DCC's Bylaw to be Voted on Dec 14, 2009. (No substantial changes to Nov.9 Presentation)

Don Quixote Note: Since the posting below of Dec. 5th where I indicated that I expected some changes to be made to address some of the concerns that had been raised, I have read the proposed bylaw and there have been NO CHANGES to rates. There is only a suggestion maintaining a taxpayers reserve of about $400,000 (Affordable Housing Reserve) to use to cover the DCC charges for Non-Profits as they built new units. (This would simply put us back in the same situation that was changed by the inclusion of the waiver in the 2008 DCC bylaw update.)

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Dec 5 Posting:

The City of Vernon is proposing a major revision to Development Cost Charges (DCC) Bylaw #3769 in support of Official Community Plan 2008 implementation. The major bylaw revision is proposed to be presented to City Council for first 3 readings on December 14th 2009. If passed it will then have to get Provincial Approval before final reading.

The DCC bylaw update includes the following key components:

1. Updated projects and construction unit prices.
2. Inclusion of Transportation Demand Management (cycle & pedestrian) components.
3. Change from City wide DCC rate to specific area based rate.
4. Change from per unit charge to building area charge for Multi family.
5. New small lot single family rate.
6. New Highway Commercial rate.
7. Waiver of DCCs for non-profit rental housing units.

• Current Vs Proposed DCC Rates - 13 Kb

• Proposed DCC Projects - 2.62 MB

• DCC Sector Map- 492Kb

• Draft DCC Report - 3.32Mb (Guiding Principles at 1.2)
• Benefiter Pays – Those who benefit from the new infrastructure should pay for the installation of such systems.
• Accountability – To promote accountability, all information used for the development of DCCs should be accessible and understandable by the stakeholders.
  

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Don Quixote Note: The rates indicated above are as of the last Presentation to Council on Nov. 9. I had Questions and requests for changes to be made for the:

• Road DCC's (ep. TR6-29 st. upgrade & Multi-use corridor which had been changed from a 100% DCC benefit to a 47% DCC benefit., (a $5 million + change from developer pay to taxpayer) ?? removal of RD36 Ellison Connector 21,279,800 @90% and RD 37Mackay Connector 13,484,400 @ 90%)
• Wastewater Reclamation Plant: Existing Sewer Plant that cost $29,000,000 plus interest of $23,141,631 or a total of $52.141 million was a 50 % DCC project to collect $26,070,815 and was changed to a total of $27,326,900 at 30% or a payment of only $8.198,070 from future growth. (a $18 million change from developer pay to sewer user payor !)
• Project # 58 Regional Composting Facility Expansion: Expansion is costed to 2016 only. No cost attributed from 2017 to 2031. This is a 100% DCC Benefit item.
• Development Cost Charges for “Low Income Housing” is waived.”: This is a retention of the 2008 clause that was put in the bylaw. However clarification that this would NOT mean adopting the Victoria method of simply having a taxpayer grant paid into DCC Reserves each time such a housing project went forward. (A method of costing that charge out within the bylaw was presented.)
• Phase out of DCC's for secondary suites. (Both existing homes renovating and new home construction (mortgage helper built in))

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Hopefully most of these changes will be reflected in the final bylaw being drafted for approval on December 14th 2009.