Sicamous council is requesting an update on B.C.’s progress towards allowing municipalities to impose a vacant land tax.
At council’s Feb. 9 meeting, Coun. Colleen Anderson brought forward a motion to compose a letter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs requesting an update on the province’s action towards amending the Community Charter to grant all municipal councils the authority to add a vacant land property tax.
The motion was passed unanimously.
In 2021, the Union of BC Municipalities endorsed a request from Lillooet’s municipal government to “request the Province of British Columbia conduct a review of the Community Charter to amend the legislation to grant municipal councils authority to add a ‘vacant land’ property tax.”
Anderson said Sicamous doesn’t have a lot of commercial property downtown and what is there seems to be being held onto and not developed. She said she’s looking for a way to motivate those property owners to sell or develop their land.
She emphasized she’s not looking to make a speculation tax that would impact people who have a residence in Sicamous that isn’t their primary residence; rather, she wants to grow the district’s downtown core.
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