Skip to content

Fee fiasco

We were surprised by council’s decision to waive the application fee for the resubmission of a Conrich-area subdivision proposal , which was refused Feb. 12.

We were surprised by council’s decision to waive the application fee for the resubmission of a Conrich-area subdivision proposal, which was refused Feb. 12. The refusal had been predicted by administration, since the subdivision was proposed on land currently within the Conrich Area Structure Plan (ASP) – a document which is slated to be drafted this year. However, the applicant opted to move forward with the proposal, knowing there was a good chance it would be denied. And, following a motion from Deputy Reeve Al Schule, the applicant will be allowed to resubmit free of charge once the Conrich ASP is complete. Which means the time and cost required for staff to prepare the second application will be done at the expense of County taxpayers. While Schule’s belief is that the resubmitted application would require little revision, the land in question is located in an area that has been designated to include, according to administration’s report, “a hamlet boundary, a community core and residential areas.” But without this statutory planning in place, it’s impossible to say the current assessment of this application would still be relevant in the future – the entire process would likely need to be carried out from the beginning. We appreciate council’s gesture of goodwill, but if the applicant was unwilling or unable to pay the expense involved with a resubmission, wouldn’t it have been wiser for them to take administration’s advice and delay the application until the comprehensive planning currently in progress has been completed? It seems incredibly unfair to put the cost of one applicant’s impatience on the backs of all County residents.




push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks