City staff is proposing to charge developers for new school land purchases needed when new subdivisions crop up in Prince George.
Under the proposal, developers would be charged a "small fee" at the time of subdivision to go into an account for purchasing land in those neighbourhoods for new schools, the city's long-range planning manager, Dan Milburn, told school board trustees on Tuesday night.
Although available to the city under the Local Government Act, it has not been used for some time, Milburn added. Sites for schools are usually designated in plans for neighbourhoods and subdivisions to ensure the intent is reflected but no money is collected to buy the land.
"If the school district needed them [the lands], they would have to find the funds and purchase them," Milburn said in an interview.
The fee would be similar to the development cost charges developers are levied to pay for extension of city services - roads, sewer, water and street lighting.
"[The school land acquisition fee] would apply to development at the edge of the community where new schools would be required by that development," Milburn stressed. "It would be location based."
Since 2001, council has approved neighbourhood plans to accommodate as many as 14,000 housing units and include sites for new schools. For example, the one for University Heights calls for five elementary schools and one secondary school to go along with 2,440 single-family homes over 244 hectares and a further 1,410 multiple-family units over 47 hectares.
The idea drew interest from school board trustees who were concerned about watching the city's development spread as the same time schools in the developed areas are being closed because there are not enough students.
Due to past commitments, some development will occur on the fringe, but Milburn said the policy direction is to charge developers 100 per cent of the costs of providing all the amenities, "parks space, schools and so on."
"So, potentially by applying the school site acquisition charge, it really just levels out the playing field more," Milburn told trustees.
As many as 84,700 people could be living in Prince George by 2025, compared to 77,500, according to City estimates. Over the shorter term, School District #57 is anticipating enrollment will continue to decline for the next few years and then level out at about 12,500 students in 2014-15.
