Summerland slashes more red tape for property owners

Consider the red tape cut. Summerland council says it did just that this week when it approved bylaw amendments that authorize staff to approve minor development variance applications.

The district says it will reduce the time it takes to improve some variances from two months to as little as one or two weeks.

“As an example of a previous simple variance that required a council report generated by staff, and council deliberation and decision (a two-month process), was the approval of the replacement of drive-thru signage for Tim Hortons, in its current location. Now this type of variance can be easily reviewed by staff internally, and if no concerns, issued within a one-to-two-week period,” explained the district in a press release.

Council also reduced the application fee for a minor variance from $750 to a range of $250 to $500.

Separately, council adopted a different bylaw amendment that no longer requires the installation of a new electrical meter on carriage houses or basement suites.

“The municipal approvals process has a major impact on the construction of new housing. By achieving efficiencies and streamlining processes, we can not only provide better customer service, but we can accelerate the construction of new homes which the community so badly needs,” said Mayor Doug Holmes in the press release.

The district also has a new Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw, which contains hard timelines for staff that can result in discounts of up to 20% on application fees if those deadlines aren’t met, and is implementing new software to automate the development application process.