A public hearing has been set for Monday (July 8) on proposals to charge developers a fee to transfer commercial space.
The hearing is only about the fee schedule, not the overall proposed legislation that would allow businesses to legally sell or trade space obtained in in the commercial development lottery, or transfer existing built space.
Officials say the 2013 financial plan calls for development-related fees to be set at levels for full cost recovery, so this would apply to bylaws 320 and 321 if they get the political go-ahead.
“The fees require their own bylaw and own public hearing,” said Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen. “It’s a process we need to go through.”
Banff has been subject to a commercial growth cap since 1998 and a lottery has traditionally been held to give potential developers a crack at getting the square footage they need for their developments.
Since then, approximately 200,000 square feet of the additional 350,000 allowed under the cap has already been built, with another 150,000-sq. ft pending construction.
Banff council has given first reading to bylaw 320, which would allow all commercial development allotments won in the lottery to be transferred from a developer that is not going to use them to one that will.
They’ve also given first reading to bylaw 321, which would allow the transfer of existing commercial floor area from a ‘donating property’ to a ‘receiving property’.
Under bylaw 321, for example, if commercial space is demolished, or if a building that was commercial is taken over for non-commercial purposes, that commercial space could be transferred to another site.
