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NO. 24-053
DEVELOPMENT COST CHARGES BYLAW 2024
A BYLAW OF THE CITY OF VICTORIA
The purpose of this bylaw is:
(a)
to provide funds to assist the City in paying the capital costs of providing,
constructing, altering, or expanding sanitary sewer, water, drainage and roads
facilities, and providing and improving park land to service directly or indirectly,
the development for which the charges are imposed; and
(b)
to repeal and replace the Development Cost Charges Bylaw No. 17-020.
In setting the development cost charges in this bylaw, Council has taken into consideration:
(a)
whether the charges:
(i)
are excessive in relation to the capital cost of prevailing standards of
service,
(ii)
will deter development,
(iii)
will discourage the construction of reasonably priced housing or the
provision of reasonably priced serviced land, and
(iv)
will discourage development designed to result in a low environmental
impact;
(b)
future land use patterns and development, the phasing of works and services
and the provision of park land described in the Official Community Plan, and how
development designed to result in a low environmental impact may affect the
capital costs of sanitary sewer, drainage, and roads, and providing and improving
park land; and
(c)
capital costs attributable to projects included in the City's financial plan and long-
term capital plans, and to capital projects consistent with the Official Community
Plan.
Contents
1
Title
2
Definitions and Interpretation
3
Development Cost Charges
4
Exemptions
5
Calculation of Applicable Charges
6
Severability
7
Repeal
8
Effective Date
2
Schedule A - Development Cost Charges
Pursuant to its statutory powers, including sections 558-570 of the Local Government Act, the
Council of the Corporation of the City of Victoria in an open meeting assembled enacts the
following provisions:
Title
1
This bylaw may be cited as the "Development Cost Charges Bylaw 2024".
Definitions and Interpretation
2
(1)
This bylaw applies to all applications for subdivisions and for issuance of a
building permit for parcels located in the City of Victoria.
(2)
In the event of a conflict with any term of this bylaw with the provisions of the
Local Government Act authorizing the imposition of development cost charges,
this bylaw is to be interpreted so that it is consistent with the authority set out in
the Local Government Act.
(3)
For the purposes of this bylaw, the words or phrases that are not defined in this
section shall have the meaning assigned to them in the zoning bylaw.
(4)
In this bylaw:
"building" means anything constructed or placed on a lot used or intended for
supporting or sheltering any use, excluding landscaping, docks, wharfs and piers;
"building permit" means any permit required under the Building and Plumbing
Regulation Bylaw, 2017;
"City" means the City of Victoria;
"commercial" means a commercial development in a commercial zone listed in
the Zoning Bylaw or a similar development in another zone permitted in
accordance with the zoning bylaw, in which the predominant use of the zone, as
determined by its purpose and list of permitted uses, is of a commercial nature;
"construction" includes building, erection, installation, repair, alteration,
addition, enlargement, moving, relocating, reconstruction, demolition, removal,
excavation, or shoring requiring a building permit;
"dwelling unit" means a self-contained set of rooms, including provisions for
living, sleeping, cooking and sanitation; containing not more than one kitchen,
with a direct entrance to the open air or to a common hallway or corridor, without
passing through any other dwelling unit; includes secondary suites or
accommodation units and mobile homes, and modular homes or prefabricated
dwellings;
3
"garden suite" means a building attached to a foundation, used or designed as
a self-contained dwelling unit located on a lot with a single family dwelling and
does not include a strata lot;
"high density residential" means a building or portion of building containing 3
or more self-contained dwelling units, one or more of which are wholly or partly
above another self-contained dwelling unit;
"industrial" means an industrial development in a zone listed in the zoning
bylaw, or similar development in another zone permitted in accordance with the
zoning bylaw, in which the predominant use, as determined by its general
purpose and list of permitted uses, is of an industrial nature;
"institutional" means an institutional development in a public or institutional
zone listed in the zoning bylaw or a similar development in another zone
permitted in accordance with the zoning bylaw, in which the predominant use of
the zone, as determined by its purpose and list of permitted uses, is of an
institutional nature;
"lot" means any lot, parcel, block or other area in which land is held or into
which it is legally subdivided, and for certainty, includes a bare land strata lot
under the Strata Property Act;
"low density residential" means a single-family dwelling unit, which may
contain one additional dwelling unit in the form of an attached secondary suite, or
a two-family dwelling comprising two self-contained dwelling units;
"medium density residential" means a garden suite (detached secondary
suite) or a ground-oriented building that is used or designed as 3 or more self-
contained dwelling units, each having direct access to the outside at grade level
and does not contain a self-contained dwelling unit wholly or partly above
another self-contained dwelling unit;
"parcel" means any lot, block or other area in which land is held or into which it
is subdivided but does not include a highway;
"secondary suite" has the same meaning as under the British Columbia
Building Code, and does not include a strata lot;
"single family dwelling" means a detached building having independent
exterior walls and containing only one self-contained dwelling unit. Where
specially permitted in the zoning bylaw, this use may contain one additional
dwelling unit in the form of a secondary suite or accommodation unit;
"subdivision" means a subdivision as defined in the Land Title Act or Strata
Property Act;
"total floor area" shall have the same meaning as that contained in the zoning
bylaw;
4
"two family dwelling" means a building consisting of two self-contained
dwelling units which share a common wall or an area that forms the floor of one
unit and the ceiling of the other and are not linked by a trellis, deck, breezeway or
similar connection;
"zone" means the zones identified and defined in the zoning bylaw;
"zoning bylaw" means the Zoning Regulation Bylaw (No. 80-159) or the Zoning
Bylaw 2018 (No. 18-072), as applicable.
Development Cost Charges
3
The Development Cost Charges set out in Schedule A are hereby imposed on every
person who obtains:
(a)
approval of a subdivision of land under the Land Title Act or the Strata Property
Act, that results in two or more parcels on which the zoning bylaw permits the
construction of a low density residential dwelling unit;
(b)
approval of a building permit authorizing the construction of a low density
residential dwelling unit on an existing parcel; or
(c)
approval of a building permit authorizing the construction of medium density
residential, high density residential, commercial, industrial, or institutional;
and the development cost charge shall be paid upon approval of a subdivision or
issuance of a building permit, as the case may be.
Exemptions
4
Despite any other provision of this bylaw, a development cost charge is not payable if
any of the following applies in relation to a development authorized by a building permit:
(a)
the permit authorizes the construction of a building or part of a building that is, or
will be, after the construction, exempt from taxation under section 220(1)(h) or
224(2)(f) of the Community Charter;
(b)
the permit authorizes the construction of dwelling units in a building, the area of
each dwelling unit is no larger than 29m2, and each dwelling unit will be put to no
other use than residential use;
(c)
the permit authorizes a residential development with fewer than four (4) self-
contained dwelling units;
(d)
the value of the work authorized by the permit does not exceed $50,000;
(e)
a development cost charge has previously been paid for the development unless,
as a result of further development, new capital cost burdens will be imposed on
the municipality; or
5
(f)
The Local Government Act or any regulations thereunder provide that no
development cost charge is payable.
Calculation of Applicable Charges
5
(1)
The amount of development cost charges payable in relation to a particular
development shall be calculated using the applicable charges set out in Schedule
A of this bylaw.
(2)
Where a type of development is not specifically identified in Schedule A, the
amount of development cost charges to be paid to the City shall be equal to the
development cost charges that are payable for type of development that in the
opinion of the Director of Sustainable Planning and Community Development
imposes the most similar cost burden on the City's transportation, sewer, water,
drainage and park services.
(3)
The amount of development cost charges payable in relation to mixed-use type
of development shall be calculated separately for each portion of the
development, in accordance with Schedule A, based on the mix of uses included
in the building permit application and the total development cost charges payable
shall be the sum of the charges payable for each type.
Severability
6
If any portion of this bylaw is declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, then
the invalid portion must be severed, and the remainder of the bylaw remains valid.
Repeal
7
The Development Cost Charges Bylaw No. 17-020 is repealed.
Effective Date
8
This bylaw comes into force on adoption.
READ A FIRST TIME the
18th
day of
July
2024
READ A SECOND TIME the
18th
day of
July
2024
READ A THIRD TIME the
18th
day of
July
2024
APPROVED BY THE INSPECTOR
OF MUNICIPALITIES
16th
day of
August
2024
ADOPTED on the
14th
day of
November
2024
"CURT KINGSLEY"
"MARIANNE ALTO"
CITY CLERK
MAYOR
SCHEDULE A
DEVELOPMENT COST CHARGES BYLAW NO. 24-053
Unit
Transportation
Water
Drainage
Sewer
Parks
Total
Low density residential
Per lot / Per
dwelling unit
$9,254.76
$4,071.05
$571.55
$2,104.61
$8,580.10
$24,582.06
Medium density
residential
Per dwelling unit
$4,212.51
$2,770.24
$276.25
$1,432.13
$5,838.53
$14,529.66
High density residential
Per dwelling unit
$3,957.21
$1,686.23
$138.12
$871.73
$3,553.89
$10,207.18
Commercial
Per square metre
of total floor area
$63.83
$13.25
$1.52
$6.85
$5.58
$91.03
Industrial
Per square metre
of total floor area
$19.15
$5.42
$1.05
$2.80
$2.28
$30.70
Institutional
Per square metre
of total floor area
$63.83
$13.25
$1.52
$6.85
$5.58
$91.03