BCBusiness

14 BCBUSINESS APRIL 2019 S O U R C E S : B .C . M I N I S T R Y O F A G R I C U LT U R E , A G R I C U LT U R E C A N A D A , B .C . W I N E I N S T I T U T E , and libraries and improve parks as density increases. (Vancouver also collects de- velopment cost levies, a at fee per square foot on all new developments. These oset ad- ditional costs such as engineer- ing infrastructure.) But as development approv- als outstripped Vancouver's population growth and ran up against local resistance, the question had to be asked: was the City playing Robin Hood by green-lighting luxury condo towers to ‚ll its coers with developer contributions—or selling out citizens' concerns to stay in the black? Over the past several years, CACs have skewed heavily toward a handful of mega- developments. In 2014, two- thirds, or $157 million, came from the rezoning of Oakridge Centre for Westbank Corp. Then there's the so-called Jenga tower in Coal Harbour, which faced much pushback due to its negative impact on view cor- ridors. As part of their rezoning application, approved by city council last year, Bosa Proper- ties and Kingswood Capital of- fered some $56 million in CACs. "In recent years what I've noticed is that the City had got a little greedy, and it started looking at the whole develop- ment proposition from the point of view of what the com- munity amenity contribution would be," says Vancouver's former co-director of planning Larry Beasley, now founding principal of Beasley & Associ- ates, an urban planning and design ‚rm. "When the City is motivated in its zoning by the community amenity con- tribution that comes with the zoning as a prime motivation, there is a problem." City sta look out for the public interest, says Chris Robertson, assistant director of citywide and regional plan- ning. Although the City must respect commercial sensitivi- ties that might stop a developer from making CAC negotiations public, "ultimately we follow provincial guidelines" on CACs, Robertson explains. Every municipality has its books audited, and the City of Vancouver has its own audit team, but an auditor general's task goes further. "They're looking for wider issues about whether there has been gross inežciency and whether there are better ways of doing things," says Andrew Sancton, a political science professor and municipal government ex- pert at Western University. Toronto's auditor general has uncovered $421 million owed in unpaid ‚nes, suspect- ed rigging of bids for paving contracts and possible fraudu- lent ‚re safety inspections by a city contractor, the Toronto Star reports. Since 2013, the ožce has saved the city more than $200 million, or $8.50 for every dollar in its budget. In 2012, then-premier Christy Clark's BC Liberals established an auditor gen- eral for local government. Some communities bristled at the thought of the province breathing down their necks, but after a review, the NDP gov- ernment recently announced it will keep the ožce. There's a case to be made that the local government audi- tor general can add value at the civic level. Whether it should be a provincial agency, or mu- nicipalities should foot the bill by having their own auditor general, is another question. "I believe the local govern- ment auditor general has had a pretty good chance to lift up that rock and see what's crawl- ing underneath it, and I think generally they have found that things are pretty good," says MLA and one-time Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan. If the province pays, all the better for municipalities, Sullivan argues. To former Vancouver plan- ner Beasley, the province im- posing an auditor general on local governments seems rich. In his experience, municipali- ties are much more transpar- ent, and they've balanced their budgets as transfer payments from senior levels of govern- ment dwindled. "It's not a bad idea for local governments to implement their own audit and ombudspeople functionalities," Beasley says. "That would be a bene‚t to all citizens." In honour of the second annual BC Wine Month, here's the business side of your local bottle by Melissa Edwards April Wine ( the informer ) G O F I G U R E READ THIS Growth is good, right? Not so fast, argues Paul Jarvis in Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business. The long-time tech designer and consultant, who's worked for the likes of Microsoft and Steve Nash, teaches online courses and creates software from his Tofino home. Through profiles of successful busi- ness owners who enjoy life, focus on getting better, not bigger, and scale without adding more staff, Jarvis shows that expansion needn't be the goal. Each chapter includes a list of thought starters. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 272 pages, hardcover, $37 12,000 Provincial wine industry workers in 2017 A20% from 2013 $2.8 billion Total annual economic impact of the B.C. wine industry grape wineries in B.C. in 1990 17 grape wineries today 275 + 929 individual vineyards 4,130 total hectares of grapevines 60 grape varietals 14,046,430 Litres of B.C. VQA wine sold in 2017¨18, more than 1.5 million cases Provincial market share, by litres sold, of B.C. VQA wines last November: 19%

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