In a vote of 5-2 last evening Mayor Johnstone and his Community First majority voted down (yet again) a motion brought forward by NWP Councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas to reduce red tape when it comes to building affordable and other types of housing in New West.
The motion called for the establishment of an independent expert-panel that would review the processes, procedures and policies of the planning department to determine if efficiencies could be found. The working group would have been given 120 days to complete their work and return to Council with a series of recommended actions.
“My motion was all about ensuring we’ve got a modern development approval process that isn’t mired in unnecessary red tape that only adds to the overall cost of housing affordability,” explained Fontaine. “Take a look at any city’s planning and development regulations and you’ll find layers of red tape and bureaucracy that have been added over the years. With every new regulation or time delay at city hall, costs and prices of housing go up. As a result, I think there’s a lot of potential to get rid of some processes and procedures that do nothing but take too much time and end up costing home buyers more money. The fact is, every day that a housing proposal sits at city hall it costs more for New Westminster home buyers. How’s that helping to make us more affordable as a community? Our city should be looking to get creative when it comes to housing, particularly affordable and rental housing where every added cost can either slow down or kill a project.”
Fontaine said he wanted to see a working group created by council that is co-chaired by a couple of councillors and includes city staff, development experts, and representatives from industry.
“The work and consultation undertaken by the working group would focus on challenging how and why do we do things today, and looking for opportunities to streamline processes, reduce red tape, and perhaps most important, ensure city hall is doing its part to reduce the cost of creating housing. Too often politicians boast about being in favour of affordable housing, then they turn around and in the same breath they add even more city costs, fees and charges that end up making homes less affordable at the end of the day. I’m confident that if staff, industry experts and the community come together in a frank discussion that we can identify the issues and create practical solutions that deliver more and affordable housing more quickly.”
To listen to an interview with Councillor Fontaine and CKNW’s Jas Johal on this topic, click on the icon below.
