By battlefordsNOW

N.B. council passes bylaw for vacant commercial buildings

Jun 27, 2017 | 1:00 PM

The City of North Battleford council gave its full support for a disincentive program aimed at trying to force long-term vacant commercial building owners to take more responsibility and do something with their sites.

At its meeting Monday, council approved a bylaw to create a new commercial sub-class for vacant commercial buildings identified in an area known as the city’s “key commercial corridor.” Currently 25 properties are subject to the bylaw.

Through the new bylaw, owners of these commercial properties that have been vacant for two years or longer, as of May 1, 2017, with discontinued water utilities service and/or no active business licence, will now be billed a flat rate for utilities services including UPAR (Underground Pipeline and Asphalt Replacement program) charges. 

The properties will also see a mill rate increase.

“I think the process was sound,” said Mayor Ryan Bater. We allowed time for council to consult with the public. We consulted with different stakeholder groups. The feedback was mostly positive. So council unanimously supported the policy of the bylaw.”  

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

3h ago

Rustlers Volleyball

Crusaders' Bell excited for next chapter with Lakeland College

3h ago

Nothing but Net

Vikings' standouts ready for national stage with Team Saskatchewan

6h ago

During its meeting, council gave third reading and approved bylaw 2041 to authorize levying a tax rate for the new sub-class for vacant commercial properties.

Council agreed to amend the wording of the bylaw to read for vacant commercial “properties with improvements.” Coun. Kelli Hawtin was concerned the original wording, that simply stated “properties,” might cause people to think vacant land was subject to the bylaw. Finance director David Gillan amended the description to include “with improvements,” which means vacant properties with buildings on-site are subject to the bylaw.   

Gillan said the 25 properties the city identified, located downtown and in the commercial corridors, for the bylaw represent 60 per cent of the properties in the city that are long-term vacant commercial sites.

Coun. Hawtin asked whether commercial properties outside of the key commercial corridor would be subject to the bylaw.  

However, city manager Jim Puffalt explained it wouldn’t be within the city’s financial department’s capacity to take on 100 per cent of the projects in the first year of the program, due to the considerable added administrative work involved. However, he said the program can be rolled out to more areas in the city in future years.   

The new vacant commercial property mill rate will be set at two times the annual mill rate for the commercial class mill rate.  

The list of properties subject to the bylaw will be reviewed on May 1 of each year. 

City council had consulted with the community and stakeholders such as the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce before voting on the issue and received mostly positive feedback.

Administration will regularly report back to council to provide updates related to implementing the city’s new bylaw.

The bylaw goes into effect immediately.

Money raised from this new disincentive program will be directed towards economic development; it will not go into the city’s revenues.

“This is not about income for the city,” said the mayor. “All of the funds raised through this special sub-class and the mill rate are earmarked for economic development purposes. Our objective is to get these properties back into the market, to get more business activity from these older properties. One day we hope there are no properties being taxed with this mill rate because we would like them in the market.”

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW