County council called for a time out on its new off-site levies for the Sturgeon Valley this week after developers complained that they weren’t consulted.
Council voted unanimously to defer second reading of the 2012 Sturgeon Valley off-site levy bylaw Tuesday.
The bylaw, if passed, would see developers pay about $56,000 per lot in off-site levies for new homes in the Sturgeon Valley region – more than twice what they paid in 2007.
About 575 new lots are proposed for development in the valley in the next five years, council has heard, and administration has said that the region needs about $51.8 million in upgrades to support those lots. County staffers have called for developers to foot 61 per cent of this bill, which would work out to $55,704 per lot in levies. Developers paid $22,425 in levies per lot in the valley in 2007.
Joe Marchese, development manager for United Communities (the group behind Tuscany Hills), was one of several developers to criticize this proposal Tuesday.
“We are convinced this bylaw is flawed and unfair,” he said.
Luis Esteves, a senior planner with Scheffer Andrew Ltd., which is involved with Tuscany Hills, argued that this development should be exempt from these new levies as it had already been approved under the old ones back in 2007.
“Since then, nothing has changed,” he said. “There have been no additional lots added.”
If there was enough water and road capacity to support this development in 2007, he argued, there should still be enough today.
“The proposed levy bylaw is unfair to developers who are already on the ground,” Esteves continued.
Developers were “dictated to, not consulted” on these levies as part of a “rushed” process, he argued.
“We feel that the process to date has not been transparent,” he said.
Ed Basaraba, president of Pinnacorp Investments Inc., the developer behind the valley’s Pinnacle Ridge Estates, echoed Esteves’ remarks. The county has claimed that all developers will benefit equally from these proposed improvements, he said, but “this is far from the truth.”
Cliff Kelsey, speaking on behalf of Sturgeon Heights Properties Ltd. (which represents a little less than half of the new lots proposed for the valley region), warned that these higher levies could slow development in the valley.
“Developers don’t really pay for anything,” he noted. “Every cent of cost is passed onto the customer.”
If development slows, the county might not have the cash needed to pay for its upgrades.
Coun. Don McGeachy moved to delay second reading until the end of February to allow for more consultation. The county is on the cusp of some major developments, he said, and must make sure that its new neighbourhoods are sustainable.
“We need to do this right the first time,” he said.
It’s important to get this right, Coun. Karen Shaw agreed, but not on the backs of taxpayers. She criticized Pinnacorp for suggesting it shouldn’t be subject to the new levies. Its approval is six years old, she argued, and no one would expect the price of a car to stay the same after six years.
“If we don’t do this levy, then who pays for it?” she asked.
The current levies are totally inadequate to support the valley’s growth, said Coun. Ken McGillis, and the new one might need an escalator clause to account for inflation.
“We have some other developers in the wing that want to get going,” he noted, so any delay to this bylaw should have a fixed time limit.
The bylaw comes back for second reading at the Feb. 26, 2013 council meeting.
