It might soon cost a little more to demolish a house in Richmond – unless its components are repurposed.
Richmond city council recommended that staff look at discouraging the disposal of building material from demolition sites by increasing fees – this was supported by all councillors at Monday’s council meeting except Coun. Alexa Loo.
Loo said she supported incentives to salvage building material and relocate houses, but many of the fees are “high enough,” and paying someone to enforce them will raise costs and add to unaffordability.
“I won’t support adding more bureaucracy to this system, I don’t think we need that,” Loo said. “I think what we need to do is try to be as careful as possible when we build future homes so that we have less waste ultimately and we build things to last.”
Coun. Harold Steves, however, said the fees should be as high as $10,000 and builders should be required to disassemble houses board by board.
“I don’t think (the fee increase) goes far enough,” he said.
“That’s not recycling, that’s waste,” he said, adding that “there should be a law that you either move the house or use portions of it to build a new house or disassemble it board by board so it can be used.”
Council also asked staff to look at how they could provide incentives for builders to salvage building material and relocate houses.
Richmond council first asked its staff to look at encouraging the relocation of existing homes and salvaging building materials in 2017 as part of the “House Move and Salvage Program.” In response, the application process was streamlined and information was disseminated to encourage the program.
Challenges, though, have cropped up related to the structural integrity of the buildings, transportation routes, obstructions like trees, rising costs of moving and renovations and a downturn in the construction of single-family houses. While whole house salvage might not be currently viable, a staff report notes that there is a market for items like fixtures, appliances, heaters and doors.
The amendments to the bylaw passed first reading at Monday's council meeting.
