REVELSTOKE PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS INCREASE AGAIN, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS PREVIOUS YEAR

By Nora Hughes

In early January, Revelstoke property owners received their 2023 assessment notices, which reflect market values as of July 1, 2022.

“Most homeowners throughout the Kootenay–Columbia region can expect an increase in assessed value between 5% and 20% with a handful of communities higher than that range,” says Kootenay Columbia Deputy Assessor Sharlynn Hill. “Property owners need to consider that 2023 assessments are based on the market value as of July 1, 2022, meaning what your home could have sold for last summer and not necessarily what it would sell for in today’s shifting market.”

Overall, Kootenay–Columbia’s total assessments increased from $60.6 billion in 2022 to over $69.7 billion this year, says BC Assessments. They report that almost $883 million of the region’s updated assessments are from new construction, subdivisions and the rezoning of properties.

The City of Revelstoke saw a 12 per cent increase in the typical assessed value of a single-family home this year, jumping from $718,000 in July of 2021 to $801,000 in 2022. This year’s increase is significantly lower than last year’s 32 per cent increase from 2020 to 2021.

The regional communities with the largest market trend change in 2023 are the Village of Slocan, with a 29% increase and the District of Sparwood, with a 28% increase.

Changes in property assessments reflect movement in the local real estate market and can vary greatly from property to property, says BC Assessment. When estimating a property’s market value, BC Assessment appraisers analyze current sales in the area and other characteristics such as size, age, quality, condition, view and location.

“It is important to understand that increases in property assessments do not automatically translate into a corresponding increase in property taxes,” explains Hill. “As noted on your Assessment Notice, how your assessment changes relative to the average change in your community is what may affect your property taxes.”

The City of Revelstoke has begun work on a concept plan for a park on Powerhouse Road.

The 2.3-acre site located in the Southside neighbourhood was identified as a priority by the community in the city’s new Parks and Recreation Master Plan (PRMP) adopted in June 2022 and the Official Community Plan (OCP).

Right now, city staff are in the process of developing a park concept plan. The plan provides visual ideas of how amenities could be placed in the park area. Amenities being considered for the project include food production gardens, a fenced dog park, a renovated disc golf course, boxing clubhouse upgrades and a potential water access point, depending on land ownership. A concept plan shows where open or natural areas are, where things like pathways, benches, play structures, buildings and playing fields are located, and how much space each item might take up.

Laurie Donato, Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, says the concept plan, “will identify potential amenities in the park; it will not get into the specifics design of each amenity.”

Donato says the Powerhouse Park Project team is working with the Revelstoke Disc Golf Course Society, Macpherson Dog Park Society, Revelstoke Paddlesport Association, the Revelstoke Local Food Initiative and the Revelstoke Boxing Club on the plan.

City Plans For Potential Park On Powerhouse Road

By Nora Hughes

The project team initially planned to release the concept plan to the public for feedback in December of 2022, but Donato says there have been delays.

“Due to some scheduling issues, we are still having conversations with some of the user groups,” she said in an email. “Might be early February before we get the plan out to the public. The public will be able to see and provide feedback on TalkRevelstoke.” The plan is required before construction designs, and actual construction can begin.

Revelstoke Council Adopts New Dark Sky Bylaw

By Nora Hughes

Revelstoke’s city council updated a city development bylaw with the new ‘dark sky’ amendment in January, 2023. The amendment will change the lighting standards, reducing the maximum illumination levels allowed for all new developments and updates.

Steve Black, Director of Infrastructure and Planning for the city, writes, "Currently, many of the street lights in the community are not compliant with the [d]ark [s]ky objectives due to age, style, and the outdated illumination requirements in the Subdivision, Development and Servicing Bylaw," in a report to council.

The new plan will provide the minimum lighting necessary, minimize light pollution, and reduce light trespass (when light reflects up into houses rather than down on the street).

The bylaw was last updated in 2007. Black says the outdated bylaw has created an overlighting situation in the community because the illumination intensity is based on roads and not community uses. The amendment will achieve the goal of a 'dark sky' by developing lighting zones for the community.

The new lighting zones designate lighting levels based on the needs of the area. For example, Lighting Zone one (LZ1) is low ambient light meant for areas with single-family homes. LZ2 comprises moderate ambient light for multifamily residential, institutional, churches, hospitals, hotels and schools. LZ3 is the maximum light an area in Revelstoke can have and is designated as moderately high ambient light for town centres, commercial corridors, high-use recreational areas and playing fields and commercial mixed-use.

New developments will have to comply with the new dark sky bylaw and install lights that point down, shining only where needed. Additionally, new updates the city makes will also need to comply with the bylaw amendment, including the globe lights downtown near Grizzly Plaza when they need to be replaced, said Black in a presentation to council.

In January, Community Connections Revelstoke Society opened a new women's centre on Orton Avenue. The centre provides several services, including counselling for women, therapeutic groups and help navigating different legal, childcare and income services.

The Revelstoke Women's Centre is a space for women, by women, and something the centre's staff say has been in the works for around ten years.

"The biggest thing is having a centre where women can just come and be," says Lindsay Oberg, Clinical Counsellor at Community Connections. "Aside from the services that we're offering, it's a place for women, by women. Where they can come and talk about what it means to be a woman or a mother and have counterculture conversations that challenge societal norms. Because oftentimes, those just don't fit."

The women's centre is staffed by Nicole Rock, a women's support and outreach worker for Community Connections, and by a rotating staff of clinical counsellors like Oberg.

Community Connections Opens

REVELSTOKE WOMEN'S CENTRE DOWNTOWN

By Nora Hughes

"A women's centre is a place where women can gather to address their experience of oppression which they can share in ways which are meaningful to them," said Revelstoke Women's Centre staff in an interview. "It is a beacon to the issue of gendered oppression and gender inequality for the community. The statistics continue to show that gender-based violence in Canada is an increasing problem. This is why we feel a women's centre is necessary."

The centre aims to connect with women and all who identify as such. The recent photography project hosted by the centre called 'Come as You Are' invited women to book a photo session and capture expressions of what it means to be a woman and resist societal beauty standards.

The centre opened on January 9, 2023. It will host a community opening event for women to check out the centre on Thursday, February 2, from 3–6 p.m.