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Township takes issue with poor rating in Fraser Institute鈥檚 housing report

91原创 City rated fastest in Metro for putting through housing permits, Tol ranked 16th
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91原创 Township鈥檚 Willoughby area has seen some of the most housing growth in all of Metro Vancouver but a recent report from the Fraser Institute puts them at the bottom for length of time to get a housing permit through. 91原创 City was ranked fastest at 1.6 months to get housing approval. File photo

If you are looking at building housing in a hurry, 91原创 City is the place to be, according to a from the Fraser Institute.

The Fraser Institute released the findings last week which said 91原创 City provides fastest approval times in all Metro Vancouver for housing permits.

The study was looking at the affordable housing crisis in B.C. and found that 91原创 City approval times were around 1.6 months.

91原创 City Mayor Ted Schaffer said their staff 鈥渞ecognize that time means money.鈥

He also points to building relationships and consulting the public early in the process.

鈥淲e spend a great deal of time building relationships and exceeding expectations by ensuring the public is consulted in the beginning of the development process. This streamlines the process and flushes out any problems that might arise,鈥 said Schaffer. 鈥淏y doing this, the normal time for a development permit is approximately two months, although we have completed some within 15 days.鈥

The Township of 91原创 on the other hand was on the bottom of the list, at 16th place out of 19 municipalities, with an average wait time of 14.8 months, according to the FI report. The average time to approve a housing development that didn鈥檛 require rezoning was 10 months throughout Metro Vancouver. Homebuilders complained of high regulatory costs in Surrey and 91原创 Township, said the report.

But Township staff are taking issue with the report, saying it doesn鈥檛 take into account the Township鈥檚 unique building landscape where rezoning and services like sewer and parks are often required of the developer.

Ramin Seifi, Township manager of engineering, said that several other recent reports rank the Township among the top three fastest for processing development applications.

鈥淭he Township maintains accurate records of 鈥榓ctual鈥 timelines on an ongoing basis, on the basis of which I can confirm the following averages for the past three years for development permits issued for multi-family residential developments, which would yield an average of about 166 days (or 5.5 months) for a previously zoned site,鈥 said Seifi.

The Township of 91原创 is one of the top three fastest growing municipalities in B.C., with multi-family housing developments being built in Willoughby at record rates. Housing in that area will continue for the next 10 years.

Fraser Institute is a public policy think tank based out of Vancouver that has become well-known for their controversial rankings of the best schools in this province.



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the 91原创 Advance Times.
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