YORKTON - The City of Yorkton has a new Building Bylaw, after unanimous support of second and third reading at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council March 18.
Council had previously given unanimous first reading support for the bylaw to establish procedures for the Issuance and Enforcement of Building Permits and to Provide for Fees Thereof, which effectively served to replace the city’s Building Bylaw at its regular meeting Feb. 26.
The Construction Codes Act was adopted by the Province and came into force on Jan. 1, 2022. The CC Act replaced the Uniform Building and Accessibility Standards Act (the “UBAS Act) as the legislation which governs the construction and occupancy of buildings in Saskatchewan, and which requires the City to enact a Building Bylaw, explained Michael Eger, Director of Planning, Building & Development with the city.
Recently, the City had been asked by the applicant of a large construction project for Building Permit fee relief. This can only be achieved by changing the Building Bylaw. All of this comes as the Province has renewed contemplation of an Alternative Compliance Model (ACM) for inspecting very large (or “mega”) building projects, said Eger.
City administration offered up a different approach.
“In response to the ACM, City Administration would rather pursue a fee reduction for mega projects than entertain an undefined and untested building inspection and compliance program, and the pitfalls therein. Retaining the current inspection and compliance model would further help us strengthen relationships with large businesses in our City and mitigate our risk and ongoing liability which accrues over the life of a building,” explained Eger in February.
The Building Permit fee structure for most projects is typically a flat rate based on construction value. Excluding small residential projects and one and two dwellings, fees in Yorkton have been set at $5 per $1,000 of construction value, or 0.5 per cent. Under this structure, the fees for mega projects likely exceeds the ratio of administration, plan review, inspection and liability coverage, he continued.
The updated bylaw will have marginal effects on day-to-day operations and will generally only impact those mega-sized building projects specifically as it relates to fees. The city's Building Services Division will update its standard communications and also advise affected applicants.
The revised fee structure as contained in the Bylaw will be applied retroactively to all Building Permit applications received after Jan. 1, 2024.
