Delta council recently gave final approval for a bylaw amendment aimed at further streamlining development applications.
To align Delta’s procedures with the Local Government Act and to reduce the application timeframe, staff proposed to remove a requirement to provide notice for delegated variances.
The Development Application Procedures Bylaw previously required that a notification letter be sent to neighbouring properties 10 days prior to the general manager of development’s consideration of a delegated development variance permit application.
A staff report notes that delegated variances are minor in nature and for the majority of the delegated variances considered in 2024, the notification letters resulted in no correspondence from neighbouring property owners.
In December 2023, council approved the Development Applications Procedures Bylaw with the goal of further streamlining the development application process and to align with provincial housing initiatives.
The bylaw delegates to the general manager the authority to approve minor applications that are administrative or technical in nature, such as issuing and/or amending a broader range of development permits and issuing and/or amending minor development variance permits including variances to height, setbacks, lot coverage and off-street parking requirements.
The report notes that staff executed a total of 211 permits and agreements and issued a total of 27 development variance permits and development permits under delegated authority between Dec. 5, 2023 to Aug. 31, 2024.
Staff will continue to implement process improvements and will provide council with the next report on approvals and legal agreements executed by staff under delegated authority in late 2025.
Council this year approved even more changes to support the city’s goal of increasing the number of development applications being processed every month with an updated Subdivision and Development Standards Bylaw.
It is aimed at further increasing review efficiency and decreasing processing times, substantive changes that the engineering department notes will address concerns from the development community and support the secondary suites program.
However, getting approved projects built is another issue.
Another Delta staff report this year stated the city has seen developers put their projects on hold for extended periods of time at all stages, waiting for more favourable market conditions to proceed.
