City of Merritt alters large UBCM grant application

In late April, Merritt City Council approved an application for $444,020 in grant funding for a long list of initiatives through the UBCM local government development approval program.

“With the current active real estate market, development applications continue to increase. From January 1 to March 31, 2021, the City received 33 development applications, compared to 53 for the entirety of 2020 and 47 for the entirety of 2019. This dramatic increase has led to longer processing times and numerous complaints from applicants,” said Planning Manager Don McArthur in April.

“The Local Government Development Approvals Program, a component of the Canada-BC Safe Restart Agreement, is intended to support the implementation of established best practices and test innovative approaches to improve development approvals processes while meeting local government planning and policy objectives,” added McArthur.

Following further conversations with consultant groups, City Staff have slightly altered the grant application.

“We’ve received some additional information on more detailed quotes from consulting firms. There is no impact to City finances as all the items which changed would be grant funded not city funded,” stated McArthur.

The City is now applying for $426,620 not original $444,020.

The City drafted a list of improvement that could occur if the grant application is successful including;

– Outsourcing the review of various existing bylaws to consultants

– Digitizing historical property file documents

– Hiring a community planner

– Software license purchases and training

– Staff training