Delta to further incentivize village development
Sandor Gyarmati
Delta council on Monday gave the thumbs-up to a staff recommendation to scrap a series of tax incentives that previous councils had initiated.
The tax exemption bylaws repealed include: the Delta DLC Landfill Site Economic Investment Zone and Revitalization Tax Exemption Program, the Scott Road Revitalization Bylaw, the 72 Avenue Revitalization Bylaw, the South Delta Revitalization Bylaw and the Delta Industrial and Tourism Revitalization Bylaw.
Local governments may offer targeted economic incentives to encourage investment in particular areas of a community or to encourage certain types of development and, between 2011 and 2016, Delta enacted the five such revitalization tax exemption bylaws.
Earlier this summer, council approved a recommendation to provide municipal property tax exemptions and municipal fee reductions, under the South Delta Revitalization Tax Exemption Program, for the six-storey Headwater Living development at the corner of Bridge and Elliott streets, currently the Dunbar Lumber site.
Set to expire this year, that bylaw was enacted in 2016 as part of the South Delta Business Sustainability Strategy to encourage investment in new and existing retail, commercial and mixed-use projects.
A staff report notes that, over time, local and regional economic conditions have changed, development needs have changed, and Delta's vision for some areas of the community has changed.
Council last year already approved a new a development cost charge (DCC) waiver bylaw to offer incentives for the development of affordable, non-profit housing units in Delta.
Next on the list is a review potential new economic incentives for development in the Ladner core/waterfront area, consistent with the Ladner Waterfront Redevelopment Strategy and Ladner Village Official Community Plan update.
Staff are to report back on a new program, while the practice of collecting cash-in-lieu of parkland contributions in connection with strata subdivisions in Ladner Village will be ceased.
“In Ladner Village, there is a continued identified need for measures to incentivize redevelopment. Since the adoption of Official Community Plan amendments for Ladner Village in 2021, there are increased height and density allowances that better enable redevelopment. However, at this time only one Ladner Village development has taken advantage of the incentives offered under the current South Delta Revitalization Tax Exemption Bylaw,” the report notes.
