If you want to build on Bowen Island, you’ll have to pay more in fees this fall.
On July 24, council passed a final reading of a bylaw to ensure that the municipality recoups its costs of reviewing and managing various building and development applications. Implementation is planned for September 1.
The new fees include:
• a building permit fee of $9 per every thousand dollars in value up to $10,000 then $8 per $1,000 in value. This eliminates an initial $74 fee for the first $1,000 and then a similar sliding scale
• a non-refundable $100 administration fee for a building permit application, up from $50. This recognizes that sometimes staff will work on a building application only to have the project withdrawn before the permit is granted. The fee increase for rezonings will go from $100 to $250.
• an increase in the interim occupant fee from $200 to $300.
Council heeded a request from Larry Adams, business manager of Bowen Island Properties, to adapt the wording of inspection and administration fees. “We support the underlying rationale of the municipality requiring an owner to pay the cost of public works staff time and expense to review, inspect, and process the works and services for a subdivision or other development,” Adams wrote. “However, for larger scale subdivisions with works and services that cost over $200,000, we question whether [the proposed] 4% [fee] is fair. For example, if the works and services cost $500,000, then 4% would be $20,000, likely well in excess of the actual municipal costs of inspecting, administering, and processing said works and services.”
Daniel Martin, manager of planning and development, said the proposed changes were not intended to create a windfall for the municipality. The fee remains four per cent but wording accurately defines the intention of solely recouping staff costs on larger projects.
