A proposal to expand the northwestern city boundary of Grand Forks is now off to the B.C. government for review.
City council approved the submission Monday, April 15, after extensive public review.
The extension would add almost 95 hectares (234 acres) to the city including land for the proposed 800-home Copper Sky Living development.
Councillor Rod Zielinski is not convinced it’s in the best interest of city taxpayers.
“Even if nothing happens (with development) but we include this land into the city, we’ve just jacked up the tax rate for a bunch of people. We’ve included Coalchute Road and North Fork Road in our responsibilities at only $100,000 in pavement in our whole city budget,” Zielinski stated.
A city calculation estimates annual taxes for the properties in the regional district (RDKB) brought into the city would increase from $2,119 to $2,904. – a 37 per cent increase. The city has asked the province to be able to phase in the increase.
But Mayor Everett Baker says he’s asked repeatedly when the city will grow and it’s in the best interest of growing Grand Forks and adding land that’s “truly not rural.”
“Copper Ridge is a development. I don’t see any sheep or cows and chickens and things up in Cooper Ridge. It’s a density development,” he said.
Baker used Copper Ridge as an example of density development but it’s not part of the boundary extension proposal.
Final approval of the boundary extension is a long way away.
Once the province reviews the proposal it would have to be put to city voters to approve. It would then come back to city council for approval and then it would have to decide whether it wanted to submit the proposal for final approval by the B.C. government.
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