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Changes to housing fees proposed

A proposal to make required housing fees for businesses in Banff more in line with the actual cost of construction will be reviewed by a working group.

A proposal to make required housing fees for businesses in Banff more in line with the actual cost of construction will be reviewed by a working group.

With construction costs in the Bow Valley fluctuating between $250 and $300 a square foot, the current cash in lieu fee of $21,000 per bedroom is much lower than the actual cost of building a bedroom.

Banff’s Land Use Bylaw review team believes that linking the cash in lieu payment to actual construction costs would create a more realistic picture of housing costs.

They say the price associated with construction of one bedroom could be set annually with the help of an independent third-party professional, such as a quantity surveyor and/or local assessor.

“The review team believes keeping pricing levels up to date in a changing marketplace would help keep values realistic,” said senior planner Darren Enns. “It will also assist with the objective of creating additional housing units.”

Since 2001, the Town of Banff has required new commercial development or redevelopment that constitutes intensification to provide new housing, or cash in lieu payment.

The amount is currently set at $21,000 per bedroom and cash in lieu payments have been set aside for Banff Housing Corporation capital projects.

In the last five years, the Town has collected an average of $17,000 per year from these payments, while the remaining bedroom credits have been met through construction of new bedrooms.

At a recent council meeting on the LUB review, Councillor Stavros Karlos spoke passionately about the need to get housing built in Banff.

“These things exist to try to build housing in town. Nobody wants to pay for housing, but this has to get paid for somehow,” he said.

“The Banff Housing Corporation has slowed down a fair bit, to put it mildly, and these things have to get built,” he added.

Karlos suggests re-distributing income from the current housing fee program into a private system of distribution to offset new housing costs.

“In five to 10 years we will have a number of social issues because of overcrowding,” he said. “I believe we will have another housing crunch if we don’t deal with this.”

Council has referred the issue – along with others such as proposed controls of franchise fast-food restaurants and regulations to protect gas stations and grocery stores – to a working group.

According to a 2002 housing study, there was a shortage of 419 housing units in Banff. The 2009 Community Measures data indicated 109 units have since been built, leaving a shortfall of 310.

The Banff Housing Corporation’s 2011 business plan indicates the board of directors will examine this year whether the time has come to update the housing needs assessment.


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