As voters across the Lower Mainland prepare to head to the polls on Oct. 17, the Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA) is challenging municipal candidates to clearly explain how they intend to prevent local government decisions from creating additional costs and uncertainty for an already challenging construction market.
According to the association, while municipal governments have little influence over global market conditions, they do have direct control over their own fees, requirements and administrative processes—factors that can either help projects move forward or make them financially unviable.
“Municipal governments can’t control global markets, but they can control whether their own fees, requirements, and processes help projects move forward or push them over the edge,” said Jeannine Martin, president of the VRCA, in a statement.
“When the numbers stop working, projects don’t magically become cheaper. They are delayed, scaled back or cancelled, and communities are left waiting.”
The issue of the Cost to Build forms one of the three central pillars of the VRCA’s non-partisan Build Lower Mainland campaign, alongside Time to Build and People to Build.
Through the campaign, the association aims to ensure that municipal candidates throughout the region understand the realities currently facing the construction sector, as well as the measures municipalities can take to keep development and construction activity moving across the Lower Mainland.
The VRCA is calling on municipal candidates to commit to greater transparency and predictability regarding development cost charges (DCCs) and other fees associated with construction projects.
The association is also seeking earlier consultation with the broader construction industry, improved co-ordination between municipalities and other levels of government, and meaningful advance notice before new charges or requirements come into effect.
In addition, the VRCA is advocating for measurable permitting standards, public accountability when delays occur, and fair, competitive procurement processes that remain open to qualified bidders.
“A project should not reach the finish line only to discover that the rules changed, and the budget no longer works,” said Craig Larkins, VRCA’s director of advocacy.
“Predictability costs government very little, but its absence can cost a community an entire project.”
As part of its campaign, the association is encouraging voters and members of the construction industry to directly question candidates on four key issues.
They include how municipal candidates plan to make fees and charges more predictable, whether they will support a co-ordinated effort to reduce DCCs and other barriers to construction, how they intend to ensure municipal procurement remains fair, competitive and focused on value, and whether they will consult the construction sector before making decisions that could determine whether projects can proceed.
“Every candidate talks about the housing, infrastructure and amenities their community needs,” Larkins said. “The real question is whether their policies will make those projects possible to build.”
