CITY OF REVELSTOKE
BYLAW #1457
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A Bylaw To Impose A Frontage Tax For Sewer Services Within The City of Revelstoke
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WHEREAS the Municipal Act provides that Council may, by bylaw, impose a frontage tax to meet the cost of works and services that benefit land within the municipality;
AND WHEREAS certain costs have been incurred, and will be incurred, by the City of Revelstoke in providing sewer services to lands within the municipality;
AND WHEREAS it is deemed desirable and expedient to impose and levy a frontage tax on lands benefiting from such sewer services to meet such costs;
AND WHEREAS the total actual frontage of parcels of land which benefit from sewer services is 117,177 feet, and the total taxable frontage of such parcels is 128,604 feet, as confirmed by the Court of Revision of the City of Revelstoke on May 29, 1992;
NOW THEREFORE the Council of the City of Revelstoke, in open meeting assembled, enacts as follows:
1. In this bylaw, unless the context otherwise requires,
"actual frontage" means the distance which a parcel of land actually abuts on the work or highway;
"Collector" means the person appointed by Council as collector of the municipality under Section 421 of the Municipal Act;
"Court of Revision" means the Local Court of Revision appointed under Section 416 of the Municipal Act;
"frontage tax" means the frontage tax imposed pursuant to this bylaw;
"municipality" means the City of Revelstoke;
"non-conforming parcel" means a parcel of land the area of which is less than the minimum site area currently required under the Zoning Bylaw for the zoning applicable to that parcel;
"taxable frontage" means the actual frontage or, where applicable, the distance which a parcel of land is deemed to abut on the work or highway, and in respect of which parcel the frontage tax is levied for the work or service;
"total actual frontage" means the sum of the actual frontage of the parcels of land which actually abut on the work or highway; and
"total taxable frontage" means the sum of the taxable frontage of the parcels of land which abut or are deemed to abut on the work or highway.
2. A frontage tax shall be and is hereby imposed on each parcel of land which is capable of being connected to a sewer main, whether or not such parcel is actually connected to a sewer main.
3. (1) The frontage tax levied annually on each parcel of land to be taxed, except as otherwise provided in this bylaw, shall be the product of the taxable frontage and the annual rate.
(2) When the frontage tax assessment roll is revised and confirmed by the Court of Revision, the total actual frontages and total taxable frontages shall be adjusted accordingly, the new totals shall be noted on this bylaw, and the bylaw shall be deemed to have been amended accordingly.
(3) The annual rate shall be 70 cents per foot of taxable frontage, and such rate shall remain in force from year to year until altered or repealed by bylaw.
4. The frontage tax imposed by this bylaw shall remain in effect until the complete discharge and satisfaction by the City of all obligations presently incurred, and to be incurred, in respect of the said sewer services.
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Bylaw #l457
5. For the purposes of this bylaw, a regularly shaped parcel of land is defined as a parcel of land which is rectangular.
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6. Subject to the provisions of section 7, where the frontage tax is levied on
(a) a triangular or other irregularly shaped parcel of land;
(b) a parcel of land wholly or in part unfit for building purposes;
(c) a parcel of land which does not abut on a sewer main but is nevertheless deemed to abut on a sewer main; or
(d) a parcel of land which not only abuts on a sewer main but is also traversed by the sewer main,
the taxable frontage shall be the distance fixed by the Collector who, in fixing the distance, shall have due regard to the condition, situation, value and superficial area of the parcel compared with other parcels of land, or to the benefit derived from the sewer services, to bring the frontage tax, when imposed, to a fair and equitable basis.
7. For the purposes of this bylaw
(a) where the actual frontage of a parcel of land is less than 50 feet, the taxable frontage shall be a minimum of 50 feet, and
(b) where the actual frontage of a parcel of land is more than 200 feet, the taxable frontage shall be a maximum of 200 feet.
8. Subject to the provisions of sections 6 and 7,
(a) where a parcel of land is situated at the junction or intersection of two highways and the sewer service is provided on or along only one side of the parcel, the taxable frontage shall be the actual frontage of the shorter boundary abutting on a highway;
(b) where a parcel of land is situated at the junction or intersection of two highways and the sewer service is provided on or along more than one side of the parcel, the taxable frontage shall be the actual frontage of the shorter boundary abutting on a highway unless the length of one boundary is more than 1.5 times the length of the other boundary, in which case the taxable frontage shall be the total actual frontage of both boundaries divided by 2.5; and
(c) where the front and rear boundaries of a parcel of land each abut on a highway and the sewer service is provided along both such boundaries, the taxable frontage shall be the total actual frontage of both boundaries divided by 2.
9. (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, where
(a) a non-conforming parcel is vacant or occupied only by a building or use which is accessory to the principal use of an adjoining lot, and
(b) such non-conforming parcel has a common boundary with an adjoining non-conforming parcel or a parcel of land occupied by a principal building, and
(c) all of the said parcels are registered in the Land Title Office in the name of the same owner, and
(d) the said parcels can not be consolidated into a single parcel without a legal survey or preparation and filing of an explanatory plan in the Land Title Office,
upon written application to the Collector by the owner thereof, such parcels shall be deemed to be a single parcel of land for the purposes of this bylaw, and recorded as such in the frontage tax assessment roll.
(2) In recording two or more parcels of land as a single parcel on the frontage tax assessment roll, the Collector shall include sufficient information to clearly identify all parcels deemed to be a single parcel of land as provided for in this section.
(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply
(a) where the parcels of land can be consolidated by the cancellation of interior lot lines in accordance with the provisions of the Land Title Act, or
(b) where the consolidation of non-conforming parcels, all of which are vacant, would result in an actual frontage in excess of 200 feet.
10. This Bylaw may be cited for all purposes as the City of Revelstoke "Sewer Frontage Tax Bylaw #l457, l993.
11. That the City of Revelstoke Sewer Frontage Tax Bylaw 1067, 1976, is repealed in its' entirety.
12. This bylaw shall come into full force and effect upon final adoption.
Bylaw #l457
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READ A FIRST TIME this 8th day of March, l993.
READ A SECOND TIME this 8th day of March, l993.
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READ A THIRD TIME this 8th day of March, 1993.
RECONSIDERED AND FINALLY ADOPTED this 22nd day of March, 1993.
_______________________________ ___________________________
CLERK MAYOR
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the City of Revelstoke Sewer Frontage Tax Bylaw #l457, l993.
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CLERK
M E M O R A N D U M
March 2, 1993
TO: MAYOR AND COUNCIL
FROM: ADMINISTRATOR
RE: SEWER FRONTAGE TAX BYLAW 1067
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BACKGROUND
In April 1992 the City was advised by the Vernon Office of the
B. C. Assessment Authority that the grouping of many parcels of
land on the City's assessment roll did not comply with Section 4
of the Assessment Act which provides that "Where a building or
other improvements extends over more than one parcel of land,
those parcels, if contiguous, may be treated by the assessor
as one parcel and assessed accordingly.".
Up to 1992, adjacent vacant parcels were treated as a single
parcel where no buildings or other improvements extended over
the common lot lines. That resulted in the minimum of 50 feet and
maximum of 200 feet of taxable frontage in Bylaw 1067 being applied to
the group of parcels listed together on both the property tax and
frontage tax assessment rolls.
In 1992, in order to comply with Section 4 of the Assessment Act,
BCAA separately assessed and listed all such vacant parcels,
including small lots and portions of lots which, because of their
limited size, can not generally be built on under City Zoning Bylaws.
An example of the problem with this BCAA action is a person who owns two
and a half adjacent 25 foot lots, but whose house only straddles
two of the lots. In this case the vacant 12.5 foot portion has been
listed separately on the assessment roll and, because our frontage
tax assessment roll is based on the roll prepared by the assessors,
the 50 foot minimum taxable frontage had to be applied to the
12.5 foot strip in 1992. While separation of the parcels appears
to have had little effect on the total assessed values for
general tax purposes, in this example the total taxable frontage
increased from 62.5 feet to 100 feet (the 50 foot minimum for
each parcel), and the frontage tax at 70 cents per foot
increased 60% from $43.75 to $70.00. This naturally resulted in
a significant number of complaints from affected property owners.
OPTION #1 - REMOVAL OF MINIMUM TAXABLE FRONTAGE
Since the problem is created by application of the minimum 50 foot
taxable frontage in Bylaw 1067 to the small parcels severed by
the assessors, removal of the minimum taxable frontage in the
bylaw was considered. However, a minimum taxable frontage is
common practice to ensure that all parcels make a reasonable
contribution to the sewer fund, and tends to reduce complaints
to the Court of Revision when the collector has to determine
the taxable frontage of irregularly shaped parcels, those
wholly or partially unfit for building purposes, etc.
For these reasons it is recommended that the minimum taxable
frontage of 50 feet remain in effect, and that provision be
made to consolidate on the frontage tax assessment roll those
vacant parcels separately assessed and listed on the 1992
assessment roll.
OPTION #2 - CHANGES TO THE LEGISLATION
Between June and October of 1992 the City argued with both the
BC Assessment Authority and the Minister of Municipal Affairs, to
reverse the recent action, and consolidate parcels on the City's
assessment roll in the same manner as they had for many years.
We were advised that the assessors would not be able to
do this
unless Section 4 of the Assessment Act is amended.
We understand that a change in the Act has been proposed
by the Assessment Authority, but have no assurance that
it will proceed. If the amendment does proceed, it clearly will
not be done in time for the 1993 tax year.
OPTION #3 - CHANGES TO CITY'S SEWAGE FRONTAGE TAX BYLAW
Under the current situation the small lots and portions of
lots can only be dealt with as a single parcel for general
tax assessment purposes if:
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(a) the interior lot lines are cancelled by
application to the Registrar of Land Titles,
at a cost of $50.00 (However, this only applies
where all lots are shown on the same plan of
survey, which is frequently not the case in
Revelstoke. Therefore 'b' or 'c' below apply);
(b) an explanatory plan is prepared by a
B. C. Land Surveyor and filed in the Land
Title Office, at a total cost of about $500.00;
or
(c) a new legal survey is done, and the plan
filed in the Land Title Office, at a cost of
$1,000 or more.
Where interior lot lines can be cancelled at a cost of $50.00
(per 'a' above) there is no reason why the residential lot owner should
not do so in order to consolidate his/her land for both general assessment
and frontage tax assessment purposes. The elimination of the
lot line should have no affect on residential lot values as lot sizes
generally preclude residential subdivision. However commercial
lot owners may, as they wish, want to keep the interior lot lines
for certain future purposes.
In general, therefore, the extinguishment of unnecessary
lot lines should be considered worthwhile 'housekeeping' on the
property owners part. Such extinguishment also saves
unnecessary bureaucracy and cost on the City's part.
In other circumstances (where the property owner cannot
erase the lot lines for $50 because the lot lines are on
different survey plans), the $500 to over $1,000 cost is
considered excessive. We therefore recommend changes
in our Sewer Frontage Tax Bylaw to provide for consolidating
parcels (solely for the purposes of the City's frontage
tax assessment roll) under specific and reasonable circumstances.
Those circumstances are included in Section 9 of the attached
draft Sewer Frontage Tax Bylaw.
The new bylaw also includes a number of housekeeping amendments
(e.g. changing the reference to the City's "Assessor" to "Collector"
to reflect changes in the Municipal Act and other legislation in
the 17 years since Bylaw 1067 was passed, to clarify the method
of calculating the taxable frontage of corner lots (Section 8), etc.
The proposed new bylaw has no substantial affect on City revenues.
Precise numbers are hard to determine; but variations of $1,000
to $2,000 in total either up or down might be expected due to this
new bylaw.
RECOMMENDATION
That Council give the attached draft bylaw 1st, 2nd, & 3rd reading
as it is the simplest and fairest approach to a fairly complex 7 issue.
Upon final adoption (proposed for March 22, 1993) the Collector will
write all the affected property owners advising them that they may apply
to have their parcels consolidated. This will need to be done before
preparation of the 1993 frontage tax assessment roll at the end of April.
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