DCC's on meeting agenda (Kelowna )

by Wayne Moore - Nov 20, 2007 Castanet

The City of Kelowna is inviting local developers to a series of open houses to review proposed changes to Development Cost Charges (DCC's). Open houses will be held Tuesday, November 20 inside the City Council Chambers and Thursday, November 22 at the Ramada Lodge Hotel. Both sessions run from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m., with presentations scheduled to take place at 5. City Financial Services Director, Paul Macklem, says he hopes to receive comments back from developers by December 5 and report back to council December 17. New DCC rates would be implemented March 1, 2008.

DDC's are applied to development costs to provide such infrastructure improvements such as roads, sidewalks, sewer, water and parks. "The cost of new infrastructure should primarily be the responsibility of developers, however, our plan calls for some of the costs to be shared, recognizing that a portion of new infrastructure is also of benefit to all taxpayers," says Macklem. Overall, he says new DC's are set to increase between 22% and 27%, depending on the area of the city. "We are seeing rising costs in all areas, water and sewer mains, asphalt surfacing for roads and land acquisition for parks." Following a discussion of DDC's and the city's 20 Year Servicing Plan earlier this month, Macklem says staff was not in a position to provide recommendations relative to the methodology changes being considered. He says three specific issues that were the subject of questions from the development community, council and staff have been addressed. These include:

• Multi-family DCC's based on square feet for small multi-family units.
  
• DCC charges on secondary suites.
  
• DCC charges on developments of less than four units.

After meeting with consultants, that work has been completed and Macklem says the information is available on the City of Kelowna website.
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Overall new DCCs are set to increase between 22 and 27 per cent, varying by city sector. Under the proposed changes, developers constructing in the city centre will be charged $12,743 per apartment unit for buildings over four stories and $20,405 per single family home. Charges for commercial development in the city centre are increasing to $5,257 per 1,000 square feet. "We are seeing rising costs in all areas, water and sewer mains, asphalt surfacing for roads and land acquisition for parks," says Macklem. "However, with the rising cost of homes, our development charges are staying relatively steady as an overall portion of the selling price - under five per cent."