Six property owners near Shadow Mountain will pay to rebuild Parnaby Road under a local area service bylaw that Cranbrook council adopted Monday.
Council also directed staff to send Loan Authorization Bylaw (Parnaby Road Construction Local Area Service) to the province’s inspector of municipalities for approval.
A local area service pays for work that benefits a specific neighbourhood. The owners of the properties that benefit cover the cost, not general taxpayers.
The project would rebuild Parnaby Road and the local road linking it to Corral Boulevard to city standards, the city said in a news release. The work would widen the road and add streetlights, drainage, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, gravel shoulders and a water meter, along with related property and access work.
The city estimates the project will cost about $6.55 million. That figure includes engineering, administration, financing and a 50 per cent contingency meant to reduce the risk of an unfunded cost overrun. The city could borrow the money over as long as 25 years.
The six properties in the service area would repay the construction and borrowing costs through parcel taxes, either in a lump sum or in annual payments. The charge applies to each parcel whether or not it is developed. The city said existing developed strata properties and the golf course would not be affected.
According to the city, the Shadow Mountain development began without all its required roads and services in place and without enough security to guarantee they would be finished.
The city compared the situation to the Shadow Mountain Sanitary Sewer Construction Local Area Service, which council adopted in 2022. The city said that sewer system should have been built before or during the first Shadow Mountain subdivisions, but it was not installed until about a decade after house construction began.
“Kudos to our staff for finding a way to get to yes, to help this development move ahead,” Mayor Tom Shypitka said.
“Yes, $6.5 million is a lot of money, but the loan will be repaid by the property owners in that area who will benefit from the new road, not the general taxpayer. This initiative will enable new housing development on the east side of Shadow Mountain that otherwise may be delayed for many more years, and the City will gain a housing development in a very desirable new riverfront neighborhood.”
If the inspector approves the loan bylaw and council then adopts it, construction is scheduled to begin in 2027.
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