Vancouver approves fees increases to limit property tax hikes

Vancouver City Hall — FILE - The City Hall building in Vancouver. (CityNews Image)

Posted October 3, 2023 4:25 pm.

Various fees associated with rezoning, development, and building permits in Vancouver will go up around nine per cent, starting next year.

Councillors voted Tuesday to approve the increases, with this option preferred instead of massive hikes to property taxes.

The vote instructs the director of Legal Services to enact necessary amendments to several bylaws, including the Building, Electrical, Noise Control, Zoning and Development Fee, Secondary Suite Inspection, and Protection of Trees bylaws, effective Jan. 1, 2024.

The approved option, put together by staff who were directed to come up with different solutions per the approval of the 2023 budget, would result in an average 15 per cent overall fee increase.

Option 2 of the City of Vancouver’s proposed 2024 fee increases for Rezoning, Development, Building, and other related permits. (Courtesy City of Vancouver)

This option includes a nine per cent increase for fees in most categories, a “30 per cent increase for most rezoning and development fees,” as well as “increases higher than 30 per cent on specific rezoning and development fees.”

“This option retains a similar approach as option 1, introducing new fees and directing higher increases at development and rezoning processes. However, the overall increase would be
significantly higher, achieving full cost recovery within 2024,” the motion to council reads.

“Let’s pull the Band-Aid off and get that full cost recovery now,” said coun. Pete Fry. “I think it’s also worth noting that, oftentimes, these permits will not necessarily be paid all upfront and they’re staggered as the project progresses.”

Coun. Peter Meizener says, currently, the city is “leaving on the table” millions of dollars in development fees.

“For me, this is about balancing the need to deliver housing, while also ensuring that we are charging enough to recover our costs as a city in order to process these applications, and also, we are competitive with these proposed fee increases with other major cities across Canada. So I feel confident in alternate option two,” he explained.

Two councillors were absent during the Tuesday vote. All who were in attendance agreed with the same option.

However, there are concerns within the development industry. Jon Stovell, the former chair of the Urban Development Institute, is among those who isn’t happy about the changes.

“The problem with all these fee increases is, that’s what government always says, they say, ‘it’s just a little bit, it’s just us, it’s not going to make or break,’ but they’re all doing it, and they’re all doing it all the time. The federal government went in the other direction and relieved the GST and that brought a lot of projects back into viability,” he explained.

The vote comes as pressure continues to mount on all levels of government to streamline the construction of new housing, given the ongoing affordability crisis.

Stovell says the timing is “unfortunate.”

“What our industry is calling for right now is for all levels of government … to freeze all development fees for two to three years,” he added.

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