PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Through the Off-site Levy, we’re enabling growth and development to build a great city. It is one of many financial tools that contribute to covering the costs associated with off-site infrastructure that supports growth and development in Calgary. The Off-site Levy also helps:

  • achieve City policies and strategies (Municipal Development Plan/Calgary Transportation Plan, etc.);
  • support growth and development by having the right infrastructure in place at the right time; and
  • provide residents the choice to live in a complete community that meets their basic needs.

WHAT IS THE OFF-SITE LEVY?

The Off-site Levy is a charge that developers pay to support growth in our city when redeveloping existing communities and building new ones. The Municipal Government Act and the Off-site Levy Bylaw outline what infrastructure the levy pays for. Calgary’s Off-site Levy helps pay for infrastructure that supports growth and development. Some examples of the types of infrastructure are:

  • water pipes
  • water and wastewater treatment plants
  • interchanges
  • roads and transit
  • recreation centres
  • libraries
  • fire and police stations
Within a new community or site being developed, developers pay for the costs of infrastructure. When a new community is built, it also has impacts on infrastructure that is outside of the community. This includes things like more pressure on a major road or our sewage treatment system. So, we charge developers a levy that helps share the costs associated with these off-site impacts from growth. The Off-site Levy is one of many financial tools that contribute to covering these costs, others being property taxes and utility rates.

REVIEWING THE OFF-SITE LEVY BYLAW

To ensure the Off-site Levy Bylaw and charges are current, The City has historically reviewed them every five years. This helps us incorporate changes in infrastructure needs and costs, changes to legislation, or respond to changes in the economy or pace of development.

The most recent Off-site Levy Bylaw was approved by Council in January 2016. In 2019, Administration initiated a review of the off-site levy methodologies and inputs. Throughout 2021 and 2022 we will be engaging with stakeholders on the creation of a new Off-site Levy Bylaw.

Please check back often for project updates and to participate in engagement opportunities.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE

We have learned a great deal since the 2016 Off-site Levy Bylaw was put into place and have identified several opportunities and improvements that we wish to address through this project.

  • The timing risk between the collection of the off-site levy and investing in infrastructure
  • Create a methodology that draws a strong link between benefit and cost
  • Better alignment with new corporate growth strategies
  • Simpler and more consistent corporate approach
  • Funding source for complete communities
  • Increase Council and stakeholder awareness of the impacts of growth decisions

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Based on these opportunities and improvements, we have developed a set of project objectives that support the council approved Off-site Levy Bylaw principles. Their goal is to create a simple, easy to explain methodology that is clear and easy to follow for our customers. The objectives include:

  • Create a customer-focused approach that is simple and easy to explain
  • Increase corporate consistency across all levy areas (Water Resources, Transportation, Community Services)
  • Implement City strategies:
    • Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan
    • Use growth strategies to identify infrastructure needs
    • Frequency of bylaw updates - align to growth strategy & budget cycle
  • Increase financial resilience
  • Enable Off-site Levy funds to be available at the right time
  • Ensure methodology is legally defensible and legislatively compliant

PROPOSED APPROACH

The proposed approach will give Off-site Levy rate payers greater certainty regarding the growth infrastructure to be levied for, and the percentage of those costs that will be attributed to growth. The new methodology will focus on the growth infrastructure needs to service the Council-approved new and actively developing communities (27 actively developing + 14 new communities approved in 2018)

In addition to providing greater certainty, we anticipate this approach will create greater clarity for City Council, City administration and the development industry on what impacts growth infrastructure to service future new communities may have on off-site levy rates.

Throughout the consultation during our exploration phase in 2020 we received a lot of valuable feedback. There are several topic areas that, although also important, we have identified as being out of scope for this specific project given our timelines, these include:

  • The Centre City Levy.
  • Detailed review of the current Off-site Levy rates and/or methodology.
  • Evaluating the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on city-building.
  • Review of funding sources for City-funded portions of growth-related capital infrastructure.
  • Incremental tax and user fees (including utility rates).

LEVY RATE DENOMINATOR DISCUSSION

We have reviewed what horizon of leviable lands will provide us with the most certainty when identifying growth infrastructure that will be needed to support these lands and when. Three different land areas of increasing size were evaluated: approved growth areas, approved growth areas + planned lands, approved growth areas + planned land + full city boundaries.

As we move beyond the currently approved growth lands it makes infrastructure needs and costs more difficult to estimate.

NOTE: The areas noted in the above map are approximate, and are subject to change through this process.

We are consulting on using all remaining leviable lands within approved growth areas, which are illustrated in green on the map below. These include the 27 actively developing communities and the 14 communities approved in 2018. Industrial lands that are either serviced or have funding approved for servicing are also included in the denominator and shown as light green on the map. Any potential new growth areas approved in 2022 will also be included in the denominator. These will make up the denominator in the levy rate calculation, which will only change when new lands are approved by Council.

NOTE: The areas noted in the above map are approximate, and are subject to change through this process.

PROVIDE YOUR FEEDBACK

As part of this consultation, we are looking for feedback from members of the development industry on the inputs to the Off-site Levy and our assumptions. We will consider the feedback we receive and incorporate it into the project when and where appropriate. We will also be providing a summary of feedback we received, including how and why that feedback was or was not used.

Please click the tiles below to see the most up to date information and current opportunities to share feedback on the different sections of the Off-site Levy covered by this project.

There are currently no surveys open for industry feedback. Please check back in fall 2022 for opportunities to provide input.