The regional district sewage commission approved Tuesday a staff recommendation calling for significant hikes in development cost charges (DCCs). An amended bylaw would increase the charge for single-family residential from $2,470 to $5,980 per unit. The commercial/institutional rate would increase from $7.20 to $34.89 per square metre.Comox director Tom Grant questioned if a large DCC bylaw might kill development. Senior manager of engineering services Marc Rutten said the projection of growth established the proposed DCC rates. "We recognized it was a large increase but didn't spend a lot of time analyzing that," Rutten said. The DCC bylaw, he added, could be specific to a certain area, in response to a question from Comox director Patti Fletcher.At last week's meeting, the Comox representatives expressed concern that taxpayers will be stuck with a debt resulting from numerous projects such as a new pump station in Courtenay.The commission also approved a recommendation for a 2014 review of a 10-year capital plan to incorporate population growth information and capital project priorities. Increased service costs are mostly due to higher debt servicing costs required after 2014 to accommodate capital projects, CAO Debra Oakman states in a report. Major improvements are required over the next 10 years to meet system demands, accommodate growth, mitigate environmental risk and to meet Environment Ministry permit requirements.reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
