Penticton proposes 40% increase to development charges

Photo: Colin Dacre file photo

It may be getting more expensive to build in Penticton in the coming years. 

City staff have proposed increasing development cost charges 40 per cent over the next two years, to compensate for a lack of increases since 2007.

If approved by city council on Tuesday, the changes will see a developer pay $97,000 in extra fees to the city in 2020 for a 20-lot subdivision. Development cost charges for a commercial building will climb from $4.20 per square foot to $5.88 — a difference of $33,600 for a 20,000-square-foot building.

It would be the first time since 2007 since the charges have been adjusted. 

“The amount of those increases will be based on real cost increases for public works projects over the 12 years between 2007 and 2019, equaling a 40 per cent increase in fees,” said development infrastructure manager Michael Hodges in a report to council.

A more fulsome review of the development cost charges program is slated to take place in 2020-21, during which time the city will examine pinning the fees to an inflation index for annual increases. 

Money collected through the program is used by the city for roads, sewer, water, stormwater infrastructure and parkland acquisition.

City council will discuss the proposed charge increases Tuesday afternoon.