The spectre of DCCs (Development Cost Charges) was raised in council again on Monday. DCCs are charged by the city when developments such as new subdivisions puts added demands on the city’s infrastructure.
“One of the first orders of business of this council was unfinished business with regard to DCCs,” Coun. Andy Stradling said.
“We did receive a clear report from staff and debated the issue long and hard. We recommended to staff that a bylaw be drafted.”
Stradling indicated that the move was popular and noted that he was absent when council later deferred the bylaw until the new year, to await the infrastructure report. Now he thinks staff are reluctant to draft the bylaw.
“We’re now in April and there’s a danger this might get deferred too long, well beyond council’s memory [of the debate]. We have moved to have this [bylaw] brought before council,” he said.
CAO Victor Kumar responded, saying “we are working on it, hopefully we can get it to council as quickly as possible,” suggesting a two month time frame.
Part of the problem faced by staff is that an increase in DCCs must be approved provincially, something that’s unlikely to happen unless Rossland’s economy rebounds substantially.
Coun. Jill Spearn and Coun. Kathy Wallace were quite clear that the DCC increase a consultant recommended in 2008 — at the end of the most recent boom — is no longer relevant in today’s depressed economic climate.
Spearn argued that both large and small businesses are struggling. “We are in very dire economic times,” she said. “To even suggest we need a DCC bylaw of $13,000 per project per builder [is] absolutely ludicrous.”
She said, “I will stand up to any citizen in this community and tell them why.”
Spearn noted “DCCs do not occur in many of the adjacent communities, if any of them,” adding that construction jobs are moving to other communities where costs are more reasonable.
“Castlegar is vibrant right now,” she gave as an example.
Wallace agreed with Spearn and concluded, “any additional cost gets passed on to the homeowner and directly affects affordability.”