The city of Port Alberni will look at reducing development cost charges for not-for-profit housing with a new bylaw.
This bylaw came about after Westcoast Native Health Care Society’s request for the city of Port Alberni to waive or reduce development fees related to their Rainbow Gardens expansion.
Rainbow Gardens asks to waive development fees
The society submitted a request back in April, asking for council to waive or reduce some city-related fees for the 20-unit affordable housing plan for seniors, and 10 units of complex care, which has now been increased to 12.
Director of development services Scott Smith said that development cost charges, which would be around $95,000 for the 20 units and $26,000 for the 12 units, could be waived or reduced, but only in accordance with a bylaw.
Smith brought a draft of a Development Cost Charges Reduction Bylaw to council on Monday, Aug. 14. The two key priorities, said Smith, were defining what types of developments would be eligible, and how much of a reduction they would receive.
He recommended making the bylaw available for not-for-profit housing, which includes supportive living, and also recommended a reduction of 50 percent.
“I would suggest that 50 percent is a good balancing act between providing support for eligible developments, but still collecting a portion of DCCs, which allows us to help fund our infrastructure needs,” said Smith.
Smith pointed out that Westcoast Native Health Care Society is pushing for a January construction, so council still has time to make a decision.
Councillor Denis Sauvé expressed his disapproval of the bylaw. “We’re dealing in this community with an urgent need to deal with our aging infrastructure,” he said. “We count on these funds to deal with water, roads. This is hardcore funds that we’re counting on every year in our budget.”
Councillor Sharie Minions, however, was in support of the bylaw. “We also have a housing crisis,” she said. “I think we need to start to come up with a plan to actively address that in a big way. I think the city of Port Alberni needs to send a message that we are going to be an active partner in addressing the housing crisis, as well as our aging infrastructure. I think that what we do with this sends a strong message to outside agencies we could be looking to gain funds from.”
She also suggested waiving the building permit fees because it would be no cost to the city. This would be an estimated cost of $8,000 for the 20 units and $3,570 for the 10 units, although it will be slightly higher for the 12 units.
Sauvé asked how the bylaw would affect the city’s funds, and Smith responded that the answer would be entirely speculative.
“We don’t know what eligible projects might come forth,” he said. “Will there be others? Hopefully, frankly. We want projects like this to occur in our community. But as far as the number or the impact? It would be purely speculative on my part.”
Smith added that staff can re-word the bylaw to define eligible developments more clearly in the final draft.
Council unanimously voted that a Development Cost Charges Reduction Bylaw be brought forward, reducing development cost charges for eligible developments by 50 percent. Staff will define eligibility of developments more clearly in the final bylaw. Council also voted to waive the building permit fees for Rainbow Gardens.
The bylaw still has to go through three readings in a public meeting, but it will not require a public hearing.