Whereas the Local Government Act, Section 559, authorizes a local government to impose, by bylaw, development cost charges on every person who obtains approval for development, for the purpose of providing funds to assist the local government to pay the capital cost of providing, constructing, altering or expanding sewage, water, drainage and highway facilities, and providing and improving parkland to service, directly or indirectly, the development for which the charge is being imposed; And whereas in the same manner that development results in a capital cost burden on a local government for sewage, water, drainage, highway facilities, and parkland, the burden of providing, constructing, altering or expanding local government facilities is also incurred by a local government as a result of development: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM be requested to contact the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to propose that the Local Government Act, Part 14, Division 19 Development Costs Recovery be amended to authorize a local government to impose a development cost charge for local government facilities.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs The Province is undertaking the Development Approvals Process Review DAPR to find improvements in the current development process, including looking at Development Cost Charges DCCs and other development finance tools. Through this process, the Province is engaging a broad range of interests, including local governments and developers. A review of development finance is a critical component of DAPR. Part of this review will consider the expansion of DCCs to include other types of local government infrastructure. This will be a thorough review involving detailed research, analysis, policy development, consultation, and potentially legislation depending on the results of the review. Any expansion of DCCs would still need to ensure sufficient clarity as to the infrastructure for which DCCs can be imposed. The term local government facilities from the resolution is probably too broad for inclusion in a DCC program. The current categories of allowable DCC costs are fairly specific e.g. sewer, drainage, and parks, so any expansion would also need to be based on other specific categories of infrastructure.