In a recent survey of homebuilders by the Fraser Institute, Rocky View County was declared the most regulated municipality in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor (CEC), according to a news release.
“A growing body of research indicates that onerous regulation reduces new home construction and contributes to rising home prices,” Kenneth Green wrote in a news release on the survey. Green is the institute’s senior director of energy and natural resources.
In an aggregate ranking of nine municipalities, the institute found that Rocky View County (RVC) comes out as the most regulated municipality, earning low marks in construction approval times (15.1 months, compared to the corridor average of 10.9 months) and in regulatory costs and fees.
According to the institute, the study found that obtaining approval for construction costs for a typical residential developer in Rocky View is $33,333 per individual dwelling unit (more than 1.5 times than its neighbouring community of Cochrane) before a shovel even hits the ground.
“Despite a current respite in the local housing market, housing affordability continues to be a major issue in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. Unfortunately, the results of this survey indicate that red tape at some CEC city halls is deterring development and exacerbating the problem,” Green penned in the release.
Sherry Baers, RVC manager of planning services, wrote in a released statement that the institute’s study fails to account for a number of issues.
For starters, Baers took issue with the study’s assumption that Rocky View County’s development processes would be similar to higher density municipalities such as Calgary.
She also wrote that the study was based on the opinions of developers, not actual numbers. According to county numbers, figures show RVC approved planning and development files in an average of under 6.5 months over 80 per cent of the time, Baers described.
Baers also contended that people move to the county for the lower density housing and said it shouldn’t surprise developers that residents want to maintain that rural character.
Craig Wiens, owner of Kingsmith Homes in Cochrane, said that in his experience it’s all about having your affairs in order before engaging in the approval process.
“The more prepared you are when you go for a permit or a subdivision approval, you’re treated more fairly. If you do your research beforehand, they are very forthright in giving you everything you need to know.
“They tell you what they expect and if you bring that to them, they review it. And sometimes you need to tidy some things up, but for the most part they’re pretty clear.”
