Fees to promote development into city core

By John Moorhouse Monday, November 5, 2007 Penticton Herald

Developers could soon have to pay higher fees for developments outside Penticton‘s central core than for projects in already-established neighbourhoods. A dual rate structure – in addition to higher overall fees – is a key recommendation of proposed revision to the city‘s development cost charges. Mitch Moroziuk, the city‘s director of development and engineering services, outlined a draft report into the fees Monday. DCCs are collected from developers to offset some of the costs of roads, water mains, sewer, parks and other infrastructure items needed to service new development. The proposed new rates call for DCCs on a single family home to climb to $17,458 for a development in Penticton‘s periphery, compared to $13,262 in the core area. Currently, the city charges a single rate of $8,203.

Separate reduced rates are proposed for multi-family residential, commercial, industrial and institutional zoned properties, as well as residential areas served by the Gordon Avenue and Columbia Heights reservoirs. Moroziuk said lower rates in the core area are meant to encourage increased density in those areas to avoid urban sprawl. Infrastructure costs are also higher in peripheral areas to extend roads, sewer and water lines. The rates are proposed to cover an annual population growth of 2.5 per cent over a 10-year period from 2007-2016. Representatives from the development community were invited to provide input into the new DCC rate structure while it was under review over the past eight months. Coun. Rory McIvor, who chairs the city‘s development services advisory committee, said most developers understand that Penticton‘s DCC rates must go up. “We have some infrastructure requirements down the road,” McIvor said. “If we were not able to maintain our infrastructure, it‘s obviously not in the best interest of the development community.” The city has several major infrastructure projects in the works, including $37.1 million in sanitary sewer upgrades (eight projects) and $14.7 million in water system and treatment upgrades (12 projects). A public open house will be held on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre to gain further input into the new DCC rate structure. Following possible revisions, the bylaw will come back for adoption by council in December. Implementation of the new rates will likely be about four months later, although that has yet to be determined by council.