Columbia Shuswap Regional District seeing unprecedented spike in demand for development services

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District says a growing wave of development in the area this year could lead to record-breaking levels.

At a meeting last week, the regional district’s board members were told that the entire Development Services department is experiencing a rapid upswing.

“This includes every aspect of the department including the number of building permits, planning applications and bylaw enforcement files,” the CSRD said in a press release this week.

According to the regional district, if the current trend continues, the number of new development services files is projected to double. In 2020, there were 691 new files, with 2021 on pace for 1,392 new files.

“Simply keeping up with the volume of phone and email requests is challenging,” said the CSRD, noting there are currently 30 to 76 information requests a day, up from 10 a day in 2018.

“Year-over-year, we have never experienced this kind of growth before in the CSRD and we are heading into what has traditionally been some of the busiest months of the season,” said CSRD development services manager Gerald Christie.

“We are doing all we can to maintain service levels, but timelines are starting to extend.”

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According to Christie, other municipalities and regional districts are also contending with increased development pressures.

The CSRD said board chair Kevin Flynn echoed that comment. A city councillor in Salmon Arm, Flynn said his city is also contending with an influx of development applications.

The regional district said it introduced new procedures last year to help streamline services and that it is eyeing new ways for further efficiencies, such as using virtual technologies to fulfill some elements of the building permit process.

This reduces travel time for the building inspectors and enhances the CSRD’s ability to continue to protect public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the regional district.

It added that should the development trend continue, it will bring the issue back in the fall as part of the budget planning process.

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