Lasqueti Trust Committee proposed Fees Bylaw increase/amendments

Each Local Trust Committee (LTD) has a Fees Bylaw, in which the fee for each "service" is set out. Some LTCs have not updated/increased their fees for years. Our Lasqueti Fees Bylaw was originally adopted in 2009, and was amended in 2016 and 2018. I think that new services/fees were added, and existing ones were not increased, but I’m not certain of this. Our current fees bylaw is at https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/lasqueti-ltc-fees-bylaw-no-85/

The Islands Trust Council decided that it would ask each Local Trust Committee to adopt a fees bylaw that shifted the majority of the cost of processing applications from the general property tax payer to the applicant. The goal was to recover about 80% of the cost of dealing with the application from the applicant. To accomplish this, Trust Council adopted an Application Processing Services  Policy and a Model Fees Bylaw. They can be found at https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/policy-5-6-1-application-processing-services/  The policy is on pages 1-7, and the Model Fees Bylaw is on pages 8-14.

There are many fees in the Model Bylaw for services that Lasqueti does not provide or require. Trust Council can not require that a Local Trust Committee adopt a particular fee schedule, but it requested that we each do so, and recommended that we could vary suggested fees by +/- 20% from the Model Bylaw.

Below is a list showing the fees/services, the current Lasqueti fee, and the Model Bylaw fee in italic. Some sections are reorganized.

Official Community Plan amendment $4,400

Official Community Plan amendment in combination with an application for amendment to a Land Use Bylaw $4,950

Land Use Bylaw amendment $3,520

Land Use Contract amendment $4,400 $2000  (These expire very soon, if we have any at all, so it’s not very relevant.)

Reorganized to:

Major (e.g. change to density or OCP) $7,800

Minor (e.g. regulation change without changing density or OCP amendment) $4,600

Development variance permit in respect of a residential development $440 $1900

Development variance permit in respect of a commercial, industrial or institutional development $715 $1900

Development variance permit for a setback or screening regulation specific to any freshwater feature (stream, lake, pond, brook, ditch, creek   or wetland ) in respect of a residential, commercial, industrial or institutional development $150

Temporary commercial and industrial use permit $770

Temporary commercial and industrial use permit renewal $165

Reorganized to:

Temporary Use Permit (residential/commercial/industrial) $2150

Temporary Use Permit for residential uses and commercial uses under 95 square metres that provide community benefit $1,000

Temporary Use Permit Renewal $700

Temporary Use Permit Renewal (Community Benefit) $350 (Community Benefit to be determined in our Official Community Plan)

Application for subdivision review – first parcel $825 $1000

Application for subdivision review - every additional parcel that would be created by the proposed subdivision $110 $100

Application for subdivision review - parcel line adjustments only, creating no additional parcels $110 $500

Board of Variance $440 $2200

Strata Conversion $825 $1500

Liquor & Cannabis Regulation Branch – Liquor License $825

Liquor & Cannabis Regulation Branch – Non-Medical Cannabis Retail License $825

Reorganized to:

Liquor & Cannabis Regulation Branch – Retail License Application and Process and referrals requiring local government consultation $1,500

Liquor & Cannabis Regulation Branch – Temporary License Change $100 $500

The Lasqueti proposed new Fees Bylaw is on pages 15-21 in the June 6 LTC agenda package available at  https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/lasqueti-ltc-regular-meeting-agenda-9/  It has received two readings so far, I think.

I will be proposing that a fee for Heritage Alteration Permit $1700 be deleted, as we don’t have a Heritage Area designated on Lasqueti, and no permit or fee (from the Trust) is needed.  All the other fees are the same as the Model Bylaw, except that the application fee for subdivision fee is $1100 rather than the recommended $1000.

If there is community feeling that our fees should be reduced from the recommended amount, or that they should be higher, please let us know well before the date of our next LTC meeting, August 29. If it is desired, we could hold a community meeting before then, but probably only one of our two trustees could attend it, because the two of us form a quorum of the LTC.

Please send your comments and suggestions to us by email if you can:  LasquetiIslandLocalTrustCommittee [at] islandstrust [dot] bc [dot] ca  If you write it on paper, give it to one of the trustees, or someone else with internet connection, and ask them to send it to us.