Whereas large tracts of industrial lands situated in strategic locations within British Columbian municipalities are assessed as brownfields and lie dormant and undeveloped having been contaminated from industrial use; And whereas the provincial taxation system in British Columbia does not encourage owners of brownfield properties to clean up their contaminated sites and effectively allows those who polluted these lands to enjoy a tax holiday: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development review the way contaminated sites brownfields are assessed to create a system where sites that are sitting dormant are taxed as green remediated sites, and that local governments be permitted to provide a permissive tax exemption as an incentive to clean up these sites.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs Housing The issue of contaminated sitesbrownfields is a province-wide concern, for both rural and urban communities, and one that the Province takes seriously. As pointed out in response to UBCM resolution 2016-B104, the cost of remediation is often prohibitive, and can even exceed the market value of the property. As a result, increasing the rate of taxation andor creating a new property class for these properties may have unintended consequences and challenges from the outset. It is not clear at this point whether a proposal to provide a permissive tax exemption on negative cash value land would achieve the desired result. As such, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is not at this time considering a separate property class for brownfield sites Ministry of Finance is in agreement with this position. However, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy staff have been reviewing the results of the Provinces first Brownfield Renewal Strategy 2008-2014 to develop a plan for encouraging the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites across BC going forward. MAH staff will certainly collaborate where appropriate once this plan takes shape.