Staff Report to Council: Bylaw No. 1752; Bylaw No. 1776; Bylaw No. 1763; Policy POL0011-PLAN

Background

• At the regular meeting of November 6th, 2017, Council gave first reading to Bylaw No. 1752 with respect to off-street parking in the City Centre.

• At the regular meeting of January 22nd, 2018, Council directed staff to prepare a bylaw to amend the City’s Development Procedures Bylaw (Bylaw No. 209) by increasing planning related fees commensurate with the cost of living and an increase in Public Hearing fees to reflect the new costs associated with advertising.

• On March 12th, the Planning Department sent a letter to the Westshore Developers Association (WSDA) outlining changes to application fees, Development Cost Charges and Amenity Contribution policy. A copy of that letter is attached to this report as Appendix “A”. These topics were discussed with the WSDA at their regular meeting of March 15th, 2018.

• At their regular meeting of Tuesday, April 3rd, Council reviewed a Bylaw to amend the Development Cost Charges Bylaw to remove reductions that served to incent certain types of development. That bylaw was given 1st, 2nd and 3rd reading on April 3rd, 2018.

Commentary

Since the January 22nd meeting where Council considered the Planning Department’s five-year financial plan, Staff and Council have met with the West Shore Developers Association to map out changes to both the fee structure and Council’s policy on amenity contributions. The changes to fees and amenity contributions proposed in Bylaw No. 1776 and 1763 and Policy POL0011-PLAN are summarized as:

APPLICATION FEES

The following fees would be increased by 2.45%, commensurate with the proposed general tax increase:

• OCP amendment applications;

• Rezoning applications;

• Public Hearings;

• Development Permit and Development Permit amendment applications;

• Development Variance Permit applications;

• Letters of exemption;

• Temporary Use Permit applications;

• Board of Variance applications;

• Building Permit Fees;

• Bylaw No. 1763 (attached) would amend the City’s Development Procedures Bylaw No. 209 by increasing all development fees by 2.45%.

• At the request of the Chief Building Inspector, Bylaw No. 1763 also proposes a one-time increase in Board of Variance application fees from $71 to $698. The current fee of $71 in no way represents cost recovery for the work undertaken by staff on these applications, and establishing the fee at $698 represents half the cost of an application for variance to Council through the Development Variance Permit process. Board of Variance application fees form part of Bylaw No. 209, and are not considered under the Building Bylaw No. 1160.

• Bylaw No. 1776 (attached) would amend the City’s Building Bylaw No. 1160 by increasing all building permit related fees by 2.45%. As above, this amending bylaw also removes all fee reductions which were instituted in 2015 as an incentive for certain types of multi-family and office commercial development.

PARKING IN THE DESIGNATED CITY CENTRE

• Bylaw No. 1752 (attached) was introduced and given first reading last November (2017). This revised version of the bylaw would amend Zoning Bylaw No. 300 by changing the off-street parking requirement for an apartment use in the designated City Centre from “1 parking space per dwelling unit” regardless of the size of the unit, to “1 parking space per one- and two-bedroom dwelling unit; and 2 parking spaces per dwelling unit with more than 2 bedrooms” and increasing the requirement for visitor parking to 0.25 parking spaces per dwelling unit.

• Bylaw No. 1752 also includes amendment to the cash-in-lieu provisions of Zoning Bylaw No. 300 with respect to off-street parking in the City Centre, and includes as a design guideline a provision that would allow variances to be granted with a Development Permit for additional on-street parking provided through alternative design (eg: angle parking v. parking scallops).

• Council may wish to amend Bylaw No. 1752 at first reading to remove the pre-amble about Development Permit applications made prior to December 31st, 2017 and to include a clause that would allow variances for shared residential and commercial visitor parking to be issued by the City Planner within Development Permits.

AMENITY CONTRIBUTION POLICY

Council may wish to consider making the following changes to its Affordable Housing and Amenity Contribution Policy:

• Eliminating all amenity contribution reductions for For-Profit development;
• Decreasing the amenity contribution reduction for Not-For-Profit development from 75% to 50%;
• Reducing the per-unit amenity contribution to 50% for the 5th and 6th storeys;
• Reducing the per-unit amenity contribution above the 6th storey to 25%;
• Removing the amenity contribution reduction for government offices ($0.25 per ft2 of GFA) and allow Council to address this on a case-by-case basis; and
• Adding language to the Amenity Policy that would allow Council to provide incentives for innovative forms of affordable market housing;
• Amending the map attached to the Affordable Housing and Amenity Contribution policy to accurately reflect the boundaries of the City Centre as defined in the OCP;

As shown in the letter addressed to the WSDA on March 13th, all of these changes with the exception of the last two have been discussed with the WSDA.

A draft of a new Affordable Housing and Amenity Contribution Policy, which addresses these 7 changes is attached for Council’s consideration.

EFFECTIVE DATE

• Bylaw No. 1752, being a bylaw to amend the Zoning Bylaw, requires a Public Hearing. This could be held as early as May 22nd.

• Bylaws 1763 and 1776, being fee related bylaws can be given first, second and third reading.

• Council also has a bylaw at third reading (Bylaw No. 1769) which would eliminate reductions for Development Cost Charges.

• In order to allow developers time to clear in-stream applications that are at, or near adoption, development permit or building permit issuance, Council may wish to withhold adoption of Bylaws 1752, 1763, 1769 and 1776 until July 16th, 2018.

Financial Implications

Generally increasing fees to keep up with the cost of living and then removing fee reduction incentives should improve the relationship between applications and cost recovery, which Council is required to maintain under Provincial legislation. As the net cost of the Planning function is usually around 50% of departmental expenses, there is practically no chance that these proposed fee increases will result in revenues that exceed costs.

Legal Implications

None.

Options

That Council:

1. Give first, second and third reading to Bylaw No. 1763 as presented;

2. Give first, second and third reading to Bylaw No. 1776 as presented;

3. Amend Bylaw No. 1752 at first reading, and give a new first reading to this bylaw as presented;

4. Establish as policy the Affordable Housing and Amenity Contribution Policy as presented;

5. Consider adoption of Bylaws 1752, 1763, 1769 and 1776 on or after July 16th, 2018; OR

6. Take no action at this time with respect to fees or off-street parking requirements;

7. Take no action at this time with respect to a policy with respect to Affordable Housing and Amenity Contribution;

Respectfully submitted,

Submitted by:
Matthew Baldwin, MCIP, RPP
Director of Planning

Concurrence:
Leah Stohmann, MCIP, RPP, Deputy Director of Planning
Concurrence:
Cam Edwards, Acting Chief Building Inspector
Concurrence:
Cory Manton, Manager of Parks and Recreation
Concurrence:
Michelle Mahovlich, P.Eng, P.Geo, Director of Engineering
Concurrence:
Michael Dillabaugh, CPA, CA, Director of Finance
Concurrence:
Braden Hutchins, Director of Corporate Services
Concurrence:
Michelle Mahovlich, Acting Chief Administrative Officer

Appendix A

via Email
2018/03/12

West Shore Developers’ Association
C/O: Mr. Ron Coutre
Southpoint Partners Ltd.
3457 Vantage Place
Colwood, BC
V9C 3N5

Dear Ron,

Subject: Application fees, Development Cost Charges and Amenity Contribution Policy;

I have been asked to share with your association some of the changes that Council for the City of Langford is contemplating with respect to application fees, Development Cost Charges and its Affordable Housing and Amenity Contribution Policy.

With respect to fees, Council has passed a motion that staff bring forward an amendment to Bylaw No. 209 (the City’s Development Procedures bylaw) to increase all planning fees by the same amount as the general tax increase. We expect that this increase will be around 3%, and will affect the following types of fees:

• OCP amendment applications;
• Rezoning applications;
• Public Hearings;
• Development Permit and Development Permit amendment applications;
• Development Variance Permit applications;
• Letters of exemption;
• Temporary Use Permit applications;
• Board of Variance applications;

Due to a general improvement in economic conditions, Council has also indicated that they wish to end fee reductions for all for-profit development.

Council may provide grants-in-lieu of fees and charges for not-for-profit developments (eg: Pacifica Housing, M’akola Housing), but has indicated that they will decrease the assistance for not-for-profit housing from 100% to 50%.

Similarly, Council has indicted that they wish to eliminate ALL reductions in Development Cost Charges.

With respect to Council’s amenity contribution policy, the following changes are contemplated:

• Re-arranging the geographic boundaries of the various areas where amenities are required to match the recent changes to the designated City Centre;
• Blending the general amenity contribution requirements of the Pedestrian Downtown ($2500 per SFE) and the Town Centre ($4200 per SFE) into one single City Centre designation with a general amenity contribution of $3800 per SFE. This will provide Council with some additional amenity (estimated at $300 per apartment unit for lands now within the Town Centre, but not the Pedestrian Downtown) that can be directed towards the provision of additional off-street parking;