There doesn’t appear to be much of an appetite yet to bring in new Amenity Cost Charges (ACCs) in the City of Kamloops to try and pay for new facilities like community centres, recreational facilities, and daycares.

Deven Matkowski, the City’s Engineering Manager, said ACCs are similar to Development Cost Charges – which the city also uses to pay for new road, water, drainage, and sewer utilities brought about by growth.

“We can collect [ACCs] for things such as community centres, rec centres, daycares, libraries — and that would be collecting from the development community,” Matkowski said.

While the Province says amenity cost charges are a “new development finance tool” that allows municipalities to collect money from new developments that lead to an increase in population to help pay for new amenities, several councillors on the Build Kamloops Committee felt it would lead to an increase in housing prices.

“How is this going to make housing more affordable if we are adding on additional charges? And how is this going to encourage developers to help us hit the Eby number?” Councillor Dale Bass asked during Tuesday’s meeting.

“It strikes me as its counter intuitive as to what they want us to do.”

That “Eby number” is likely a reference to the 4,236 housing units that the Provincial Government has tasked Kamloops with building by Oct. 2028. While Kamloops is expected to hit its first year targets, it is also asking the Province for help, arguing that the government’s own processes “are some of our greatest barriers to success.”

Matkowski noted municipalities in B.C. have been using so-called community amenity charges, which he said has led to some developments “becoming unviable.” The ACC approach is being put forward by the province as an alternative.

“One of the mechanisms we could have used before this new legislation was say, ‘[The] next big developer through the door needs to build an arena – or you don’t come through the door with your development approval,’” Matkowski said.

“We’ve just not used that as a mechanism. I think it comes back to, even when the city went to DCCs, it’s like how do we work together with the development community and have everybody sharing in the costs equitably.”

Councillor Katie Neustaeter said while a new source of revenue should be “attractive” to a the Build Kamloops committee which has a mandate to discuss and prioritize the cost, scope, and timelines of various recreational projects that were identified in the Recreation Master Plan, she too had some concerns.

“I do think that this is going to need to be a continuing dialogue and we’ll need to be sold on it a little but,” Neustaeter said, adding he felt that ACCs were “more of a corrective measure” for municipalities and not a new finance tool.

“I’m nervous at this moment particularly because of that new build, affordability housing crisis.”

Added Councillor Kelly Hall, “I think sometimes as a community we have to be forward thinking in the application of some of the cost charges to development, not just for today but for the future of the community,” he said.

“When I read the report in there and saw that in there, I thought ‘oh boy, this could be a problem here.”

Councillor Mike O’Reilly – who chairs the Build Kamloops Committee – noted there may be another potential source of revenue for the City to look into.

“Some of the lower hanging fruit that we really need to consider is the growth that is happening directly outside our municipal boundaries that aren’t contributing to the amenities that the City of Kamloops provides to our neighbours,” O’Reilly said.

“I think we would be wiser to spend time – and it would take time and lot of work to do it – to work with our electoral areas surrounding us.”

Bass floated a similar idea back in January when the Build Kamloops committee discussed a $7-million request from staff so they could complete detailed design work for the Centre for the Arts downtown.

“The reality here is whatever we build, people from outside Kamloops will come to it,” Bass said, at the time. “It seems to me they should participate in the creation of it in some way, because they will benefit from it.”

With the Province expected to release more “comprehensive guidance on development cost charges and amenity cost charges” by the early fall, O’Reilly also suggested that the report go before a future Committee of the Whole meeting, so all of Council can have a say.

“I think this is a good dip in your toe in the water to get a feel from this but I think this is worthy of a wholesome council discussion to get everyone’s thoughts,” O’Reilly said, noting the report itself was “very informative” even though he also said it essentially amounted to a new tax.

“Its brand new so there are going to be a lot of thoughts from everyone around the [council] table.”

The City’s Development, Engineering, and Sustainability Director Marvin Kwiatkowski told Radio NL that Kamloops Council could decide to adopt amenity cost charges into a bylaw of its own, once that additional information has been released.

“If we are to move forward, it may take a year or so [to do so] working with the developers as well, similar to the Development Cost Charges,” Kwiatkowski said, noting there will be “lots to dive into” once those guidelines are released.

“We have an engagement group for DCCs, so we would have to have an engagement group and engage with the community with what may or may not come forward with ACCs.”