Building and development interest in Delta is at similar or higher level than previous years, according to a recent report from the city’s development department.
Highlighting building permit and land development statistics from 2018 to 2022, the report to council notes that Application Centre staff responded to 21,803 queries last year, a decrease from 2021, which is possibly attributable to the housing market sales slowdown.
Application Centre queries, overall, remain high and staff have seen a significant increase since 2019, at which time they doubled in volume.
Some of the other highlights last year include the Building Division issuing 2,077 building permits, which is a 10 per cent increase from 2021. The highest number of building permits issued in the last five years was also in 2022. On average last year, 173 permits were issued per month.
Land Development applications increased in 2022 by 23 per cent from 2021, and a significant proportion of applications are of a more complex nature such as multi-unit, mixed-use, and industrial proposals.
While the number of applications received from 2019 to 2021 is significantly lower than in prior years, the overall decrease in 2019 is primarily attributed to the elimination of the form and character development permit process for single-detached homes in North Delta and the adoption of a new Delta zoning bylaw, the report explains.
A decrease in development variance permit and Board of Variance applications is also largely attributable to the adoption of the bylaw.
“In response to increasing development interest in Delta, recently the Community Planning and Development Department was restructured with the creation of a separate Development Department focused on building and development application processing,” the report notes. “Additionally, staff continue to work on streamlining development application processes and expand on Delta's digital application platform with the grant funding by the Union of BC Municipalities' Local Government Development Approvals program.”
As far as new secondary suite permits issued last year, North Delta led the way with 144 permits, followed by Tsawwassen at 27 and Ladner at 12 permits.
