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Penticton City Council approved and adopted the first round of changes to the Development Cost Charges (DCC) Bylaw on Tuesday, after receiving approval from the Province’s Inspector of Municipalities.
The one-time fee collected from the developer is to help fund the cost of growth-related infrastructure and will now be increased by 25 per cent, effective immediately. This applies to the extension of roads, water, sewer, and stormwater services.
The charges are assigned when single and two-family residential lots are created (subdivision) or when building permits are issued for multi-family, commercial, industrial or institutional developments.
The last update dates back to 2007 and with the adoption of a new Official Community Plan (OCP) in 2019, initiated a full review of the program for 2021.
As an interim measure while the review is being completed, the City requested approval from the Province’s Inspector of Municipalities for a 25 per cent increase to the rates to reflect construction cost inflation, which was given a go-ahead.
“Council has made it a priority to modernize the bylaw this term to ensure the costs of growth-related infrastructure are distributed fairly amongst the people that will benefit,” Mayor John Vassilaki said. “This increase is an important step towards this goal and we’re pleased to hear the full review is progressing.”
The City expects to request approval for a new set of DCC rates once the full review of the bylaw is completed later this year. Alongside the revised rates, plans are to include the DCC program with a new list of eligible water, sewer, stormwater, transportation and parks projects, based on the revised growth plan contained in the OCP.
Engagement activities for interested citizens, members of the development community and other stakeholders to participate in the process are planned to begin in April.
All recommendations resulting from the review will need to be approved by the Province’s Inspector of Municipalities before they can be implemented.
More information about this work will be available on shapeyourcitypenticton.ca in the coming weeks.
