extensive
participation from advisory
committees, neighborhood
representatives, service
providers, and subject matter
experts. Council reviewed
drafts, memos, and workshops
throughout this process and
ultimately adopted the final
goals and strategies that guide
our annual action plan
activities. There was a
question in May about who was
listed in our consultation
requirements, so I just wanted
to share this information
briefly. HUD requires outreach
across specific sectors through
the CFR, and we consult with
over 400 stakeholders with each
cycle, including the Commerce
housing team. The action plan
can't list all 400 agencies and
and stakeholders by name. So we
populate the HUD id I s
database with representative
examples of agencies that
satisfy satisfy each required
category. So this is why some
agencies like Commerce
Broadband Team is mentioned as
being consulted. While the
Commerce housing team was not
mentioned in the plan, but is
is consulted regularly. These
are our goals and outcomes to
date and the goals were
developed in 2023, which was a
different environment and
different market at that time.
So since we've set these, the
market conditions have
obviously changed. And several
of our proposed five year goals
are pretty far off base at this
point. So under construction
goals, the rental units added
or rehabilitated, new homeowner
housing that has been
significantly impacted by the
Build America, Buy America
requirements. This has driven
up the cost and complexity of
using home funds for
construction, so most
developers choose to use the
affordable housing fund
resource instead. Last year, we
approached a nonprofit with a
24 unit project, and we asked
them to accept home funds. But
once they researched the cost
impact, we still have a funding
gap for their development. And
also, it looks like, how did we
ever expect to build 100 rental
units with home funds? So I
just also wanted to explain
that if we put if we put
$300,000 into 100 unit project,
we would be able to count all
100 units on our on our
outcomes so that it wasn't a
wildly inaccurate goal in 2023,
but we have not achieved any
rental units with our federal
funds to date. For the homeless
persons overnight shelter in
during 2023, we anticipated
that the city's bridge shelter,
or maybe one of the safe stays
would use some federal funding
over the coming five year
period, but that hasn't
happened. Shelter support still
has gone through the affordable
housing fund. Instead just
because of its ease of use. And
this also does not include home
ARP funding that is used for
homelessness services. The
homelessness prevention
category. We're actually are on
track to meet our five year
goals of 250 people served
through our homeless Diversion
program, but we found that
there's a mismatch in how HUD
defines this activity, and they
require that direct utility or
rental payments are made to a
household to count as a
prevention service, and our
diversion program is used. The
funding is all goes towards
staffing, and they use other
sources of funding for the
utility or rental assistance
services. And so even though it
shows zero people served under
homeless prevention, that's not
really accurate in how we would
determine that to be homeless
prevention. So I wanted to give
a little bit of a description
about why these zero zero zeros
are showing up over our last
three years of services, and we
hope that we can adjust our
scoring and try to encourage
some additional outcomes in
these categories for our next
two years of the plan. With
that, I'm going to turn it over
to Tasha to talk about some of
the updates we're proposing.
>> Hi, this is Tasha Slater. So
yeah, I will be talking about
the 2027 application process,
going over the timeline,
priorities and scoring. First,
I'll talk about the timeline.
It was requested during our
public hearing that we give
council our annual action plan
earlier so it can be revised
after public comment is
received and closed. And while
doing that, we also have to
meet our 30 day public comment
period that's required by HUD
and give HUD the action plan by
the May deadline. So you can
see that we shortened a lot of
staff time working on, on the
action plan because we didn't
want to shorten the time the
applicants had to apply, and we
didn't want to shorten the time
that the scoring committee had
to review. So there are a
couple things that will happen
because we had to shorten staff
time. One of them is going to
be that we'll have to start the
action plan before we actually
receive the recommendations
from the committee. So we'll
have to start on that narrative
piece kind of before we really
know what we're funding. And
then we also will not have
exact amounts from HUD. So our
action plan will be all
estimates. And when we come
present to you, it will most
likely be estimates. We
typically get our entitlement
numbers in April. So our
expected resources don't tend
to fluctuate too much. So year
to year they are about the same.
Sometimes they'll increase,
sometimes they'll decrease, but
they typically stay around 1.7
million for Cdbg and about a
million for home and then home.
ARP was allocated a full sum.
And we have we're estimating we
have about a 500 000. That
number might increase a little
bit by the time spring comes,
just based on staff time that
wasn't spent towards the
program or programs that may
not have spent all of their
funds. And then that home ARP
specifically does have to be
spent out by 2030, and it is in
support of supportive services
for people experiencing
homelessness, typically in
partnership with our safe stays.
So our funding categories are
split into two kind of main
categories funding set asides,
and then competitive. Our
funding set asides are were set
either by HUD or our five year
consolidated plan that was
approved by council. And so the
homeowner rehab is a city
program that we have in our
capacity building program is in
partnership with the Community
Foundation. Both of those are
five year programs that were
approved. Our section 108 loan
is a 340 000 yearly payment to
pay for the loan that we took
out on Fourth Plain Commons,
and then admin and our
community Housing Development
organization. Set asides are
set by HUD. The Chodo set aside
is 15%, so we're estimating
it'll be about 320. We're
hoping that this can move into
the competitive category at
this time. The City of
Vancouver and Clark County both
don't have qualified, but staff
are working to hopefully get a
few, and then we can move into
that competitive category and
get applicants ready for that
funding source. But for now, we
just set aside 15%, and then if
we end up, we hold it for two
years and then we move it into
our entitlement amounts, our
competitive housing activities
will be public service, which
also has a 15% cap set by HUD.
Our rental assistance program,
homeownership and the home ARP
homelessness support. We also
have economic development,
which is a slide. So our
economic development is where
we're going to see some changes.
It's for microenterprise
businesses only, which is five
employees or less. Typically in
the last couple of years, we
have funded programs that are
prioritized based on the city's
economic development strategy,
which was also approved by
council this year. Based on
that 2026 Annual Action Plan
meeting, we decided to pull out
100,000 for set aside. As a
reminder, this is for community
partners to provide technical
assistance to business, new and
existing businesses. It doesn't
provide vouchers or family
assistance for childcare, just
that microenterprise technical
assistance. And so any of our
partner organizations that want
to apply will specifically
apply for a child care program
if they want to serve other
organizations or other
businesses in either that the
priorities of the economic
development strategy or other
businesses, they'll have to do
a separate application for that.
So we're going to make it very
clear which applications are
for child care assistance and
which applications are for
other businesses. And then
finally we updated the scoring
criteria. So this is kind of
referencing slide five that Sam
was discussing with all of
those, those couple of zeros
that we had. We moved five
points from committed match
funds to consolidated plan
goals. So any applications that
we receive that meet one of
those zeros or one of those
categories that we don't have,
we haven't met our goals yet.
They will receive 1010 points
to help us meet those outcomes.
The rest of the categories will
stay the same, including the
committee scoring. And I know
this was mentioned during our
annual action plan. So I just
want to mention that all
committee members sign a
conflict of interest
certification for each
application before they score
it.
>> Okay, so after your feedback
today, we will update the
application guidelines next
month and then plan to open the
applications in October. We
like to keep this October date
because it aligns with the
county's application cycle, and
it's what the partners have
come to expect applications,
availability. After probably a
decade of opening federal
applications October 1st. So
we'll do the pre-application
and agency reviews in November.
Full applications will be due
in December, and then we'll
take the months of January and
February to review the
applications. And we'll have
presentations with each of the
applicants in front of the
Housing Advisory Committee to
help them complete their
scoring, get any questions
answered, and then put forward
recommendations in March, when
we will share the action plan
with council at the same time
that it's shared out for the 30
days of public comment, and
then we'll return towards the
end of April as soon as we can,
to have a public hearing, but
still leave some time after
that public hearing for any
adjustments that might be
needed before we meet our HUD
submission deadline for the
plan of May 15th. And that's
our presentation.
>> Thank you so much,
councilors. Councilor Paulsen.
>> Thank you mayor. Thank you,
Samantha and Tasha for the
presentation. I appreciate it,
Sam. You mentioned that.
Oftentimes the HUD money is not
as attractive as other sources
like the Affordable Housing
fund, because of some of the
stipulations that are attached
to it. And you also mentioned
that our bridge shelter and
other shelters are typically
used in the affordable housing
fund because of the nexus and
the convenience of just using
that fund. But there was a
recent change in policy
disposition around HUD funding,
moving away from communicating
an intention to move away from
Housing First and to more of a
comprehensive set of uses for
HUD funding, which would be
more inclusive of things like
shelter. ET cetera. ET cetera.
So I'm wondering if, in light
of that change, if our calculus
about using the affordable
housing fund for shelter versus
using HUD funding for shelter
might shift. And the reason I'm
bringing that up is because
your first comment was people
want to use the affordable
housing fund because it's more
flexible than the HUD money.
And if there was more
affordable housing fund
available because we were able
to tap into HUD money for
shelter, that could be a nice
way of capitalizing on this
change in philosophy from HUD,
while at the same time making
more affordable housing fund
available. So what do you think
about that in terms of a
strategic shift in terms of how
we've been thinking about these
funding sources?
>> Well, and I forgot to
mention that the Road to
Housing Act that passed has
told HUD that they need to
review how they're applying the
Buy America, Build America. So
we expect that that's going to
make things easier. But I
should clarify that the the
funding that's used for that's
used right now for homelessness
through RF is for operations in
our Cdbg and home funds don't
really allow for that very much.
I think you might be talking
about continuum of care funds
that have more staffing
availability, but it could
certainly be used for
construction costs or, or
maintenance projects that might
be needed.
>> Okay. Yeah, something to
keep an eye on because, you
know, it's this sort of
evolving from a federal
perspective. And so how we've
historically thought about
using HUD funding versus how we
might be using it in the future
seems like it could be changing.
And so I'm interested,
especially if the affordable
housing fund funds are viewed
as more flexible. If there are
ways that we can, you know,
free up some of those funds
using HUD funds in ways that
are applicable. And within the
rules, it seems to make some
sense. So yeah. Thank you.
>> Good point.
>> Okay. Looks like we're good.
Sam, thank you so very much.
>> Thank you.
>> Let's go ahead and move into
our arts hub plan. City manager
comments.
>> Welcome. Fayte. Perlick.
Kevin Keirns Casey Donovan up
here to brief the Council on
the overall budget.
>> Good evening.
>> Good afternoon. I'm David
Perlick, director of parks,
recreation and cultural
services for the city. I'm
joined today by Cultural
Services Manager Stacey Donovan
and capital projects manager
Kevin Kearns. We're super
excited to share updated
concepts with you for the
Vancouver Arts Hub. And in
addition, we think we have a
practical path for taking next
steps to realizing the
potential of this opportunity.
This project has benefited from
great collaboration across the
city. I think that includes
parks, recreation and cultural
services, along with general
services, bringing together our
shared expertise and programing,
facility management, asset
preservation and capital
projects. And we've worked with
experts in the room with us
tonight, we're joined by
members of the consulting team
led by Opsis Architecture
Planning and Research and
Framework, cultural placemaking.
Certainly important to note
that we've had the tremendous
opportunity to learn from
people that are using the
building now. So starting with
the arts centered, our initial
activation operator, that's
been really a critical role in
this process and understanding
what the potential is for the
building. And also many
community members, folks
involved in Vancouver's
creative community have
contributed their time,
participated in workshops,
provided ideas, and helped
shape what we're presenting
today. So what you hear today
is a framework that's been
shaped by the best ideas we
believe, from city expertise,
professional research, real
world experience, and the
creativity of our community.
Let's see, next slide. Here's a
agenda for today and we'll talk
about what we'll go over. We'll
start with a quick overview of
the recommended framework, how
we got here and how it was
shaped by what we heard from
the community. Then we'll move
into the operating model
because, as you know, to be
successful, the city needs not
just a good building, but a
sustainable and effective way
to operate it. And we'll walk
through the proposed phase one
improvements to show you how
this can help support expanded
use. And when I say walk
through back by popular demand,
we'll try to take you through a
brief day in the life to kind
of imagine what it will be like
if we move forward with these
improvements. And then, of
course, we'll close with cost,
schedule, and next steps. So
let's talk about the framework.
Next sheet, the framework of
being we were bringing forward
tonight is a next step in a
process that really has been
underway for several years. The
original you were you study
gave us the foundation, but
since then, interim activation
has given us the opportunity to
test ideas, learn what works
better, understand community
needs, and understand what's
unique about Vancouver and how
we can apply that to the
building. We've also learned
more about building limitations.
So that's sort of the good, the
bad and the other. But that has
all been critical information
that's helped us refine the
plan. And of course, we've
continued talking with
community members, arts and
culture organizations, current
users, and people in
Vancouver's business and
creative communities. So this
is not a speculative framework.
We really believe it's a plan
that's been informed by
research, community input and
actually putting the building
to work. The framework
coordinates those lessons into
two things that we need to move
together. Again, a capital plan
for the building and an
operating model. I also want to
emphasize that we have worked
on to build a strategy that
addresses the key
considerations in establishes
parameters for success, but
also leave space for continued
innovation and community
feedback. We'll talk about what
that means during the course of
the presentation today. So now
I want to do a quick recap of
our community outreach. When we
look across community
engagement, there have
definitely been some very clear
and consistent overall
priorities and themes, and we
talked about that in our
engagement with Council on June
8th. And we heard from you and
added that to our inventory of
information. And so I'll
briefly recap that on the slide
and also share some more
specific priority ideas that
have been identified through
ongoing engagement. And those
are the things listed on this
slide. And so just as a recap,
people want a place where they
can experience, participate in
and share the arts, whether
that's through a performance,
an exhibit, a class, a cultural
celebration, or just spending
time in a creative and
welcoming space. They want
opportunities for children and
adults to learn and create.
They want spaces that support
artists and arts organizations
with opportunities to learn
about programs and services
that already exist elsewhere in
our community. And they want an
arts hub to be a place that is
affordable and accessible for
everyone. In Vancouver. These
priorities point us towards
flexibility. The community is
asking for a place that can
adapt, a gallery that can hold
different kinds of exhibits, a
performance space that can
support different types of
events, and multi-purpose rooms
that can be used for classes,
workshops, rehearsals, and
community activities. Maybe
sometimes within the course of
the same day or the same week.
Certain aspects of the
infrastructure, including
programing spaces, need to be
prioritized now to continue to
grow and activate the building.
Others, possibly like a cafe or
outdoor performance space,
could evolve as the. As new
opportunities emerge and as the.
As the operating model moves
forward. The flexibility of
this framework serves as a
guide for making investments
over time that keep the vision
moving forward and manage
affordability. And so we want
to talk about next, and I'll
share information on the
operating model development. So
the same principle of
flexibility that I just talked
about really also applies
certainly to the operating
model for the building. In 2023,
we presented an initial
operating model. And since then
we've learned more and we've
made changes. During the course
of this project, our team has
researched comparable
facilities across the country,
particularly focusing on those
that include a city working
with an operating partner or
partners. We've also looked
closely at what makes nonprofit
operating agreements successful.
Within the memo that was
attached to the agenda item
tonight, we we share that we
specifically dive deeply into
five comparable facilities,
which all involve a city in a
public private partnership and
offer a variety of spaces for
arts and cultural organizations.
Just to note that those five
facilities are the Clara
Studios in Sacramento, the
center for the Arts in Eagle
Rock in Los Angeles, California,
Multnomah Arts Center in
Portland, Soma Arts in San
Francisco, and the Torpedo
Factory Art Center in
Alexandria, Virginia. We've
learned from what actually
works. We've also heard
directly from the current
operator, interviewed 18 users
representing 14 arts and
culture organizations, and
looked at how the building is
being used today, including the
types of activities, the spaces
used, and importantly, how that
activity has grown since
initial activation began.
There's a lot of data and
information that we've used to
shape this. Basically, we know
a lot more now than we did in
2023, so we're refining the
approach. This all this
learning points to a model that
I'll share on the next slide
that balances city
responsibility with the
community leadership needed to
truly make the arts hub
successful. And so I wanted to
highlight the proposed
operating model that we're
sharing. We see this as a true
partnership, not a contract, a
partnership between the city
and a nonprofit operator. Think
of it as a shared investment
with shared control and each
partner doing what they're best
positioned to do. This would
involve a single mission
aligned nonprofit operator who
would manage programing,
rentals, partnerships, and day
to day operations of the arts
hub. The city would retain
ownership of the building and
primary responsibility for
major capital investments. This
gives us the city would also
provide a defined level of
operating support, established
performance expectations and
monitor results through an
operating agreement. This gives
us important balance. The city
continues to be accountable for
the public investment and at
the same time, the organization
operating the building has the
flexibility and the autonomy
needed to respond to artists,
partners and changing community
needs, and we're recommending a
strategy to achieve this. This
involves selecting the right
operator, bringing them into
the design process at a time
when they can provide critical
guidance on the decisions that
we're making, and also work on
an operating agreement that
clearly defines how the city
and the operator can work
together over time. We think
this is the right size model
for the arts hub that reduces
risk and gives the community a
meaningful leadership role. I
also want to emphasize that the
word framework really applies
here. We've defined some of the
key parameters and begun to
work on developing key
performance indicators based on
the community feedback. We're
also leaving space in the
negotiation to ensure the plan
is fully aligned with the
operator's vision for the
facility based. Let's see. So
based on the outcome of our
discussion here today, we
really think this is one of the
key aspects of the plan that we
need to move forward next on
and begin later this year, the
selection of an operator
bringing on board so that
they're positioned to be able
to provide that feedback on
phase one improvements.
>> Awesome. This is Kevin
Curran speaking, a project
manager for the Capital
Projects division of the
General Services Department.
What I'm going to talk about is
the project itself, the
renovation. And on this slide
we're showing the site plan
with a building and the
surrounding area outlined in
the dotted lines are the areas
of the site that will be
included in the phase one
renovation. Considering earlier
studies as well as input from
the community, the operator of
the interim activation and
current users, the design team
developed a vision for the
building and campus. In
addition to the building
renovations, the vision
includes better connecting the
building to surrounding
parkland and nearby amenities,
increased parking capacity and
the development of an outdoor
event space. Once we developed
the vision, we then considered
the phasing and identified the
elements of this vision that
needed to be developed in a
first phase. The first phase is
concentrated in the building
and the pedestrian approach.
The image on the screen sort of
outlines the areas affected by
this first phase. And we'll be
talking about the details of
that in a couple of minutes.
When we thought about the
essential improvements, we
prioritized addressing the
building deficiencies,
improving safety and
accessibility, increasing
capacity and preparing the
building to meet the needs of
the users. This work includes
improving accessibility of the
site and the building, for
example, repairing the exterior
ramp and adding an elevator.
Upgrading the building
structure to meet current
seismic codes. Updating the
Hvac system to meet the new
uses of the building and to
improve energy efficiency,
improving life safety and
increasing building capacity by
adding sprinklers, updating the
fire alarm system and making
egress improvements, and adding
restroom capacity by adding an
all user restroom. The next
slides will show interior
renderings of phase one. Stacy
will take you through them, and
then I'll be back to share the
floor plans, the project cost
estimate, and the schedule
outline. But before I pass it
off to Stacy, I think it might
be worth noting that though the
images that we'll be showing
will make it seem like we could
just begin renovation today,
the designs we're showing, our
concept designs, there's much
more work to be done to develop
the detailed designs that a
contractor could build from,
and those detailed design work,
as Dave mentioned, needs input
from the operator and the users.
And once selected, the arts Hub
operator will become an
essential part of the project
team moving forward. Now with
that, I'll pass it over to
Stacy.
>> Thanks, Kevin. Stacy Donovan,
cultural services manager for
the city. So we've learned a
lot from the creative community,
from what they've done already.
Since the initial activation
began in early 2020. For the
investments we are proposing
now, address the infrastructure
needed to support the activity
at a greater level by providing
increased capacity, better
accessibility, improved safety
and spaces that can adapt to
different users. So as we look
at these images, I want to
invite you to imagine a day at
the Arts Hub. Let's start at
the top left. You've just
walked through the new
multi-level entry. The space is
open and welcoming, and you
immediately see that things are
happening all around you.
There's artwork on display.
People are moving between
levels. Someone is arriving for
a watercolor workshop, while a
nonprofit has gathered for a
board meeting upstairs. The new
circulation makes it easier to
understand where you are and
where you're going, and the
multi-level entry creates a
visual connection to the
activity throughout the whole
building. You don't have to
know exactly what's happening
to feel invited in. Now we'll
move upstairs to the lounge. At
the top right, there are people
gathering between activities. A
couple of artists are sitting
together talking through an
idea for an exhibit nearby.
Someone is stretching as they
wait for their dance rehearsal
to begin. A few people are
sitting together after a class,
continuing a conversation that
started in the studio. This is
an informal third space. It
gives people something or
someplace to pause, connect,
and stay a while. And because
the furnishings are flexible,
the space can also accommodate
programed activity like a small
meeting, a pop up market, or
even a coffee cart. Now, if you
look at the bottom right, this
is the larger gallery and event
space. Today, the rotating
walls have been arranged for an
exhibit and live performance,
with people moving through the
gallery to experience the
visual and performing arts
together. Later, the furniture
can be rearranged and the same
space can host a multicultural,
multicultural celebration, an
artist's reception or a
multimedia presentation without
requiring a different room for
every activity. And then we
move downstairs, as seen in the
bottom left image, to see a
smaller, more intimate space
hangout area. These informal
gathering areas can make the
arts hub feel like a community
space. Instead of a collection
of program rooms. That sense of
community matters because some
of the most important things
that happen here aren't
scheduled. They happen when
people meet each other. When an
artist discovers another
artist's work, when someone
comes to a class and decides to
come back for another. When a
conversation over coffee turns
into a new idea or
collaboration. So when you look
at these four images together,
we're seeing a building that is
active from the moment you walk
in, different activities are
happening in different parts of
the building, but they're all
connected. People can come for
a specific program, discover
something else happening, meet
someone new, or simply spend
time in a place that makes them
feel welcome and like they
belong. So let's now check out
some of the programing spaces.
At the top left we have a
studio theater. There's a band
performing. The movable seating
has been set up to surround the
performers and create a more
intimate experience between the
artist and the audience. Later,
those same seats can be pushed
back to create a space for
dance performance. Maybe on
another day, this room might be
filled with actors working
through a theater workshop.
Another evening, the audience
might be here for a poetry
reading. The important thing is
that this space is ready to
support the activity. It also
gives us more opportunity to
plan for the right future
investments by learning how the
space is used by the community.
At the top right, a children's
art class is underway. There
are tables covered in paper,
paint, brushes, supplies. Kids
are making art together and
they're joyfully messy. Work is
beginning to fill the room.
This is the kind of activity
that families told us they want
to see in the space. Places
where kids kids can be more
hands on participants and not
just watching. And when the
class ends, the room doesn't
sit empty. The tables can be
cleared and reset. For a
watercolor workshop or a fiber
arts meeting or writers group.
At the bottom right, another
multi-purpose room is being
used for an adult still life
painting. An instructor offers
insight as each person works at
an easel to capture their
unique perspective across the
building. Other people are
rehearsing, meeting, creating,
and gathering. That's the point
of having several flexible
rooms. We can increase the
amount of activity at the same
time. And then at the bottom
left, we come back to the
gallery. The exhibit has
changed, the movable walls have
now been repositioned, and the
space is quieter and offers a
more reflective opportunity to
engage with the artwork. The
space can accommodate different
scales and types of exhibits,
so the gallery itself keeps
changing along with the
community needs. And this is
where all the pieces we've been
talking about come together.
Today. The Arts hub is already
supporting many activities.
Initial activation has shown us
the community will show up. The
opportunity we have now is to
create a building that will
help, help us do more with what
we have and with the right
infrastructure to support it.
This means having spaces where
rehearsal doesn't interfere
with the workshop, down the
hall where sound doesn't bleed,
limiting what can be done in
the room next door, or where
resources are accessible, and
more spaces are comfortable for
everyone in the building.
Increased capacity isn't just
about raising occupancy. This
framework creates
infrastructure that allows the
arts hub to safely and
accessibly support more people
and more activity. We're
creating flexible spaces that
can respond to the needs of the
community today, and give
people room to do things we
haven't yet imagined. We've
already seen what Vancouver's
creative community can do
during initial activation. This
proposal gives that creativity
room to grow. So with that
vision in mind, I'm going to
pass it back to Kevin to talk
about how the images we've just
looked at translate into the
actual floor plans.
>> Awesome. Thank you. Stacy.
Yeah. The image on this slide
here is the floor plan of the
lower level of the arts hub,
showing minor changes from the
current design. Most of the
images that Stacy shared are
from the upper level, and
that's where the most obvious
building changes will happen in
the first phase. On the lower
level shown here, there are
some changes, but less dramatic
than the upper level. Some of
the changes of the lower level
are those that respond to the
new entry sequence, as well as
added elevator and building
egress. There's also a
multi-purpose room and shared
workspace in the in the current
loading bay, as well as some
new dedicated storage. The
multi-purpose spaces are
budgeted with minimum minimal
improvements and are expected
to be used much as they are
today. For classes, dance
studio and the like. New walls
will better isolate the
activities, but beyond the
essential infrastructure, the
changes to meet the program
needs will come from the
operator and the users. At. The
image on the slide is. Of the
floor is the floor plan of
upper level showing the
significant changes. The new
entry, the all user restrooms,
the multipurpose space and
Stuebe theater. As you saw from
the renderings, much will be
changed on the upper level. A
new mezzanine with elevator
will be introduced to improve
accessibility, circulation and
building legibility. New. All
user restrooms will be added to
support increased capacity and.
A studio theater in three
dedicated multi-purpose spaces
will be created. Even with
these changes, much of the
floor will continue to operate
as it does now as a
multi-purpose event and
gathering space, but with
enhanced functionality. Within
this open area will be a
dedicated lounge space that can
become a cafe in the future,
and a transformable gallery
area similar to the multi
purpose spaces on the lower
level. The multi-purpose spaces
on this floor can be used for a
variety of uses, but will be
only minimally improved through
the renovation project. The
Studio Theater will include
infrastructure to support
performances, but will not have
all the bells and whistles. It
won't have risers or a stage,
and only half the space will
have a lighting grid. More
targeted investments will be
needed in the future as the
community learns what is wanted
to maximize the use of the
theater and other spaces. So
what does it take to deliver on
the priorities that we've just
talked about? We've developed a
concept level estimate that has
an emerging project level of
confidence. This puts the phase
one construction cost at $14.7
million. Of that, approximately
$12.4 million is for the
essential building improvements
that we've been discussing.
Accessibility, seismic upgrades,
life safety, Hvac and related
infrastructure. About $2.3
million are then enhances to
support the program uses, like
the creation of the studio,
theater and other program
spaces. When we include the
roof work that's already been
completed, along with design,
permitting, contingencies and
other soft costs, the phase one
total project investment is
approximately $22 million. As
part of phase one, we won't be
completing the vision that I
mentioned at the outset of me
talking. There's approximately
$13 million of potential future
investments that would further
develop the site building
program spaces. Those future
investments include things like
additional parking, the outdoor
performance area that I
mentioned before, window
replacement around the building,
and more complete buildout of
the spaces for specific uses.
We recommend waiting on those
investments until we have an
operator in place, and we've
got experience with the
renovated building. That's the
discipline behind this phased
approach. Invest now in the
areas where the need is clear,
and wait for other investment
in areas where more information
can help us make better
decisions later. On this slide,
we sketched out the process to
develop and deliver the
renovation we've outlined today.
If budget is approved for this
project, and once an operator
is chosen, we can begin the
detailed design. The detailed
design needs input from the
operator and users. They will
be integral to the development
of the designs. We estimate the
detailed design will
approximately. It will take
approximately one year and
construction to take about the
same. However, it's worth
noting that this schedule will
be affected by upcoming
decisions such as the operator
selection and the choice of
project delivery method. The
schedule will also be affected
by the details of the eventual
design, as well as specific
plans yet to be developed for
keeping the building operating
during construction. The
timeline currently anticipates
the operator, the operator
selection in 2027 and phase one
construction beginning in 2028.
>> All right, well, we know we
have a building that has
already demonstrated demand and
that the community has
demonstrated excitement about
the initial activation. We
believe we also now have a
coordinated capital and
operating framework that takes
all of that information and
turns it into a practical path
forward. Council supports this
direction. The next steps will
include, as Kevin laid out,
advancing the project through
the biennial budget process,
including both capital and
operating components. And also,
as mentioned, we will move
forward with the process to
procure a nonprofit operator.
Council will have an
opportunity to review and
approve that agreement. And of
course, as we move through all
these next steps, community
engagement will continue. So
this is the point we'd like to
hear from you. Are you
supportive of this framework
that we've presented today, and
have we addressed questions and
feedback that you raised
earlier or questions you have
tonight? And is there anything
else important that we've
missed? I also want to say we
don't have to phone a friend.
We've got consultants here so
we can provide a wide variety
of information for you.
>> We see all of them. Dave,
thank you so very much.
Councilors. Councilors.
>> Thank you, mayor, and thank
you to the three of you. It's
exciting to finally, in my
opinion, be talking about this
as a project in a more concrete
fashion. So I'm I'm excited
with moving forward. Exciting
where we go. Two things that
come to mind. And these aren't
these are questions, not
directives. So you've shown us
some drawings today. And a
couple of years ago we were
shown drawings. And can you
give some high level because I
know you could spend an hour
probably talking this, but some
high level of what what are
those changes and how are they
informed?
>> I'll take the first shot of
that because I've been here
throughout, I think. Thanks for
the question. In the previous
plan, there was a lot of
dedication of space to maker
spaces and sort of
individualized use of the
building. That's still a sound
strategy. We know that. We know
that that's a revenue
generating tool. But what we
also learned is through
activation and continued
community engagement, how much
value the community has from a
more flexible space that can be
used a variety of different
ways and host some fairly large
engagements, events and
activities for the community.
So I think the main thing
that's changed is we've backed
off as much individualized
maker space and really kept
most of those program areas
more flexible. Now, within
those large spaces, we still
believe that there's a need for
maker space that could be both
shared studio and more
industrial space, as well as
individualized, dedicated space.
And there's space to do that at
a smaller level than what we
previously anticipated. And we
want to work through that
process with an operator to, to
sort of find the right balance.
Anything else to add or share?
>> Yeah. Big and obvious change
is really what we learned from
the current operations and Dave
alluded to it, but it's that
open space in that center,
making sure that that is a
multi-purpose space that can
become bigger and smaller
depending on how we use the
adjacent spaces. And the other
bit that really wasn't there
beyond just the change of the
smaller studio spaces, is the
theater that really that's been
something that had always been
brought up as an interest, but
even more so with the
activation from the people who
are using it now, looking for a
presentation space and
recognizing the limitations of
that central space without
really having some acoustic
isolation. So having that space
in the back corner allows us to
have spaces where we can have
presentations that allow you to
have something going on at the
same time in another adjacent
area. So those are some of the
big changes, but there's a lot
of details to that. Again,
you're right, we could talk for
a long time about what's
changed the beyond those kind
of big programmatic issues.
We've gone to a lot more detail
because that's really what
happens as you evolve. The
design is, you know, that was
even a pre concept, what we had
done previously. Now this is
what we call a concept design.
So it's and then the next one
is get even more detailed as we
go forward.
>> Great. So in that, I'm glad
to hear we're not getting rid
of maker spaces because that's
one that I've been pretty
excited about going through.
That being said, I toured a
library with a pretty extensive
maker space back in early 2020,
and it might be interesting to
check in with them six years
later. And I'll I'll pass that
along to you. The other one I
thought was interesting, as you
talked about re repurposing the
dock and loading spaces. So
just what are your thoughts
around that load in that is
inevitable with a space like
this?
>> Yeah, you go ahead.
>> Awesome. No, thank you for
bringing that up. We show it
just for simplicity of showing
it as if it was taking that
whole space over. It won't take
the whole space over. We still
need a load space. But if you
know the back of the building,
there's two loading bays. Since
it was really for the
operations center for the
library. So they really had a
lot of stuff coming in and out
daily. So they had two loading
bays. We'll probably lower that
to one and use that other one
for kind of messy work, you
know, because it's both big and
industrial space and separated
with a masonry wall from the
rest of the space, which allows
it to have noisier and messier
sorts of activities back there.
So most likely it'll take over
one of the two bays.
>> And corollary with that is
typically that's a different
kind of elevator needed. And is
that come into the conversation.
>> It has come into the
conversation, the details. We
haven't worked out exactly the
elevator. The new elevator
would be the one, you know,
because that's where our chance
to upsize it. But it's in the
front of the building. So we
have talked about making sure
that it's sized to be able to
handle this kind of equipment,
but it would be kind of a dual
purpose elevator. It would
still be the principal access
for people coming to the
building, as well as serve this
function to for artists and
others to bring in equipment.
>> Great. Thank you very much.
Looking forward to it.
>> What a wonderful opportunity
that you've taken four years
and worked with all of those
groups to really understand the
capacity of this space. That
has been a true value in making
some of these decisions. Good
job, Councilor Paulson.
>> Thank you, mayor, thanks for
the update. It's exciting that
we're continuing forward and
getting ever closer, like
seeing a timeline, something we
haven't seen in a while. A few
of the notes that I took that
resonated with me affordable,
accessible, adaptable. The
three A's. I think that's a
good sort of North Star for
what we're doing. And I think
as the mayor just said, you
know, we've shown especially
the adaptability by
incorporating what we've
learned through the activation
so far into our updated design
concept. And, and I expect that
that will continue. I really
like the idea of changing to
more of a public private
operating model where we are
essentially the, the owner of
the facility, but have a shared
relationship, a mutual
relationship, not a contractual
relationship with a not for
profit who is taking care of
the day to day decision making
and, and also at least after
phase one, helping inform
subsequent phases of investment
into the facility. As we
continue to learn as we have
done. Moving forward. I like
the idea of, for phase one,
really prioritizing where
investing, where the need is
clear. You know, a lot of the
things that you mentioned are
sort of table stakes, you know,
a good Hvac facility. ET cetera.
ET cetera. ET cetera. But also
honoring what we've learned so
far in terms of some of the
usage and adapting the usage,
as you've mentioned, a little
bit away from, because our
previous thinking was really
wanting to emphasize sort of
revenue generating activities.
And that was the reason for the
emphasis on maker space,
because the, the view was that
could be a revenue generating.
But I think what we've learned
during this time period where
it's been active is that there
are other ways that revenue can
be earned. And in many of the
spaces that we're now showing
are also revenue generating
activities. They're just
different kinds of revenue
generating activities, but
they're also the revenue
generating activities that have
a proven demand within our
community. And we don't quite
know yet what the demand for
makers space might be or might
not be. And so that can be an
evolving conversation as time
goes on. And I want to I really
appreciate the fact that we're
going to bring the operator
into the conversation before we
move forward with final design
making decisions, because I
think that's a proven best
practice on other facilities
that I'm aware of, as well as
we've used comparable processes
to inform some of our recent
investments in the community.
Along the fourth plane corridor,
we had a robust process by
which the community was
involved in visioning, and the
vision changed through that
process. And this is another
example of where we can can do
that. My hope is that through
those conversations, we can
come to an agreement on the
optimal way to continue
accommodating the current uses,
whether at this facility, which
I think is the current
preference, but that might
change. Or in alternative
locations during the phase one
investment, because the last
thing we want to do is disrupt
what we've created. We want to
build upon it and we want to
honor it. We want to sustain it,
and then over time, continue to
to grow it. So thank you for
the work that you continue to
do, excited about where we are
and moving forward, and
especially supportive of the
changes that have been made
through what we've learned. So
thank you.
>> Councilor Harless.
>> Yeah, thank you for coming
back to us with all this
information. It really exciting.
And having been at the Arts Hub
a number of times for different
kinds of events, it's so well
loved and I'm excited for the
next steps. I just had a one. I,
you know, look forward to those
next steps about the budgets.
I'm not going to ask those
questions. I'll wait till then
about, you know, possible
additional revenue sources and
everything. But one thing that
wasn't mentioned that I just
want to make sure is already
part of the conversation with
the design is the kitchenette
spaces and sinks. And whether
that's, you know, for the, the
arts or just these community
centered sort of workshops that,
you know, we don't need a
commercial kitchen, but it's
something that I see happen at
these at the arts Hub currently
with that little kitchenette
there that people use that a
lot to make the coffee prepare,
you know, the donuts, whatever
that that is included.
>> Yeah, absolutely. So I
didn't highlight it, but it was
through both talking to the
users and just broadly
community engagement, it came
up strongly as a requirement.
So there will be a kitchenette.
But you're right, not a full
commercial kitchen. There's we
realize that there's a lot of
those that we can use for
playing commons amongst others,
but a need for localized one
here to serve both the staff
and and artists as well as
visitors. I think that what
we've talked about beyond that
is potentially in the future,
but not now, to have a cafe
that would we'll build the
infrastructure for that now. I
mean, just the plumbing. And
then if we were to expand it to
a full cafe, we'd have, you
know, for future expenses,
investments required. But we
will have the kitchenette.
>> Thank you.
>> Councilor Perez.
>> Thank you. Some of my
questions have been answered or
asked previously, but I have
two follow up questions. You
asked what other information
would be needed, and I'm not
sure if you have this now, but
I would love to get a better
understanding of what is that
estimated amount needed to
sustain this facility after we
get up and going. And then. You
mentioned we want to get it
ready to support our community,
which is which is exactly what
we need. The robust third space
where people can just drop in
and bring their own little
cross stitch and sit down and,
and not feel obligated that
they have to reserve or pay,
but they're able to come to
that cafe, have a cup of coffee.
So how do you prepare the
public to be able to utilize
this facility at the rate
needed to sustain it?
>> Yeah, I'll jump in there. So
in the 2023 reuse study,
there's a recommendation. There
was an analysis that said the
city is primary operator could
potentially operate at a
subsidy of about $400,000 a
year. We believe that we can
have robust use of the building
through a nonprofit operator
agreement in the same ballpark,
and you don't want to operate
on a ballpark number. So we're
refining that discussion and
analysis right now to set
better parameters for the
budget process. And that will
be really part of the
negotiations with the operator
as well. Like what, what are
the, you know, what are the
opportunities for really robust
engagement and what is their
pro forma look like? So we're
going to work on that and give
you more information. But I
want to say, we don't think
that the change in operating
model has changed that analysis
much. And it's important how we
pay for it as well. And that's
part of the budgeting process.
So that's the first answer. I
think the first part of your
question, and again, I think
the I think we need to we've
heard from the community and
council that this should be a
community space. And so that's
going to be central to
discussions with the operator
about how we. We both mutually
support that and succeed at
really creating both an
opportunity for drop in, but
also a place that everyone in
the community feels welcome and
invited. And those are
intentional actions. And that
will be a key part of the
discussion as well, because
we've heard that from the
community very clearly.
>> Yeah. And it goes back to
your point, Councilmember
Paulson, where you said this is
about accessibility,
adaptability, and affordability,
right? So that was like, how do
we get it to the point where we
had this vision of the public
using it, and we're not
subsidizing more, or it's just
not being used the way that we
had envisioned. So that's why I
wanted a little more clarity on
the numbers from a budget
standpoint, because of our
projected budget in the coming
futures. And just to be more
aware of of what our intended
approaches for this.
>> I'd like to add a comment
with, with our consultant team
help, we really dove into some
of these agreements that work
elsewhere. And so we're
absorbing a lot of that
information to make sure that
the intention for the facility
is really realized. I would say,
at a high level, not saying
exactly how, but saying what
you need and what you want to
see through key performance
indicators and in areas of
focus that will be a part of
the ongoing conversation with
the operator. We're absorbing
and borrowing as much as we can
to really make sure that that
intention is built in to the
agreement. We know it's not the
right approach to say exactly
what to do and how, but we need
to make sure that we empower a
great conversation around what
we collectively want to achieve.
>> Yeah. In particular, you
know, we had the presentation
on the facilities master plan a
few meetings ago. And so there
was a question of what are our
complete range of assets and
commitment to that. So that, I
think is also a piece of the
larger puzzle. Thank you.
>> So, Dave, in looking at all
of this, you've researched, you
have the who, what, where, when,
why and how. We're looking
forward to next steps will work
with you with the budget
submissions. And we're excited
about the entire project. Let's
keep going on it. Thank you so
much. All right. Council, we'll
be going into executive session
to review the performance of a
public employee. According to
CW 42.30.1101 G will be in
there from 530 to 630. We'll
grab a quick bite to eat. Be
back at 630 for our regional or
our regular council meeting.
Where does we're done with
workshops. Thank you