If you are looking at building housing in a hurry, Langley City is the place to be, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.
The Fraser Institute released the findings last week which said Langley City provides fastest approval times in all Metro Vancouver for housing permits.
The study was looking at the affordable housing crisis in B.C. and found that Langley City approval times were around 1.6 months.
Langley City Mayor Ted Schaffer said their staff “recognize that time means money.”
He also points to building relationships and consulting the public early in the process.
“We spend a great deal of time building relationships and exceeding expectations by ensuring the public is consulted in the beginning of the development process. This streamlines the process and flushes out any problems that might arise,” said Schaffer. “By doing this, the normal time for a development permit is approximately two months, although we have completed some within 15 days.”
The Township of Langley on the other hand was on the bottom of the list, at 16th place out of 19 municipalities, with an average wait time of 14.8 months, according to the FI report. The average time to approve a housing development that didn’t require rezoning was 10 months throughout Metro Vancouver. Homebuilders complained of high regulatory costs in Surrey and Langley Township, said the report.
But Township staff are taking issue with the report, saying it doesn’t take into account the Township’s unique building landscape where rezoning and services like sewer and parks are often required of the developer.
Ramin Seifi, Township manager of engineering, said that several other recent reports rank the Township among the top three fastest for processing development applications.
“The Township maintains accurate records of ‘actual’ timelines on an ongoing basis, on the basis of which I can confirm the following averages for the past three years for development permits issued for multi-family residential developments, which would yield an average of about 166 days (or 5.5 months) for a previously zoned site,” said Seifi.
The Township of Langley is one of the top three fastest growing municipalities in B.C., with multi-family housing developments being built in Willoughby at record rates. Housing in that area will continue for the next 10 years.
Fraser Institute is a public policy think tank based out of Vancouver that has become well-known for their controversial rankings of the best schools in this province.