Its Your Money - DCC Rates

It looks like the ongoing housing market slump in Invermere is causing the District of Invermere to rethink their DCC rate.  They are considering a drop from $16,304 to $9,480.  Keep in mind that even after the rate reduction, Invermere's rate  is still over $7000 more than Cranbrook's.  When will the City of Cranbrook address our DCC rates and when will the taxpayers of Cranbrook stop being forced to subsidize the development industry???

The following article is from the Invermere Vally Echo by Darryl Crane


DOI rethinks development costs

The current state of the development cost charge (DCC) in Invermere may be on its way to a change after months of discussion among council, District of Invermere (DOI) staff and local developers.

In May of this year a group of developers came to a meeting with council to state their concerns over the current cost of the DCC on developers in the region.
It was at this meeting that DOI staff agreed to take another look at the current DCC to see if any changes were necessary to make at this time. After months aoflooking at the subject, a new proposal was brought to council at the July 13 regular meeting of council.
In the proposed changes the DCC cost will drop from $16,304 to $9,480.
This is a fair number according to chief administrative officer of the DOI, Chris Prosser.
“We have gone back with our engineers and removed projects deemed redundant and made sure to meet some needs but we are protecting the infrastructure of the people who live in Invermere as well,” Prosser said.
Prosser is hopeful that people will come to an upcoming open house and ask questions about the DCC and the projects that are happening within the town.
David Behan is part of the development team working on the CastleRock project. At the meetings in May, he was vocal that changes needed to happen for development to continue.
Talking to Behan this week, he is happy to see some of the changes to the DCC.
“They dropped off the phase 2 connector of Westside road and that was not necessary. This is a more realistic plan,” Behan said.
Though not completely happy with how far the changes have gone, Behan said he is happier than he was when this first started.
“I think overall the development community is happy, though there is no way you will ever make everyone 100 per cent happy,” Behan said.
Behan also stressed the point that he did not see this as a reduction of the current DCC. “Things have been taken out and it is a better list of things that are necessary to be done. This is a change due to a revised list of needs in Invermere,” Behan said.
Prosser thinks the new rules are for today and the future needs. “I think it is reflective of our needs at the current time and our population and future needs. At the end of the day it is there to serve on the next 20 years of our projected growth rates,” Prosser said.
Councillor Al Miller is hopeful that the changes will be helpful for developers and also for residents in Invermere.
“My belief is that we have the DCC in the area it needs to be. The (costs), as far as I am concerned, were too high. There were projects on there that did not need to be a part of it at this point. I believe in charging a fair price for what is needed,” Miller said.
Miller believes this drop will take some of the strain off development groups and put it in a spot where it is right for developments today.
“It is my hope that this will be good for the community. My belief is the development community will be all right with the new proposal and things are at a much fairer level in the new proposal,” Miller said.
The date for the open house has not been set but should be available within the next week.