Council votes to lower development appeal fee
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, August 5, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After administration proposed a $100 fee for residents to file appeals to development permits last month, city councillors have decided that fee should be only $25.
That decision was made at Tuesday night's council meeting which was only attended by five of nine councillors. Three of them, Couns. Linda Bussey, Julian Morse and Shauna Morgan voted for the lower fee while Coun. Rebecca Alty thought there should be no fee at all.
In July, the city said that it wanted to cut down on "frivolous" appeals. In a report provided to city councillors last month at a municipal services committee meeting, the city's planning and lands department stated the fee would cover staff time spent on appeals and "temper the submission of frivolous appeals."
"In recent years, there have been a few examples where a development permit has been appealed by dozens of people; however, each appeal application was a carbon copy of the previous or next application," the staff report stated.
The fee would be reimbursed if the development appeal board sides with the applicant.
Tuesday night, in response to a question from Morgan, Dennis Kafalas, the city's chief administrative officer, said there have been only a small number of appeals.
"Two to four per year. The only case I can think of where we got this mass e-mail was for the proposed Niven Lake subdivision," Kafalas said, adding he also has the option to consider waiving the appeal fee.
Morse brought the motion forward to amend the proposed bylaw calling for a $100 fee.
"I'm a little bit concerned that implementing a fee discourages residents from launching an appeal. I'd like residents in Yellowknife to feel that they can come to the city with their concerns at any time," Morse said. "Twenty-five dollars would be in line with what Fort Simpson charges and I think it would be less of a financial burden to people but would still achieve the original intent which is to notify people that there is a formal process."
At one point during the meeting, a $10 fee was suggested by deputy mayor Adrian Bell, who was chairperson of the meeting, and then shot down.
Alty felt strongly that there not be any fee imposed at all for filing a development appeal. She compared it to the democratic right to vote which she pointed out doesn't cost anything. Alty added a smaller fee might actually ending up costing the city money.
"I feel it would be an administrative burden to have to refund people (who won their appeal). If it is not $100 then I don't think it would be worth administration's time to make all these refunds," Alty said. "We don't receive a lot of engagement from lower income residents so I would hate to put in even a little barrier for them."
Bell disagreed, saying there is a need to impose at least a nominal fee.
"In this day of communications and social media, I don't think it really takes very much to get 100 people whipped up about a thing that they might not be really be really invested in or really care about," Bell said. "Paying a nominal fee demonstrates seriousness. I think the gesture of making that payment is going to make a difference. It will also send a message to developers that we understand that development has to move forward in an orderly fashion and needs to be predictable."
Meanwhile, councillors also voted to lower the price for a parking pass to park on downtown streets from $1,200 a year to $999 a year.
Councillors heard that since nine-hour meters were installed downtown there has only been one year-round pass sold.
It was agreed that by lowering the price more people might consider buying one, particularly people who work downtown.
