Revelstoke City Council defeated second reading of the proposed Development Cost Charge bylaw today, which means that there will be no changes to the bylaw and the current Development Cost Charges are still in affect.
READ MORE: City DCC reserves dwindle while review delayed
City council began the process to upgrade the current Development Cost Charge Bylaw, which was made in 2008, in April.
The purpose of the bylaw is to allow the city to charge developers for and use the money to assist in paying for new infrastructure that is a result of increased population, such as roads, sewer and water, instead of that burden falling only on existing taxpayers.
A report was done by McElhanney Consulting looking at factors such as predicted population growth as well as necessary infrastructure projects to come up with recommended numbers for the new bylaw.
However, the numbers presented to council were significantly lower than the numbers recommended by the consulting company. And though the bylaw passed first reading, council requested that city staff remove infrastructure projects in order to further decrease the charges.
READ MORE: Cost to Revelstoke taxpayers as well as developers affected by proposed bylaw
The numbers presented today were again lower than previously recommended, as city staff had removed four projects from the docket, therefor decreasing the total amount of money needed and reducing the charges.
Mark McKee, Gary Sulz and Linda Nixon voted in favour of second reading, Aaron Orlando, Trevor English and Connie Brothers voted against. Scott Duke was not at the meeting.
*Correction notice: It was not a majority of councillors that were against the bylaw but rather the vote was split, which results in defeat.
Revelstoke Development Cost Charges 2008 by Revelstoke Editor on Scribd
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