(Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

TAX INCENTIVES

Kamloops council approves changes to tax-exemption bylaws for commercial developments

Jan 17, 2020 | 5:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops has made changes to expand a couple of existing bylaws within city boundaries around tax exemptions for developments.

Revitalization tax exemption (RTE) bylaws for the North Shore and downtown have been around for more than a decade, but the change broadens what properties can qualify.

On Tuesday (Jan. 14), Kamloops city council approved amendments that will allow a tax break for new commercial developments, or commercial buildings undergoing major improvements.

With a mix of qualifying categories within the previous bylaw wording, Councillor Mike O’Reilly says the change made things simpler.

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“Up until this point there has been a hodgepodge of things included. Hotels anywhere in the city, high tech just on the North Shore — so there were these one-off things that got applied,” he says. “So what we did on Tuesday was council made the choice to include any commercial developments within boundaries on the North Shore and downtown to be able to qualify for a ten-year tax deferral.”

Hotels were given leeway and included in the previous bylaw, which led to the development of the Sandman Signature Hotel on Lorne Street in 2011. The hotel was the only large-scale development construction downtown since the new Fulton & Company / Interior Savings Credit Union building on Lansdowne in 2007.

O’Reilly says expanding the commercial umbrella can make Kamloops a better place for employment opportunities.

“The reality is Kamloops is one of only two cities in all of British Columbia that does not have a commercial tax incentive program in their core business areas. And this was a big step for the City of Kamloops to get there, and I look forward to seeing the benefits of it.”

If it’s not a new build, the improvement must be worth at least $100,000, or 30 per cent of the assessed value to qualify. An approved 100 per cent tax exemption lasts for ten years, and the hope is that the cost saving potential will bring developers downtown, and to the North Shore.

The key core areas the criteria apply to on the North Shore include the North Shore Town Centre, Tranquille Market Street and the MacKenzie Triangle. (Other areas under the North Shore RTE bylaw have separate tax exemption eligibility.)

North Shore Business Improvement Association Executive Director Jeremy Heighton says there are several developers who have been waiting for a tax incentive such as this.

“A lot of our commercial buildings in Kamloops are very, very old. And you can only put lipstick on a pig for so long before you realize it’s time to get a new pig,” he says. “So the challenge for us is from a commercial properties point of view. We really have to think about, how do we attract the kind of people we want coming here, setting up shop, creating employment, and making it an affordable solution? And that’s what this change does.”

According to Heighton, the change brings Kamloops up to speed with other communities who already have the provision within their bylaws — particularly the North Shore.

“Being named one of the best places in Canada to invest is really great news. Adding this revitalization tax exemption just gives us a little bit more incentive to move forward,” Heighton explains. “Quite frankly, for a multi-million dollar company that’s coming here, they now have the ability to say, ‘We can actually predict our tax load for the next ten years with no doubt.'”

Further development categories could be added in the future, and Heighton says it’s likely the NSBIA will have some suggestions down the road, but for now the amendments will just bring in the commercial side.