The July 25 Oak Bay News article, “Oak Bay Looks to development cost charges (DCCs) to pay for infrastructure”, omits important information. For example, it states “these fees are already in place in many municipalities” but leaves out, “and have been for well over a decade.” Or that there have been many community requests to implement these charges over the years to help defray some of the impact costs Oak Bay’s new development result in.
The article should also have mentioned Oak Bay councils previously commissioned two expensive consultant studies, that have been sitting on the shelf for several years. We can only hope this council doesn’t commission another one.
The argument has been made that most of Oak Bay’s new development has not impacted the municipality’s crumbling infrastructure because it's only replacing the existing house. Notwithstanding, that in most cases the existing house was much more affordable than the expensive new very big one, many natural asset trees have been lost, additional paving added, and soil filtration removed.
To get a better understanding of the amount of municipal revenue that is, and has been at stake, the article could also have pointed out that the City of Victoria has proposed new DCC rate changes. It’s the first significant change since 2018, and would see a single-family home increase to $24,582 per lot from $6,871, while medium-density development – three or more units with each having ground-level access outside – will increase to $14,529 per unit from $6,238 and high-density units jump to $10,207 per unit from $3,335.
Some councillors raised questions about who benefits and one councillor inquired how to make sure these DCC fees are used to actually help the community they are collected from. Surely council should know the development industry significantly benefits by building on Oak Bay’s existing infrastructure.
Oak Bay taxpayers have had to shoulder the exceptionally high infrastructure replacement and new upgrade costs caused by new development for many years now. This is one of the main reasons the municipality’s property tax increases have been some of the highest in the province.
DCCs have been a strategic priority in many annual reports but have not been prioritized. The bigger question for council is, why is Oak Bay one of the few municipalities that has not introduced development cost charges to actually help pay for new development impacts?
Anthony Mears
Oak Bay
