Sechelt is missing out on major revenue by not having an updated Development Cost Charge (DCC) bylaw, so council is pushing staff to have a new bylaw ready for adoption by this September.
Sechelt DCCs currently range in cost from $590 to $6,336 (depending on the type of DCC and the development). They are collected from developers who subdivide their land to create new lots, through residential building permits that authorize construction or alteration of residential buildings (except for single-family homes) and through non-residential land use building permits where the value of work exceeds $50,000.
DCCs are collected to help fund the sewer system, roads, stormwater management, parks and water service.
Many of Sechelt’s DCCs have not been updated since the 1990s.
During the April 20 Sechelt council meeting, Coun. Doug Wright asked exactly how much money is being lost by approving developments without an updated DCC bylaw, but staff couldn’t give an answer.
“The reality is nobody can tell us how much money we’re leaving on the table, but I would make a shrewd guess that it’s a big pile of money because, if I’m not mistaken, I believe it’s 15 years since the DCC bylaw was updated,” Wright said.
Mayor Bruce Milne said he expects DCCs to jump dramatically once the review by staff is complete and council considers new rates.
“We’re talking in order of magnitude. These DCCs are not going to change by $500 or $1,000, they’re talking about doubling and in some cases maybe tripling,” Milne said.
“We have to pay for infrastructure and growth has to pay for growth.”
Coun. Darnelda Siegers asked if the DCC for sewer could be moved forward to be dealt with by council before the rest of the DCCs, taking into account the possible expansion of the sewage treatment plant in the future.
“My concern is we’ve got all these developments coming forward and we know that is one of the major costs we’re going to be incurring,” Siegers said.
Milne said he wasn’t convinced one DCC was more important than another.
“I’m not sure that there’s any priority over roads, which we also know are absolutely in need, or drainage, which we know is absolutely in need,” Milne said.
Some councillors were concerned about the possibility of going past the timeline proposed by staff for new DCC bylaws, that pegs September for adoption.
“Is this a firm timeline?” Wright asked. “Can this council expect to see final adoption by September?”
“I’m working with staff to forward it as expeditiously as possible from where we are today,” CAO Tim Palmer said. “I can’t speak to the delays in the past, but I can talk about moving forward. On the timelines – it is, from my experience, an ambitious timeline but achievable and we need to be focused, both staff and council, focused on moving this forward.”
He said one of the issues that could hold up the development of new DCCs is the absence of some updated plans.
“One of the problems with DCCs is we’ll find that we don’t have all the information that we really need in order to get it done by the fall. And so the question is, do we wait until we have all that information? For example, liquid waste management plan or other aspects,” Palmer said.
“If we wait to get all the information we’ll never get it done. So hearing council’s statements about the importance of getting this done means getting it as best we can in order to meet that timeline in the fall.”
He suggested DCCs may need to be revisited and updated a year later, once all master plans are up to date.
Milne agreed, saying the DCC rates should “be a little like budgets or financial plans. You finish one and you actually start it again to make sure it’s up to date and we can try to put that in place.”
Sechelt has hired consultant Urban Systems to help with the DCC review and new bylaw development, and the district is planning two public opportunities for consultation in June and July.
First reading of the new DCC bylaws is tentatively set for July, second and third readings in August and adoption in September.
