'I think it's wrong:' Vernon adds another fee to developers building much-needed housing
Amidst a housing crisis, and a push by the province to ease the red tape involved in building, the City of Vernon has introduced a fee seen by many in the industry as sending the wrong message.
At Vernon's Sept. 3 council meeting, the City introduced a $250 fee for developers to sit down with city staff and discuss their projects.
Previously this initial meeting came at no charge, and while $250 is a tiny fraction of the cost of getting something built, councillor Brian Quiring said it sent the wrong message.
"Optically this doesn’t look good," Coun. Quiring told the meeting. The councillor is an architect and a partner at MQN Architects.
"I don’t like how this looks, I’ve never had to go into a planning department with a Visa card," he said.
Vernon-based AIM Development Management owner Ian Murphy isn't keen on the move either.
"I think it's wrong, and I think it shouldn't happen," Murphy told iNFOnews.ca. "It seems counterintuitive when you've got a process that you've implemented in order to improve the application process."
Currently, anyone building anything bigger than a single-family home has to apply for a development permit. To streamline the process the city encourages developers to have a meeting with its staff to go over the project before applying to iron out any issues.
"It's just another roadblock in the pathway of putting more projects out there," architect consultant Adam Bouzane told iNFOnews.ca.
The City has come under fire in recent years for taking too long to approve permits while in dire need of more housing.
Leonard Kerkhoff is president of Kerkhoff Construction and said he has projects in 20 cities around the province and has never paid for a meeting.
"Everything we do is a $100 million dollar project, so $250 isn't going to break the budget," he said.
However, the Kelowna-based developer did agree with Coun. Quiring and said that the optics didn't look good.
"You want every application to be considered and that initial meeting with staff it's a great filter for down the road waste of energy," he said.
BlueCrow Architecture principal Jay Gillman said he understood that the meetings were time-consuming for staff but the fee should just be rolled into the permit's final cost – something Coun. Quiring also suggested at the meeting.
At last week's council meeting, planning department head Terry Barton said the rationale to begin charging was that some developers wanted several meetings, which took valuable staff time and cost money.
Barton suggested $250 fee not apply to everyone and only to those who requested too many meetings.
However, Barton was informed bylaws couldn't be selectively picked on when to be used.
And even though Barton presented the idea he didn't seem sold.
"I agree on the surface we should be reducing as many barriers as possible to encourage (housing)," he told the meeting.
Vernon-based architect Joshua Lunn told iNFOnews.ca he understood the city's rationale and hoped the move could make both developers and the city staff more prepared before heading into the meeting.
"It also puts an onus on the city too, because it makes a more formalized process," he said.
Ultimately, the move to charge developers passed, with Coun. Quiring, and Mayor Victor Cumming voting against the bylaw.
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