Bylaw No. 1783 - Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw, Amendment No. 17 (Fee Schedule and Related Amendments), Bylaw No. 1783 (Readings)

Staff Report to Council

Date

June 18, 2018

Department

Land Development

Subject

Subdivision Application Fee Adjustments

Contact / Office

2nd Floor · 877 Goldstream Avenue · Langford, BC Canada · V9B 2X8
T · 250-478-7882 F · 250-478-7864

Background

On January 22nd, Council directed staff to prepare a bylaw to amend the City’s application fees commensurate with the tax increase of 2.45%. Council passed first, second and third readings of Bylaw Nos. 1776 and 1763 on April 16th to amend Bylaw Nos. 209 and 1160 increase Planning and Building application fees with direction to adopt these Bylaws on July 16th.

Commentary

Current Fee Adjustments

In order to apply consistent application fee increases among all application types, Council may wish to amend the Subdivision application fees contained within Bylaw No. 1000 by 2.45%. Bylaw No. 1783 as drafted includes these adjustments to the current fee schedule. Both the current and proposed fee schedules are attached to this report. If Council wishes to proceed with giving Bylaw No. 1783 first, second and third readings, it could be adopted on July 16th, concurrently with the other application fee increases.

New Fee for Air Space Parcel Subdivisions

In addition, Council may wish to consider adding a new application fee for Air Space Parcels, which is an application to separate a building and associated land into distinct volumetric fee-simple parcels, which may then be stratified separately. This is typically implemented in mixed-use buildings, for example to allow a residential component of a building to be stratified separately from a commercial or institutional component, and/or to separate a residential rental component from a condo ownership component. This allows the two (or more) distinct uses to operate as separate legal entities with reciprocal use agreements to define shared access/egress routes within the building, to designate exclusive and shared use of parking areas, to allow access for maintenance of the different portion of the building and service corridors, etc. To alter any of these agreements after subdivision would require mutual agreement by all signatories.

Many developers find this a more functional model for the end users than stratifying a mixed-use building as one strata, in order to avoid the user component with a majority share of voting, typically residential, establishing or changing strata bylaws governing matters such as access to parking, hours of operation, etc that affect the viability of the minority share component, typically commercial. As the City is experiencing a greater volume of applications for mixed-use buildings, it is probable that staff will receive a greater number of Air Space Parcel subdivision application in the future.

Most recently, these applications have been processed as an application for Final Approval, the most applicable category in the current fee schedule, which has a nominal admin fee of $275 plus $438 per residential lot and $545 per commercial lot (including the increases10 proposed in Bylaw No. 1783. However these applications take a great deal more staff time to process than a typical Final Approval application, as it includes review that would be done at the Statement of Conditions stage for a typical subdivision to determine the scope of legal documents required, and furthermore the legal documents themselves are more complex and site specific. As such, the use of templates is lower and the City’s legal fees are higher.

Staff are suggesting that Council may wish to implement a new fee for Air Space Parcel subdivisions, with an admin fee of $550, which is equal to the combined Admin fee for Statement of Conditions and Final Approval, with the same per lot fees for Final Approval applications noted above. In addition, Council may wish to establish a legal retainer fee of $5,000 to cover the additional legal costs incurred compared to a typical subdivision, with a proviso that any unused portion will be returned to the applicant.

Changes to Statement of Conditions Extensions

Finally, at the October 5th, 2017 meeting of the Westshore Developers Association, it was noted that due to the increasingly complex nature of subdivisions in Langford, it has become difficult to complete the process within the timeframe specified within Bylaw No. 1000, that being a one-year period of validity for a Statement of Conditions, plus one six month extension (Section 1.5.1). If the application expires without extension or requires more than one extension, a new application is required as per the wording in the Bylaw. Staff note that it is important to conduct a review of the file status once every 12 months in order to determine if any Bylaw changes affect the design or fees for the proposal, as this is the maximum amount of time that an in-stream application is protected from any Bylaw changes in accordance with the Local Government Act. As such, if Council wishes to amend Bylaw No. 1000 in this regard, they may wish to allow 12-month extensions and give discretion to the Approving Officer to issue more than one extension provided that the applicant continues to progress towards completion.

Bylaw No. 1783 as drafted includes the amendments described above. If Council agrees, they may wish to proceed with this Bylaw as drafted, revise the Bylaw prior to proceeding, or take no action with respect to these proposed amendments.

Financial Implications

Generally increasing fees to keep up with the cost of living should improve the relationship between applications and cost recovery, which Council is required to maintain under Provincial legislation.

Legal Implications

None.

Options

That Council:

1. Give first, second and third readings to Bylaw No. 1783 as drafted.

OR

2. Amend Bylaw No. 1783 prior to giving first, second and third readings;

OR

3. Take no action at this time with respect to Bylaw No. 1783.

Respectfully submitted

Submitted by:
Leah Stohmann, MCIP, RPP, Deputy Director of Planning

Concurrence:
Matthew Baldwin, MCIP, RPP Director of Planning

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:
Darren Kiedyk, Chief Administrative Officer

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Current Fee Schedule (as in report)

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New Proposed Fee Schedule (as in report)

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CITY OF LANGFORD

BYLAW NO. 1783
A BYLAW TO AMEND THE SUBDIVISION AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICING BYLAW

The Council of the City of Langford, in open meeting assembled, enacts as follows:

1. City of Langford Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw No. 1000 is amended as follows:

i) By replacing the phrase “six month” in Section 1.5.1 with “twelve month”;

ii) By replacing the phrase “six month” in Section 1.5.1.3 with “twelve month”;

iii) By adding the following as Section 1.5.1.4:
“Despite subsection 1.5.1, the Approving Officer may consider issuing more than one extension if, in the opinion of the Approving Officer, work has substantially progressed towards completion during the period of the current extension and is reasonably expected to achieve subdivision approval prior to the expiry of the newly requested extension.”

iv) By inserting the following as Section 1.8 and renumbering subsequent sections accordingly:

“1.8. Air Space Parcel Subdivision

1.8.1. Applications for approval of an Air Space Parcel Subdivision must be accompanied by a fee in accordance with Table 1.”

v) By replacing the phrase “1.14.1” in Section 1.11.4 (as renumbered) with “1.15.1”;

vi) By replacing the phrase “1.14.1” in Section 1.15.2 (as renumbered) with “1.15.1”; and

vii) By replacing Table 1 – 1 “Applications and Fees” in Schedule 1 Procedures and Fees with the table on the following page.

2. This Bylaw may be cited as “Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw, Amendment No. 17 (Fee Schedule and Related Amendments), Bylaw No. 1783”.

READ A FIRST TIME this day of, 2018.
READ A SECOND TIME this day of, 2018.
READ A THIRD TIME this day of, 2018.
ADOPTED this day of, 2018.

MAYOR

(Certified Correct)

CORPORATE OFFICER

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Table 1 – 1 Applications and Fees (Bylaw No. 1783)