By Greg Nikkel
City council postponed a “Christmas present” of a new off-site development levy until the first meeting of the New Year, after discussions on the bylaw on Monday evening will mean more tweaking of the wording before council gives third and final reading.
The council did pass the new bylaw to regulate the operation of snowmobiles within city limits, which will now prohibit the use of snowmobiles in the city, including on the Souris River, the exception of three loading points.
The development levy was ready for second and third reading, but after a number of questions were raised about the clarity of the bylaw on some key points, council agreed to give it second reading, and put off the final reading until the January 8 council meeting.
City manager Roy Hardy noted that the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce and other interested parties had input into the wording of the bylaw, which removed a charge per square foot that had formerly been in the bylaw, and lowered the charge per net acre from $86,000 to $76,440, or $188,825 per net hectare.
He said the key elements of the bylaw is the levy is geared towards two types of development: development “green-field” properties, or properties that have no connections to a city water or sewer service line, and existing properties which will see intensified development on the property.
City resident Pat Maloney brought up some questions about the bylaw, pointing out that in Section 7 it was ambiguous if the levy should be applied to “vested” lands, and whether vested lands are exempted from the levy.
Manager Hardy conceded the question was valid, and said the levy would apply to vested lands as well.
Maloney asked if ministerial approval was required for this levy due to the substantial changes being made, and it was confirmed that the bylaw will be sent to the Ministry for approval once it has received third and final reading.
After some members of council also raised some questions, Maloney commented, “As a taxpayer, I would encourage council to be very positive about this bylaw” before giving it third reading.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw asked in regard to the lot charge if this applies to residential or commercial properties, and Hardy noted it could apply to either one, and the development officer will have some flexibility in determining if the per-lot charge would apply based on the size of the lot and of the development.
Mayor Marcel Roy noted that council had “argued long and arduously over this bylaw” and that he would like to see it move forward and “not to hamper development, and to be fair to all people out there.”
Manager Hardy said the bylaw can’t have a detailed list of every possibility for development, but rather the bylaw will set out the rules under which the development officer can determine the appropriate charge to levy.
A resident had questions about the vagueness of some of the bylaw’s wording, as she wondered if a lot development was small, would the per-lot charge apply or the full $76,000 per acre charge.
Hardy said it would depend if the development was on a “green-field” space, or an existing space. “If the space was very small and could be considered a lot, then we might be able to use the per-lot charge, but it depends on how big the lot is,” he said.
“We want to make sure we get this right,” said Coun. Jeff Richards, adding he might like some clarity on this issue. Some discussion centred then around what constitutes a “green-field” space, as some comments indicated people thought this referred to an empty, undeveloped lot with no services. Hardy said it may be a lot where the services are in the alley next to the lot, but have not been connected to anything on the lot.
“We need to get some experience behind the bylaw, but we also don’t want to leave the City starved for revenues. If a development is going to be a draw and will require us to upgrade our services that are off-site, then the levy would apply. It’s not black-and-white, it depends on how big the development is, what it’s going to be used for,” said Hardy, adding of the bylaw, “It’s not a negotiation, but a determination by the City of what the lot is going to be used for.”
“The intent of this council is to make sure the City doesn’t chase away developers. We can’t do that any longer. There are people who want to come to our city. This is why we have a city manager and an administration to handle these situations. It’s happened before that the bylaw wasn’t clear and there was organized confusion,” said Coun. Dick Michel. “Let’s make sure it’s clear and feasible, and move forward.”
Coun. Jeff Chessall said that prior to council he was the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and noted with the previous bylaw, they weren’t so concerned about the $86,000 per acre levy, but they opposed the square-footage charge as it was applied to existing businesses.
“That was the biggest complaint, so we’ve addressed that issue, and we dropped the levy down $10,000 per acre due to the fact our city isn’t going to double in size,” he said, referring to the former levy of $86,000, which was based on the supposition that Weyburn would double its size in a few years time and therefore would need vastly more infrastructure.
“I believe we did a good job. The bylaw was ready for a review as we’ve discussed. It would be great to review it again before our term is over,” said Coun. Chessall.
Coun. Winston Bailey agreed that the square-footage charge was unfair as it discouraged businesses from expanding, and said, “The door is open with this council and with this city manager for discussions, not negotiations.”
“I think we need to go back and do another edit on this. I really thought this would be a good Christmas present for us,” said Coun. Richards.
