The deadline is approaching for residents who want to comment on the city's plan to provide 10-year tax incentives for new development downtown.
Residents have until May 20 to provide their thoughts to the city on the plan - which would see developers eligible to receive a cash advance on the 10-year tax exemption though the Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Mayor Dan Rogers said the 10-year-exemption plan would replace the current five-year exemption plan which expires this year.
"It's a strengthened revitalization tax benefit," Rogers said. "We've had, with the current bylaw, we've had some uptake. This is a strengthened program, a better program."
City council and the board of Northern Development have approved the plan in principle, however the full details of how the incentive program would work have yet to be fully developed.
Developers have told the tax exemption over the five-year period was less appealing than an upfront cash incentive, Rogers said. The goal of the program is to attract new investment in the downtown core.
"Our creativity, our innovative approach in this, has opened minds,
Developers would be able to choose the cash up front from Northern Development, which would then be paid back over the 10-year period.
The mechanism in which Northern Development would be paid back is under development, city policy initiatives manager Wendy Nordin said.
The city and Northern Development will also need to work out who assumes the risk if the accrued property tax exemption is not sufficient to cover the full amount of the incentive payout, she said. For example, if the building were to burn down two years after it is built - the now-vacant lot would not generate enough tax exemption credits to pay back the initial incentive amount.
"There is a level of risk in any tax exemption," Nordin said. "I don't think there is any more risk in this case than in others."
Public feedback on the initiative can be provided to the city by e-mailing RTEsubmissions@city.pg.bc.ca, or by mail.
