Sparwood council seeks residential development charges
During its Sept. 1 meeting, council directed staff to revise the draft bylaw to cap the charge for a new low-density home at $10,000, delay implementation until six months after adoption and allow charges to be paid in instalments regardless of their value.
Council also supported calculating charges for light-industrial projects according to building floor area rather than total parcel size. The change would reduce the share of projected revenue collected from light-industrial development, shifting more of the cost to residential and commercial construction.
The direction was supported by Acting Mayor Amy Cardozo and councillors Steve Kallies and Chris Nand. Councillor Sam Atwal preferred to keep the parcel-area calculation, arguing that industrial development could shoulder more of the cost and reduce the burden on households. Councillors John Baher and Jason Christensen were absent.
Development cost charges, commonly called DCCs, are one-time fees collected from new development to help pay for infrastructure needed as a community grows. Without a DCC bylaw, those growth-related costs must be covered through property taxes, utility rates, parcel taxes, grants and other municipal funds, or negotiated individually with developers.
The District has identified about $29.8 million in planned infrastructure connected to growth. Its projections anticipate Sparwood’s population increasing from about 4,148 in 2021 to 5,312 by 2035, with approximately 403 new homes built over that period.
The draft bylaw considered Sept. 1 included water, sewer and fire-protection projects. The original schedule proposed a charge of $15,536 for each low-density residential unit, $11,864 for each medium-density unit, $8,756 for a high-density unit and $8,474 for a mobile home.
Those figures will change as staff apply council’s direction.
Council agreed to retain the proposed Sparwood Drive sewer extension in the DCC program. The $2.4-million project would extend sanitary sewer service south of the existing pump station, opening land near the Whiskey Jack and Westwood developments to future construction.
Kallies said housing should be the municipality’s main consideration and expressed concern that a charge of more than $15,000 could discourage new homes.
“I’m worried about slowing housing,” Kallies said, proposing the $10,000 ceiling.
Council also directed staff to remove the wastewater treatment plant upgrade from the DCC calculation. Atwal preferred to keep the project in the program, while Cardozo, Kallies and Nand supported its removal.
The treatment-plant work already has a funding plan that includes debt and an increased sewer parcel tax. Keeping it in the DCC program would have allowed future development to contribute to the growth-related portion and potentially reduced parcel taxes. Removing it lowers the amount collected from development but leaves the existing parcel-tax plan in place.
Council supported using the municipality’s contribution, known as the municipal assist factor, to phase in the residential rate and keep it at no more than $10,000 initially. Staff suggested council could review the factor in two-year intervals. A larger municipal contribution lowers the fee charged to development but leaves existing taxpayers responsible for a larger share.
The revised bylaw is expected to return to council for third reading. If approved locally, it must then receive provincial approval before it can be adopted.
The proposed six-month delay means the charges would not take effect immediately following adoption.