The city of Port Moody can’t impose a requirement on developers of multi-unit housing projects to offer pre-sales first to residents of the city as part of rezoning applications — but it can try to get builders to voluntarily make such a commitment.

That’s the conclusion of a report by the city’s senior planner, Doug Allan, in response to city council’s request last November to investigate the implications of adopting a residents-first policy for new multi-family dwellings.

article continues below

During council’s debate on the issue Nov. 14, Coun. Barbara Junker said a residents-first policy would protect downsizers and young people who want to remain in Port Moody from out-of-town speculators who snap up pre-sale units without ever intending to live in them in order to sell them later at a profit.

But in his report that will be presented to council tonight (Tuesday), Allan said under the Local Government Act, municipalities in British Columbia have no authority to use zoning powers to impose any kind of restrictions on who can purchase properties nor can they use housing agreements with developers to achieve a residents-first policy.

Instead, the city could negotiate voluntary commitments from developers to create pre-sale windows exclusively for Port Moody residents, as occurred in 2016 for a project in Horseshoe Bay, where, in response to local concerns a new condo project was being marketed first to international buyers, the district of West Vancouver was able to get an agreement from the developer to provide priority access to West Van residents for the first 30 days, and then residents of the rest of Metro Vancouver for the next 60 days. It also negotiated a 5% price break for local purchasers.

And while that agreement achieved 30% sales to local residents, Allan noted West Van has yet to adopt any sort of formal policy. Neither have the city of Vancouver or the district of North Vancouver, which are also wrestling with the problem of local residents being priced out of the housing market. He said no other municipality in the Lower Mainland is considering a residents-first policy.

But even a voluntary residents-first commitment from developers is no guarantee of success, said Allan, who pointed out Bold Properties sold only one property in its Edgestone townhouse project on St. Johns Street to a Port Moody resident during a three-week window last October open only to local residents prior to the project’s public launch on Nov. 4, 2017.

One of the reasons for that initiative’s lack of success may have been too narrow a definition of local — it applied only to residents of Port Moody.

“If the city were to move forward with a locals-first policy, the company suggested defining local as from the Lower Mainland, or at least from a wider Tri-Cities or adjacent municipalities,” Allan said.

mbartel@tricitynews.com