An increase in the one-time fee for secondary suites in Colwood has been put on hold.
The increased fee was originally proposed to make up for an elimination of annual renewal fees, which were said to take up too much staff time. Instead council has opted to allow staff to review the secondary suite process before deciding on an increased one-time fee.
The annual fees are still set to be waived for 2017.
Coun. Gordie Logan voted in favour of the amendment and said it would be confusing for the public if the City made multiple adjustments to the one-time fee.
“It doesn’t make sense to momentarily change the fee from $200 to $500 if that fee may change again as the result of the review of the secondary suite bylaw. Essentially what we’re saying is, ‘we’re going to move the goal posts temporarily, we’re going to do a review, then we’re going to move them again.’
“I think when we do that, that drives people absolutely crazy,” he said.
Councillors Cynthia Day and Rob Martin expressed concern with the decision.
“I feel that it should be a user pay system. Many of the people applying for a secondary suite are doing so in a profitable way … I think that it’s important that we match services to the cost,” Day said.
“Staff have come back and said that cost recovery is $500, so by reducing this we’re basically asking the rest of the Colwood residents to subsidize the secondary suite costs,” added Martin.
“If it wasn’t cost recovery, staff would not have made the recommendation coming in at $500.”
The motion carried, despite the opposition of Day, Martin and Coun. Lilja Chong.
joel.tansey@goldstreamgazette.com
