Incentives in Place to Encourage Renewal Downtown, and Housing Community-Wide
PRINCE RUPERT, OCTOBER 25th, 2023 – At their Monday meeting, City Council voted unanimously to extend an existing program for 1 year that waives fees for residential rezoning, development permit and building permit applications that result in new housing units until December 31st, 2024. In addition, they also extended a waiver of fees for all development and building permits, as well as rezoning fees for the downtown core for the same period.
“These fee waivers were put in place to improve the financial case for building owners and builders to invest in Prince Rupert,” said Mayor Herb Pond. “We know that the cost of building in the North can be higher. We dearly need renewal, so we are doing what we can to promote both housing and revitalization of our downtown. These are big priorities not only for the community, but for Council in our Strategic Plan.”
At the previous meeting, Council passed a Housing Acceleration Action Plan that accompanies the City’s grant to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Commission for $10 million to support the City’s proposed housing actions. The extension of this incentive program was a recommendation of that Plan, and if the application is successful, a portion of the funding can be used to offset the loss in fees.
In addition to this incentive program and the City’s Housing Acceleration Plan, the City has also put into place a Downtown Revitalization Tax Exemption program that allows eligible property owners to apply for a tax exemption for up to 10 years for the non-market tax increase of new developments for new builds, and for up to 5 years for existing buildings. Additional information on that program is available, here: https://www.princerupert.ca/business-resources/downtown-core-revitalization-tax-exemption-program
These City policies have been developed and presented in alignment with Council’s Strategic Plan, which identifies new and renewed housing as a key goal, as well as community renewal generally.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Veronika Stewart,
Manager of Communications, Engagement and Social Development
City of Prince Rupert
Office: (250) 627 0976
Cell: (778) 884 6285
Email: veronika.stewart@princerupert.ca