Mission approved a “FastTrack” program to process up to six development applications more quickly.
At the council meeting on Monday (May 5), development services director Dan Sommer presented an overview of the program before it was unanimously approved by council.
“The program aims to create a structured opportunity for select development applications outside of council’s existing priorities to be considered for expedited processing by funding additional staff capacity,” Sommer said.
Affordable housing, along with commercial and industrial projects, are among the existing priorities unaffected by he program. He said the "Development FastTrack" responds to growing demand and limited resources, but it is not a guarantee of approval.
The program allows market housing and mixed-use developments to be considered for priority status through a $10,000 enrolment fee to fund staff capacity. The program is expected to be revenue-neutral and not impact taxpayers.
“By leveraging capacity funding, the city can provide focused and responsive planning service while maintaining fairness for standard applications,” a report reads.
Councillors said public feedback on the program included concerns about conflicts of interest and favouring larger developers.
“It's going to follow the same legislative term process. We're not changing any of the rules. And more importantly, I think council's discretion will still be there. It's not a guarantee for approvals,” Sommer said.
Mayor Paul Horn said this is an example of development paying for development.
"Not only are they paying their fees, but if they want to have sort of this concierge service, they're paying a premium for that, and that should create space for the smaller folks who are waiting in the pipeline,” Horn said.
Sommer also expects the program to speed up the queue for other applications.
“I think it's similar within HOV lane on the highway – the less people are in the regular line, that does inherently speed it up,” he said.
The city will start with one planner on the program, committed to a maximum of three developers/applicants and six concurrent projects.
Coun. Jag Gill asked that staff be conservative with timelines in order to ensure the city meets deadlines for applications participating in the program.
“This is a bit risky as well. And I think what you just said is this doesn't guarantee approvals and once they come to this stage, if there are variances or if there are constraints part of the rezoning, there could be an ask [from] council,” Gill said.
