The mayor of Kaslo is calling for creation of a new property-tax class that distinguishes between full-time residents and absentee owners.
Out-of-towners have bought up much of the affordable housing stock in the village, holding the property for future plans and often pulling it out of the rental market.
The result, according to Mayor Jim Holland, is "we have a shortage of housing here."
ROSSLAND - Citing high costs, a developer has shelved plans to build a luxury 451-hectare golf course near the town`s watershed, a move that has surprised city officials and opponents of the project.
Howard Katkov, president and CEO of Red Mountain Ventures, had received a development permit. He told a packed city council meeting Monday night, however, he was suspending the project that would have included an 18-hole golf course near the Topping Creek watershed, the main source of water for Rossland. Critics of the project expressed concerns that pesticides and chemicals from the golf course would enter the water supply.
Homebuyers get a break as B.C. house prices flatten
While British Columbia bucked a trend that saw Canadian home prices fall for the first time this decade, the province`s real estate market is squarely in the buyer`s court with inventory up and the volume of sales dropping by 36 per cent in June compared to the same period last year.
Despite B.C.`s strong economy that has so far helped it stay ahead in the real estate market, buyers here can expect to see prices flatten or even decline slightly, according to Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C.Real Estate Association.
Homeowners are increasingly tapping into the vacation rental market to earn an income, but are often unaware of the pitfalls in renting out their suites to vacationers, warns the Better Business Bureau. The Vancouver Whistler 2010 Olympics are just around the corner, and many homeowners are seeing this as a time to renovate their homes to cash in on vacation rentals.
Some experts say that a homeowner could double or even make up to 10 times the amount with a short-term vacation rental, rather than a traditional, month-to-month home rental.
It`s good news that was long overdue for many Deltans.
Last Friday, Health Minister George Abbott announced Delta Hospital would get its acute care status back. Earlier this decade, Fraser Health downgraded the hospital`s acute status to sub-acute.
The hospital`s existing 38 sub-acute rehabilitation beds are to be converted into acute medical beds and will be joined by 12 new acute beds and additional staff. The hospital will also get a CT scanner as part of the upgrade.
A mixed-use building with three commercial units and 36 residential units is proposed at 709 12th St.
The commercial units would be provided at ground level, with residential units on the three floors above. The site, at the corner of 12th and Hamilton streets, has been vacant since the previous commercial and office building was demolished after a fire in 2006.
"I think this is a fabulous addition to 12th Street," said Coun. Bill Harper. "I think it`s got the potential to add a huge amount of revitalization to the street."
The city is trying something old and something new to bring back more civility to the downtown neighbourhood.
In June, a number of people operating businesses in the 900 block of Carnarvon Street appeared before city council and the police board to express concern about activities that are affecting their businesses and the neighbourhood`s livability.
"There are standards of behaviour in our city," said Coun. Bob Osterman. "Frankly, people want their city back."
The brightly coloured tricycle sits half in, half out of the water, three metres from shore in a pond in Newton`s Cougar Creek Park.
The trike is pink and blue with mauve pedals and is missing at least one rear wheel. Nearby, a great blue heron moves in the patient, glacier-speed way they do, its gimlet eye searching the shallows for a breakfast frog. Over there, half a dozen ducks paddle around near the shore.
The murky brown water conceals what other castoffs might lurk below, but the junk littering Cougar Creek itself and the footpaths is there in plain sight.
A train carrying the first wind turbines to be set up in B.C. will be passing through Prince George today.
Specially commissioned for the task, the train is tentatively expected to reach the city at 1 p.m. as it makes its way north to the future home of the Dokie wind farm, 40 kilometres northwest of Chetwynd.
A month after a public hearing was held on the issue, Quesnel city council approved Monday a request to allow a secondary suite in a Dodds Avenue home.
The delay in the decision came after staff was asked to seek legal opinions on some of the issues raised during the public hearing.
The family had made the request to provide a suite for a disabled relative but during the hearing in mid June a concern was raise that it would set a precedent that others could take advantage of in the future.
A judicial review is needed in the wake of the auditor general`s report that blasts the way government dealt with private land removals from Vancouver Island tree farm licences, says Calvin Sandborn, legal director of the University of Victoria`s environmental law clinic.
The public needs government to tell them why they are not getting parks or compensation, he said.
"We need to get them in front of a judge and ask them why the TFL system in B.C. has been dismantled without regard for the public interest," said Sandborn, whose submission to auditor general John Doyle helped spark the review.
A company coveting Victoria`s parking business is sparing no quarter in its thoughts about the city`s approach to parking revenue.
Justin Powell, regional manager of one of Canada`s largest parking companies, said the city is dismissing proven parking technology and missing out on cost savings by rejecting an unsolicited proposal sent in May to the city manager.
Powell has approached one council member about his concerns and expects questions will be raised about a proposal for on-street pay stations at today`s council meeting where a staff report will give its annual report a parking strategy approved in 2007.
A new feasibility study will look at a proposed Ocean Technology Park in North Saanich, intended to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy, create about 1,500 well-paying jobs and set global standards for marine research. A marine tech park would be a focal point for industry, academics and government ocean research, said Dale Gann, acting president of UVic Properties Investments Inc., at yesterday`s funding announcement. UVic Properties owns both the Vancouver Island Technology Park and the existing Marine Technology Centre on West Saanich Road.
"Look at the potential here," he said. "We need to bring these folks together."
VANCOUVER -- While B.C. bucked a trend that saw Canadian home prices fall for the first time this decade, the province`s real estate market is squarely in the buyer`s court with inventory up and the volume of sales dropping by 36 per cent in June compared to the same period last year.
In Victoria, sales slid by 24.4 per cent in June compared with June 2007. The total dollar volume of June sales of $323.6 million was 25 per cent below the same month the previous year.
In the first six months of this year, the total value of Greater Victoria sales was $1.898 billion, down by nine per cent from the first six months of 2007.
Blackout over for most, but businesses demand payback
Ninety-five per cent of downtown Vancouver`s electricity had been restored by early yesterday evening, according to B.C. Hydro.
"We expect to be at 99 per cent by the end of the evening," said Hydro spokesperson Susan Danard. "Only a handful of customers will be without power in the morning but we`ll be dealing directly with them."
Bob Elton, Hydro`s chief executive officer, said the exact cause of the Monday morning fire that caused the blackout remains unknown.
A staff report to Surrey City Council says TransLink`s long-range plans are doomed.
"In the absence of sustainable and sufficient resources for TransLink to fund the necessary infrastructure and related operational costs associated with meeting the goals of the strategy, the strategy is doomed to failure," says the report.
It was prepared after staff studied TransLink`s 10-year plan and its Transport 2040 plan.
Cost of Metro Vancouver services to double by 2030
The cost of services in Metro Vancouver will more than double by 2030, according to forecasts presented by staff yesterday to Metro Vancouver`s finance committee.
The current cost of delivering regional services such as sewer, water, garbage and transportation by municipalities, Metro Vancouver and TransLink will reach $4.7 billion in 2008. By 2030 that cost will more than double to $12.4 billion, the report says.
The costs to taxpayers won`t take quite the same jump.
B.C. sets goal for solar panels: 100,000 roofs by 2020
The provincial government announced today it will invest $5 million in a program aimed at boosting solar water heating more than sixfold to 3,000 roofs across the province by 2010.
The announcement was made in Dawson Creek, hailed as a solar community because it has solar water heating at its city hall, police and fire stations and airport.
The SolarBC program is aimed at encouraging more homeowners, schools, social housing projects and first nations communities to install solar water heating systems and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Canada`s labour market is doing much better than recent gloomy headlines may suggest, according to a report released Wednesday by CIBC World Markets.
And B.C., which is slightly ahead of the national average in the survey`s employment quality index, is seeing particularly strong job growth in such sectors as energy, transportation, engineering, technology and Internet services.
"B.C. is very close to the [national] average," said CIBC economist Benjamin Tal in an interview. "The [provincial] index is roughly in line with the country as a whole."
METRO VANCOUVER - Metro Vancouver staff are worried they may not be able to meet their strict greenhouse-gas emissions goals if the region`s transportation authority doesn`t step up to the plate with targets of its own.
It`s one of a string of concerns about TransLink`s new 30-year plan, Transport 2040, highlighted in a Metro Vancouver staff report that goes to the regional district`s board Friday.
TransLink chairman Dale Parker will talk to the Metro board about its concerns, such as how TransLink`s expansion plans fit with Metro`s provincially legislated requirement to achieve a 33-per-cent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020.
