Developers wishing to build on Arnica Avenue will need to enter into development agreements so the Municipality of Jasper can recover over $776,000 in servicing costs.

Council approved the Arnica Avenue Servicing Cost Recovery Policy on Tuesday, September 15, with the discussion taking place on September 8.

“This policy establishes a fair, transparent, financially responsible framework so the existing taxpayers are not left carrying the infrastructure and financing costs associated with future developments,” said Natasha Malenchak, director of Finance and Administration.

Located on the land adjacent to the Forest Park Hotel on Connaught Drive, Arnica Avenue is currently home to interim housing and is slated to be the site of future housing along with a new RCMP detachment.

The cost of servicing was $1.165 million. This included putting in the road, the water and wastewater systems and the curb and gutter. While the RCMP has agreed to pay a third of the cost, the Municipality still has to cover $776,705 through borrowing.

Mayor Richard Ireland asked whether this policy should be specific to Arnica Avenue or be a broader one to ensure consistency across the townsite.

CAO Bill Given said staff decided against this, since there was little undeveloped land within municipal boundaries and because the local improvement levy typically used to cover servicing costs was unavailable due to the extraordinary circumstances of the wildfire.

“We undertook the development rapidly as a recovery mechanism to support interim housing,” Given said. “And in doing so, we didn’t have the ability to run the provincially mandated process required to institute a local improvement levy.”

He added that because the Municipality “missed the boat” on the levy, this was the best option available to recoup the servicing costs, and since the Municipality does not have land-use authority yet, Parks Canada will have to make it a precondition for developers to have the Municipality sign off before getting a building permit.

Costs eligible for recovery include capital construction, engineering and project management, interest, administrative costs and any additional costs approved by council.

Allocation of costs shall be based on methods such as frontage, land area, redevelopment density, servicing capacity, equivalent residential units and benefiting area.

Administration warned that the new policy requiring development permits instead does not necessarily guarantee that all costs will be recovered, since it ultimately depended on future development activity.

Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative // info@thejasperlocal.com