Town of Sundre officials are adjusting the proposed offsite levy bylaw to only reflect the projects that are required for completion in the next three to five years.
The reason for the adjustment is because the bylaw will need to be updated again in three to five years, and developers could be charged a smaller fee, according to Erin O'Neill, the town's manager of planning and development.
A public facilities contribution was discussed during the council workshop meeting on March 10 as an option for developers, but not all councillors agreed on it.
The contribution is a new tax on developers of vacant, unsubdivided land within town limits, to help pay for future community and recreational facilities.
There has already been an estimated $23-million worth of proposed projects -- a $15-million arena and an $8-million sports complex – identified to be partially bankrolled through the tax.
“While public facility contributions can be negotiated during the subdivision/development application, it is not a requirement of the Municipal Government Act,” said O'Neill.
The proposed tax is between $24,129 and $32,554 per acre ($59,599 and $80,408 per hectare) depending on which area of town the land is in.
Developers would contribute an estimated $5.6 million over time towards the estimated cost of the proposed sports complex and arena through the proposed tax. This is based on developers contributing 24.4 per cent of the estimated costs, while the Town of Sundre would pick up 75.6 per cent of the costs.
“And then that's divided by how many acres are left to be developed. So we took the $5 million and divided it by how many acres are available for development in town to come up with an amount per acre so that we can make that amount of money,” she said.
The facilities are recommendations out of the town's Master Recreation Plan, which was unveiled in 2013, she noted.
“What we did is the town took a certain portion of that and then the developers take a certain portion of that,” she said.
“So it worked out to be $5,000 and some change an acre, so that we could put some money aside to reserve for that when we're ready to do those complexes.”
Coun. Tony Jordan and Mayor Terry Leslie said during the meeting last week they didn't think the public facilities contribution should be included in the bylaw.
Jordan said because it is optional it's not professional because one developer may pay it and one may not. He said “optional” tends to get buried in contracts.
Kyle Easton, project engineer at BSEI Municipal Consulting Engineers, was present at the meeting to review the proposed bylaw with councillors.
Town officials contracted BSEI Engineering to update the offsite levy bylaw while addressing the following:
• Construction costs based on current market conditions
• Changes in previously contemplated development patterns
• Change in the anticipated rate of growth
• To ensure that the adopted offsite levy approach is equitable between present and future developments
• To ensure that growth pays for itself
• Investigate the mechanism for a public facilities contribution to construct or expand existing facilities categorized into recreation, community and essential services.
The last time the bylaw was updated was in 2008.
“Currently the town's offsite levy bylaw is outdated as all the projects referenced in the document, the projects for which the town is collecting money at the subdivision or development stage, have been completed,” said O'Neill.
A public hearing is scheduled for April 7, after which second and third readings could be considered.
Council passed first reading during the council meeting on March 3 and an open house was held on Feb. 19.
