Thursday, August 3, 2023

At a glance (3 minute read)

  • Delta municipality offers property tax and fee exemptions to encourage community revitalization projects for commercial buildings with new façade and green technology, and the development of affordable rental units.
  • The South Delta Revitalization Tax Exemption Program provides tax breaks to eligible businesses, with the Headwater Living project becoming the first development in Delta to qualify for these incentives.
  • The tax breaks include freezing municipal property taxes for three years and significant savings on building permits and fees for qualifying projects within specified investment zones.

Your clients may be eligible for property tax and fee exemptions if they buy or own a commercial building and plan to:

  • rejuvenate the building with a new façade and green building technology; and
  • develop affordable upper rental or market units.

To encourage economic, social, or environmental revitalization, under the provincial Community Charter, municipal councils can pass a bylaw exempting specific properties from municipal property taxes for up to 10 years.

Economic revitalization tax breaks may be used to encourage:

  • investment and employment to revitalize its economic base, for example, exempting a local  major employer from industrial taxes to support reinvestment into the community and help retain jobs.

Social revitalization tax breaks may be used to encourage:

  • affordable housing, for example, for owners of commercial buildings converting upper floors to affordable housing rental units;
  • developers who enter into housing agreements, under section 905 of the Local Government Act, to provide or preserve affordable housing;
  • developers to conserve heritage property; and
  • owners of aging buildings to rejuvenate them with façade improvements and beautification.

Environmental revitalization tax breaks may be used to encourage owners:

  • to conserve energy by buying and installing green building technology, for example solar panels; and
  • revitalizing waterways to use green approaches to manage storm water drainage to protect waterways from pollutants.

Delta gives property tax and fee breaks for Ladner project

The City of Delta provides property tax exemptions and fee reductions to eligible businesses through its South Delta Revitalization Tax Exemption Program.

The developer of the Dunbar Lumber site at the corner of Bridge and Elliot Streets in Ladner Village, proposes a mixed-use six-storey building with 128 strata apartment units and a commercial floor area.

On July 10, 2023, Delta council approved a staff recommendation to provide municipal property tax exemptions and municipal fee reductions, under the South Delta Revitalization Tax Exemption. 

This bylaw, enacted in 2016 as part of the South Delta Business Sustainability Strategy, encourages investment in new and existing retail, commercial and mixed-use projects.

This Ladner Village site, now known as the Headwater Living project, will receive these tax breaks:

  • municipal property taxes will be frozen at the 2023 base level for three years; and
  • the developer will save $257,000 on a building permit, plumbing permit and land use application fees.

Eligible projects

For tax and fee exemptions, a property must be located within a specified investment zone and include a mixed-use development with a construction value of $5 million or more on land previously used for commercial purposes.

The Headwater Living project is the first development in Delta to qualify for tax and fee exemptions.

If you have questions about municipal property tax and fee exemptions, contact Harriet Permut, director of government relations at hpermut@rebgv.org.