Cut costs and red tape says developer

Jennifer Smith - Kelowna Capital News

Time for cities to lay off the redundant regulation and any increases on development cost charges, the development community’s big whigs say. Thursday afternoon the Urban Development Institute’s executive director Maureen Enser and UDI Pacific president Al Poettcker were in Kelowna pushing their members to demand local government cut red tape and taxation. “We are going to be very, very selective with our business,” said Enser, who issued a warning to cities not willing to listen. Development cost charges are the levies municipalities use to charge developers for the infrastructure costs their developments create—things like roads, sewers, water treatment and park space—and are calculated based on the bills current construction creates. This year, the development lobby succeeded in convincing Kelowna to reduce the charges from the eight to nine per cent projected to approximately two per cent. Other municipalities, like Mission and New Westminster, have not responded as quickly, raising rates as much as 600 per cent, even in the face of unprecedented economic decline, Enser said.

The market has reached its slowest point in 27 years, Poettcker told the audience and Enser noted it could work to builders’ advantage if their community can lobby government effectively during the slowdown. The groups’ message to municipalities needs to be: “Turn on CNN, watch what’s happening and then watch where development goes,” she said. And her message is similar for the province which she sees creating burdensome regulations, particularly when it comes to protecting the environment. Seated in the audience, the City of Kelowna’s new sustainability manager (the post formerly known as the planning director) appeared receptive. In an interview after the meeting, Jim Paterson indicated he understands the need to be as efficient as possible and said, with provincial-level governments leaving many areas of environmental regulation up to individual cities, he understands there is a need to standardize the rules for developers.

That said, Paterson pointed out, with new issues like groundwater protection, just starting to enter government vocabulary, its likely there is plenty more regulation on the way. “You’re not going to make everyone happy,” he noted, saying finding the balance may be more about making everyone equally unhappy.