At their regular meeting on September 15th, Council gave approval for a pilot program that would allow the City of Delta to accept the use of surety bonds as an alternative form of security for certain development servicing agreements where eligibility criteria are met. Participation in the pilot will be limited to a maximum of five qualifying development projects at any one time. To use surety bonds for specific servicing agreements, developers will need to apply for a variance to the definition of “security” in Delta Development and Subdivision Standards Bylaw. The variance would be brought forward for consideration in conjunction with the project bylaws.  

The infrastructure requirements may include roads, sidewalks, utilities and other upgrades with works valued between $1Million- $5Million. Under the Delta Development and Subdivision Standards Bylaw, developers must enter into a development agreement before final approval of a development application or issuance of a building permit in the absence of a development application. To ensure completion, the development agreement requires that the works are secured by cash or an irrevocable letter of credit equal to 110% of estimated infrastructure costs. 

Pending the outcome of the pilot project, amendments to the bylaw could be considered to eliminate the need for a variance in future.

In the spring, UDI conducted a workshop with the City of Delta to provide further information on surety bonds and highlight the benefits of adopting them.

Additional information can be found in the  full report by City staff and  Pilot Program Eligibility Criteria.