Announcements & Community Updates

There are currently two active announcements/opportunities!

August 7 Feedback wanted on a DCC reduction bylaw for not-for-profit affordable rental housing! Information is available on the Get Involved page. Please feel free to send your thoughts and questions through August, as we'll likely consider the bylaw in September. 

Area B has a parks development cost charge (DCC) bylaw. DCCs are fees collected from land developers, on a user pay basis, to help fund the cost of eligible community park improvements in to service new development in Area B. The parks DCC is $530 for a single-family home and $354 for multi-family developments. These DCCs go towards park infrastructure solely in our community.

This new bylaw would result in a 50% reduction in DCCs for *not-for-profit affordable rental developments*. There are restrictions on the type of development and developer that would qualify, and there would need to be a housing agreement in place that ensures it would remain managed as affordable rentals for the life of the building. Any project would have to be on land properly zoned; note that this does not change the ability of the Islands Trust to set zoning and landuse parameters and they would likely be involved in any housing agreement – the bylaw simply reduces the DCC for eligible developments. DCCs are regulated through the Local Government Act which sets out the type of parks projects that would be eligible for using the DCCs, and requires that the portion of DCCs that are waived must be made up by the community. This means that the portion of the DCC that is waived ($265 or $172 per unit depending on the type of development) will be recouped through taxation. In effect the community will subsidize the DCCs for projects that qualify for a DCC reduction. 

Please let me know what you think!