Housing valuations may be substantially influenced in relation to their proximity to Official Community Plan boundaries, as shown by several properties that doubled in their BC Assessment value this year.
This could be cautionary news, as dramatically greater valuations could result in a heftier property tax bill.
The municipality has said residents could expect a tax increase in 2023 based on a 5.9% increase in revenue that the municipality needs to deliver services.
The District estimated this to be an increase of $139 for the average residential property and about $454 more for the average business based on 2021 assessments. How a property assessment changed from 2021 to 2022 will impact whether this increase is higher or lower.
Ihor Zalubniak, a local Realtor, told The Squamish Chief he was first alerted to the possibility the Official Community Plan, or OCP, was having a role in higher BC Assessment figures after a client told him their property had doubled in valuation for reasons they couldn’t understand.
“This isn't about frightening people or anything,” said Zalubniak. “This is about what the heck happened here?”
Zalubniak did a search on the public registry of BC Assessment and found that this client was not the only case.
In total, he found seven properties downtown Squamish that doubled in value. In these instances, values were raised to anywhere between $2.5 million to $3.2 million.
These are huge increases, considering their values last assessment year ranged between $1.1 million to $1.6 million.
“I've never seen anything like that before,” said Zalubniak.
BC Assessment’s registry shows that the buildings on these properties were built between 1953 and 2004. These were not brand-new houses, nor were they on exceptionally large lots. Finally, there wasn’t any activity in the neighbourhood that, in Zalubniak’s mind, could justify a doubling of valuation.
“[BC Assessment] said they base it on real market values,” he said. “Well, try and find me some houses that have sold for that amount other than an RS-2 lot that was 25,000 square feet and an industrial lot that was 12,000 square feet. Well, that's not … justifiable.”
It was unclear what these properties had in common until Zalubniak started looking at maps showing the 2040 Official Community Plan, or OCP, boundaries downtown.
The OCP has laid out areas where it wants certain types of development to occur in the future. This may not always correspond with current zoning.
The houses were all on either Third or Fourth Avenue. He noted that what all the properties had in common was their proximity to a certain border.
These were all properties located where a large RS-2 area — currently zoned for single-family houses and duplexes — meets the boundary of an area the OCP has designated a Downtown Commercial Centre.
The District’s web map data shows the properties are in a residential-zoned area, but fall just inside the boundary of the Downtown Commercial Centre OCP designation. They are just out of range of the OCP’s Downtown Residential designation.
District spokesperson Rachel Boguski said in a written statement to The Squamish Chief that the Downtown Commercial Centre is where the OCP envisions a mix of commercial and residential uses.
“In this area, residential-only buildings are not supported, meaning that new buildings have to provide either 100% employment space or a mix of employment and residential uses,” said Boguski.
“How new buildings are shaped and specific uses that make up the building are typically determined through site-specific rezoning or development permit process.”
In the definition listed on the Squamish WebMap site, the Downtown Commercial Centre would form the primary commercial area of Squamish. Supported land uses in this area would be commercial and commercial mixed-uses.
Complementary uses include arts, culture, civic, institutional, parks, and greenways.
The maximum floor area ratio in the Downtown Commercial Centre is 3.0, the definition states. For properties fronting Cleveland Avenue between Pemberton Avenue and Main Street, the maximum floor area ratio is 2.3, except for development projects comprised of 100% employment space, in which case the maximum floor area ratio is 3.0.
On the other hand, the definition for OCP’s Downtown Residential zone states that the area would support a range of mixed densities including stacked, ground-oriented townhouses, rowhouses, stacked or clustered townhouses, courtyard or garden apartments, and traditional apartment buildings.
This designation also supports the integration of parks, greenways, public open spaces, and limited pockets of neighbourhood commercial. The maximum floor area ratio is 2.0.
‘OCP designations are a very strong driver’
While BC Assessments could not comment on individual properties, the organization appears to have taken Squamish’s OCP into account when making its valuations.
“I can confirm that our valuation teams carried out a Squamish land review project last year. OCP designations were reviewed, including the Downtown Commercial Centre 3.0 FAR area,” said assessor Bryan Murao in a message to The Squamish Chief. “OCP designations are a very strong driver of the highest and best use of a property, which has a large impact on market value.”
This may not have been what the District was expecting.
“In previous years following OCP completion, staff have engaged with BC Assessment and were advised at the time that assessment values are not based on land use designations, but rather on sale transactions in the vicinity,” wrote Boguski.
“Based on comparisons between 2023 and previous years’ land value assessments, it does appear that OCP designations may have impacted the assessed values of some properties in Downtown Squamish this year. The District will be evaluating if a change [in] land-use policy is necessary as a result of the way BC Assessment now calculates property values.”
She added that BC Assessment does not consult with the District on assessment methods.
For Zalubniak, the implications can be significant.
The next time the District makes amendments to the OCP, there could be profound tax implications for residents.
“With a stroke of a pen, there could be entire areas…that could suddenly all have the same tax consequences,” Zalubniak said.
He said that it’s a sign that residents now need to be aware not only of market activity, but also of how OCP designations can affect assessed value.
Residents have until Jan. 31 to appeal or complain about their assessment.
People should not let the possible devaluation of their home stop them from appealing, Zalubniak said.
“One of the things that I've heard is people say, ‘Oh, well, you know, if I challenge my assessment, and then I want to sell my house, I'm going to get less for it,’” he said.
“I don't think that's the case at all. Because come through this last market, we were selling properties for substantially more than the last assessment — because assessment lags.”
