— Osoyoos will still be less expensive than many other cities —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — June 27, 2007) —
By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times
Developers will soon be paying more than they did before to build their projects in town, but Osoyoos will remain one of the least expensive municipalities to develop in the Okanagan.
The Town has drafted a new bylaw to set out fees developers will have to pay for the privilege of developing in Osoyoos. The fees are collected in order to help build the infrastructure “ such as water and sewer lines, storm drains, roads and parkland “ that their projects need. Development cost charges (DCC) are imposed on anyone who is approved for a subdivision or for a building permit to construct, alter or extend a building.
Town Planner Alain Cunningham explains, DCCs are payments that developers are required to pay to cover the additional infrastructure costs they impose on the community. DCCs are based on projects that our engineer considers are needed to accommodate projected growth over the next 10 years as set out in our Official Community Plan.
Along with the new fee structure, the revised DCC bylaw also changes the 'assist factor' “ or percentage subsidized by the Town for new development “ to one per cent, meaning developers will pay 99 per cent of the charges and taxpayers will pick up the remaining one per cent.
Under the current DCC bylaw, adopted in 1999, the assist factors are as follows: water – 15 per cent, sewer – 15 per cent, roads – 30 per cent and parks – five per cent.
Calling the new bylaw great and a significant revision to the current bylaw, at the June 18 regular Town meeting Councillor Allan Carswell explained the principles of the DCC bylaw in simple terms.
The Town determines projects (and their costs) that must be done because of development, such as new roads or expansion of water and sewer lines. Next, the Town decides what percentage of each of the projects is the result of development and how much is the result of people within the town, and from there determines what the assist factor is “ or the amount the community pays to promote development.
With this new DCC bylaw, all of our assist factors are one per cent, so that's basically saying we expect the developers of Osoyoos to pick up their development cost charges; we're not going to subsidize that development anymore, Carswell says. Compared to other municipalities up the valley Osoyoos, he notes, the new proposed charges are about the lowest.
[A single-family home in] Langley, for instance, is $22,000; Chilliwack “ $19,000, Nanaimo “ $13,000. And as we define ourselves as a tourist community and a resort community, those are the communities that are off the scale sometimes.
The proposed charge in Osoyoos for a single-family home is about $9,700. The new DCCs range from about 89 to 128 per cent higher than the current bylaw dictates.
Mayor John Slater adds the DCCs apply strictly to new development.
If there is an item such as putting new chlorination in Wells 6 and 7 that has a benefit for the whole community, new development will pay 51 per cent of that but the rest of the community will pay 49 per cent because everybody's going to benefit by that project. Same as the reservoir expansion “ new development will pay for 40 per cent and the general public will pay for 60 per cent, Slater explains.
We do get infrastructure grants but these [DCCs] still stay the same. Obviously the Town's share would go down because we are getting provincial and federal money to help do the project, he says, adding that with increasing construction costs, This is one bylaw we need to stay on top of.
Councillor Stu Wells told the meeting the DCC formula is a science. These charges are project specific and this is under extreme scrutiny by the provincial government.rnThe total new DCCs for water, sewer, drainage, roads and parkland “ with the one per cent assist factor applied “ are as follows:rn¢ Low density residential (per unit) – $9,663rn¢ Medium density residential (per unit) – $6,567rn¢“ High density residential (per unit) – $5,174rn¢ Commercial (square metre gross floor area) – $29.71rn¢ Commercial accommodation (per unit) – $2,040rn¢ Industrial (square metre gross floor area) – $14.85rn¢ Institutional (square metre gross floor area) – $32.16rn¢ RV park or campground (per site) – $3,228
The Town is holding an open house in Council Chambers for the public to review and comment on the new DCC bylaw. It takes place on Wednesday, July 4 from 3 to 7 p.m. Copies of the bylaw are available on the Town's website www.osoyoos.ca or at Town Hall.
