Centre on Barton Seeks Development Charge Credits Extension Worth $1.7m

Update: Council’s AF&A Cmte approved the extension.

The Centre at Barton is asking City Council to extend its development charges credits for an additional five years, beyond the usual five-year limit for DC credits.

The credits reflect that new developments on previously serviced lands do not require the City to incur the costs of extending or building new infrastructure if the new development is of the same intensity.

Starting in 2006, the former Centre Mall was demolished and 843,481 sq ft of DC credits were accumulated. The new buildings at The Centre on Barton have used 750,944.72 sq ft of the credits.

The remaining 92,536.28 sq ft of credits have a value of $1,736,905.98.

Staff are recommending the remaining credits be extended stating the intent of the bylaw is met, the developer has made substantial progress in the development and the extension will encourage economic development.

There is a quirk in the recommendation.

49,512.28 sq ft of credits expired on June 3, 2014 and staff can only officially recommend extension of the remaining 43,023 sq ft of credits. However, staff do include in the report that Council may choose to “ignore” the staff recommendation and as an alternative extend all the credits including the recently expired.

The education development charges are not controlled by the City and the extension will only apply to City DCs

Councillors vote on this Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at the Audit, Finance, and Administration.

Read the Full Report Below: