Construction has begun on a $100 million luxury hotel near Vernon. The 150 room 'Kristall Resort' is located next to Predator Ridge Golf Course. Construction is expected to take about two years, with opening scheduled for winter 2009. The Kristall Resort and Spa will feature an exclusive European-style spa and wellness centre, and will use environmentally friendly geothermal energy for its heating and cooling. The developers are hoping the new resort will attract more European tourists, especially with the upcoming expansion of Kelowna International Airport making it easier for direct overseas flights.
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Don Quixote Note: In The CITY SOURCE publication of April 2005 it states that the Kristall Resort had a building permit value of $ 38.7 million and the area was 167,273 sq. Ft. The building permit was obviously issued either in Late 2004 or no later than Feb. 28, 2005 although it does not appear in the online listings of building permits at the City's website.
The DCC"S assigned to this project were $276,268.08 and the DCC's that would have applied after the March 1 ,2005 new rate would be $421,343.95 (Difference of $145,075.87). Since then the City had a further 10% rate increase on April 10, 2006 . (When the total DCC levy is over $50,000 the developer has the option to pay 1/3 and provide a Letter of Credit for the remaining 2/3rds. The remaining 2/3rds is then paid in two installments over two years.)
It appears that the new building permit value will be in excess of the original $38.7 million of 2004 or early 2005 and even if the original DCC's have all been paid, this project's new building permit will have to attract new DCC's calculated at today's rate retroactive to first dollar as building permits have a limited shelf life without Council extension.
It appears that this development had escaped the increased DCC's when the last Council reversed itself and gave the development community a $2.3 million 3 month window of "bargain basement" opportunities (Dec.13,2004 - March 1,2005) . At least we will have recovered some of this money that was pissed away with that decision. A description of that decision can be found at the Monday, October 31, 2005 posting 'Watch dog' tells how city lost millions
DCC Bylaw 3769 recent history:
4844 December 13, 2004 Replacing Schedule “A” – Development Cost Charges Replacing all references to Municipal Act to Local Government Act.
Council at its December 20, 2004 meeting amended the implementation date of the new Schedule “A” to March 1, 2005.
4922 April 25, 2005 Amending Subsection 3.00 (b) by deleting....other than the construction of three (3) or less self-contained dwelling units”
4984 April 10, 2006 Amending Subsection 2.03 by adding the words “this definition shall include tourist accommodation units where the individual stays are required to be for seven (7) or more days” Deleting Schedule “A” and replacing with a new Schedule “A” as attached to and forming part of bylaw #4984
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