At Committee of the Whole on February 10, a report was brought to Council outlining various potential processing improvements highlighted in a previous UDI letter on proposed fee increases. Multiple motions were passed during the meeting in relation to the report, including:

• Reviewing the Landscape Bond Requirement, including the use of on-demand surety bonds for the purpose of landscape bonding;
• Increasing the delegated Development Permit (DP) Criteria to staff, but excluding the proposed delegation criteria for Development Variance Permits (DVPs);
• That staff bring a cost estimate for an external performance audit of the development review process to Council, referred to the next budget process; and
• That staff bring back available data on development application processes when the procedures bylaw comes back to Council (expected early March).

The remaining proposed improvements, including eliminating the three-bedroom unit mix policy for rental projects, introducing a temporary property tax abatement for purpose-built rental, and supporting pre-zoning beyond Bill 44 requirements, were not approved for further consideration at this time.

More information can be found in the full report by District staff.