A Fraser Institute study into the effect of red tape on new home development shows the Tri-Cities are generally less regulated than most other Lower Mainland municipalities.
The study, which surveyed housing developers and homebuilders from Chilliwack to West Vancouver, looked at project approval timelines, timeline uncertainty, regulatory costs and fees, the need to rezone and the council and community climate.
"We've seen the concerns with housing affordability across Canada and concerns with housing availability, and since access to more housing leads to lower prices we decided to measure how government rules and regulations influence those factors," said study spokesperson Dr. Kenneth Green.
"To no one's surprise, heavily built up places that have multiple and sometimes overlapping agencies and entities to contend with…are harder places to build in, they're more expensive and it takes longer."
Approval timelines for 18 cities ranged from a low of five months in Pitt Meadows to nearly 18 months in West Vancouver. Port Moody was third among them, at 8.6 months, with Coquitlam's 10.1 months putting it in sixth and Port Coquitlam's 11.3 months earning it the 13th spot.
Uncertainty over whether an application will be approved mattered little to development. Respondents were asked to rate how such uncertainty affected development on a five-point scale (from encourages development to strong deterrant); uncertainty in PoMo and Coquitlam was not seen as a deterrent while PoCo's score ranked it as a mild deterrent.
Regulatory costs and fees were given for 10 cities, ranging from $14,357 in Abbotsford to $40,000 in the District of North Vancouver; Coquitlam ranked sixth at $32,292 (PoCo and PoMo had too few responses to be included).
In the rezoning index, or the percentage of residential development requiring rezoning, Port Moody was near the top at 83% while 80% of properties in Coquitlam required a similar process. PoCo ranked among the four cities with the lowest rezoning rate, at 50% (Chilliwack, Pitt Meadows and White Rock ranged from 30% to 38%).
Council and community opposition to new housing was strongest in the City and District of North Vancouver, and lowest in Coquitlam, Burnaby and Surrey, with marginally more opposition in PoCo (PoMo was not included in the index).
The composite index of 10 cities' regulations (PoCo and PoMo were not included) showed Coquitlam was third from the bottom, with only Burnaby and Abbotsford deemed to be less regulated.
Green acknowledged there are several other significant factors involved in where builders target their developments, but the study aims to investigate those factors that can be controlled — namely, municipal regulations.
"The value of the Canadian dollar, the world market for secure sources of investment, we can't affect those things," Green said. "What we can affect is whether it takes 17 months to get a permit in West Vancouver or 13 months for rezoning approval in North Vancouver," and easing some of those regulations is what will encourage more building.
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