School Site Acquisition Charge Public Consultation

Kamloops

School Site Acquisition Background Report - Nov 2024

On Tuesday, December 17, 2024, we hosted a public consultation webinar to review the SSAC changes and answer questions. Watch the webinar recording below.

If you have questions or feedback, please email us here. We will review and respond to questions received about the SSAC changes until January 31, 2025.

 Explore the Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
 
Q: What is the reasoning to stay at the minimum charge per unit and not go higher?
A: There is no minimum charge. We can only charge the value that the calculations yield, up to the maximum value in Table 5.2 (See page 10 of Kamloops School Site Acquisition Background Report - Nov 2024)

The Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education is updating the School Site Acquisition Charge (SSAC) within the municipal boundaries of the City of Kamloops. The purpose of this charge is to collect funds from new residential development to assist in paying for the costs of new school sites which are necessary to provide land for construction of new schools to accommodate student populations generated by this new residential development. School districts must have an SSAC in place for the Ministry to provide funding for new school site acquisitions. The SSAC is collected by the City of Kamloops and transferred to SD73 for use in site acquisition.

A report completed by Urban Systems in November 2024, which contains the updated information, is available here.

The proposed changes to the per unit charges are as follows (as of November 2024):

DensityCurrent ValueProposed New Value
Single Family $288 $316
Multi Family Low Density $259 $285
Multi Family Medium/High Density $201 $221
Base Rate (average charge per unit) $230 $253
The SD73 SSAC is fully compliant with the British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Education's School Site Acquisition Charge Implementation Guide, the BC Local Government Act, and that Act's School Site Acquisition Charge Regulation.
Milestones
Explore past public consultation for the School Site Acquisition Charge below.
 2020
 
May 2020 

School Site Acquisition Report - May 2020
Nov. 2020 - Fees for Future School Development Approved

SD73 sought public input regarding the implementation of a School Site Acquisition Charge (SSAC) in November 2020.

The detailed calculation is included on page 10 of the SSAC report. In summary, as indicated on Table 5.2, the rates established in 2020 are as follows: $288 per unit for Single Family dwellings; $259 for Multi Family, Low Density; and $201 for Multi Family, High Density per unit charge. As per regulation, the SSAC would be collected by the City of Kamloops and forwarded to the School District. 

The period of public consultation was from November 9, 2020 until November 23, 2020. Comments were considered at the Regular Public Meeting of the Board of Education on November 23, 2020, prior to their resolution for approval.

School districts must have SSAC’s in place to receive capital funding from the Ministry of Education and Child Care for the acquisition of school sites. The City of Kamloops is the only jurisdiction in the Kamloops-Thompson School District that will require new school sites in the next ten years. Developments in Barriere, Clearwater, Logan Lake, Chase, Westwold, Savona, and Sun Peaks are not included. 

Based on the City of Kamloops Official Community Plan at the time, the Board estimated that there will be 8,766 chargeable development units constructed in the City of Kamloops over the next 10 years, resulting in 2,354 school age children being added to the school district.

While the Board expected some of the additional school age children in the District will be accommodated in existing facilities, proposed growth for the Aberdeen neighborhood of Kamloops would require one new secondary school and one new elementary school.  

According to Ministry of Education and Child Care school site area standards, the secondary school would require a minimum of 4.5 hectares of land, and the elementary school would require a minimum of 2.5 hectares of land. Based on land values in that area at that time, the Board estimated that the two new school sites will cost approximately $7,276,000 (based on November 2020 data). 

 
Nov. 2020 Explore the past Public Consultation comments here.

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