Edmonton city councillors have expressed more frustration at city brass over a lack of communication on the city’s industrial strategy.
A new plan has been proposed to cost share with developers. One representative from the development industry told council’s executive committee this plan should help spur investment.
“As the developer going in, as being able to participate in the tax uplift, I’m incentivized to bring my lands and my buildings and my park on faster,” said Kelly Pawlik, chair of Urban Development Institute’s industrial committee. “The faster that I can bring it on, we see incremental tax growth, the faster I can recover my own investment.”
However councillor Ed Gibbons said the new plan leaves a lot to be desired, and he’s especially frustrated that as the councillor who has the industrial strategy portfolio, he wasn’t given a heads up about the plan.
“You ever thought of making an appointment and meeting and telling me about this before coming in? I might have told you then that it’s lip service. I’m not happy with it.
Councillor Mike Nickel is equally frustrated at how the rest of the metro Edmonton region has had a history of attracting more industry, because of lower costs and less red tape. Nickel, who has business interests outside of city boundaries, wondered about having some data that council could measure.
“In terms of turn around times and approval applications are we going to actually see some firm concrete targets?” he asked.
Paul Ross, the branch manager for economic and environmental sustainability for the city admits Edmonton charges more.
“Off sites, permit fees, all those aspects of it, you roll it up, across the region we’re probably running about 15 per cent more on average.”
The goal is to increase the industrial tax base, so the city doesn’t have to rely as much on individual home property owners, especially Gibbons said when trying to pay for big ticket items and city wide services that rely on tax revenue.
“We’re using a term in the region,” Gibbons suggested. “It’s let’s hunt as a pack. Maybe our administration can learn to hunt as a pack and use you as businesses to bring people in.”
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