The Vancouver Sun has published an interesting and timely story today about the high costs and lengthy delays that developers often face when doing business in the Lower Mainland.
The City of Coquitlam's record is neither the worst nor the best, but it certainly has a lot of room for improvement.
The story is based on an annual survey conducted by the Vancouver chapter of the National Association of Industrial Office Properties. The group's survey asked each City Hall to identify costs and processing times for a new, two-storey, 100,000-square-foot industrial warehouse distribution building on 5.5 acres, requiring both subdivision and rezoning.
Burnaby was the most affordable, at $170,000, and Richmond was the most expensive, at $1.03 million. Coquitlam came in at $434,000.
As for the processing time, Chilliwack and Abbotsford posted the quickest turnarounds, at 90 days, and Vancouver and New West were slowest at 270 days. At 210 days, Coquitlam wasn't much better.
This is clearly an issue the new council has to deal with. We already know that our high business taxes are hurting business development here. Our slow approvals and high costs must surely make the situation even worse.
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