City Council repealed a servicing policy which will see decreased costs and increased flexibility for developers in Red Deer.
Stemming from administration’s Leading Forward report, which was brought to Council in April, the changes to infrastructure servicing policies and charges will reduce costs for developers completing upgrades or new development in existing areas. These changes connect directly to The City’s Strategic Plan objectives to incentivize local economic development in our community.
“We are glad to be able to make this change that will not only afford cost-savings for our development community, but will give them more flexibility in scheduling services,” said Mayor Tara Veer. “We expect this will not only prove useful for existing developments, but will help to spur additional development activity in our community.”
The amendment will see an existing policy, which requires developers to hire The City to perform all service installations and repairs, repealed. Once this change takes place, developers will be able to determine who completes service installations, and when.
Changes will allow developers to manage service installs with external contractors, giving them greater flexibility in scheduling than The City can offer, which could lead to significant savings for the development community.
“In the past, it was required that The City do any service installations,” said Konrad Dunbar, Engineering Manager. “In speaking with developers, we heard common challenges working around The City’s schedule – most would prefer to hire an external contractor to do the install at a date that was more convenient. While the up-front cost could increase, the scheduling flexibility reduces impacts on their overall construction schedule, resulting in longer-term cost savings for the developers.”
This change would take effect immediately and developers will have the option to hire The City for service installations or to hire a contractor to complete the work. The City will continue to work with developers through the development agreement process to ensure quality control of any services installed.
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Communications
The City of Red Deer