Q&A Responses Issue project 2

Hi there,Thanks for your message regarding insurance rates for home-based businesses. There are many factors to consider when starting a business, including zoning, health, and building code requirements, insurance rates, etc. At this point the City is contemplating changes to zoning regulations, which are within the City ;s jurisdiction, that will support both commercial and home-based businesses. As insurance rates are outside the City's jurisdiction to regulate, we cannot control them. Our intent behind these proposed changes is to provide broader development and business opportunities in residential areas from a zoning perspective.& ;Zoning Bylaw Review and Update Project TeamNovember 8, 2020, follow up question from Marion: My question pertaining to increased insurance rates, and an assumed increase in risk/liability, begs the question: has the city done due diligence on its own liability. For example if someone is visiting a home based business on a location newly zoned for this purpose, and they are injured while entering because of inadequate snow clearing, ice on the roads, or lack of sidewalks, is the city liable? As you know snow clearing in Kamloops is prioritized. Downtown business areas are often cleared several times before outlying areas that are not main thoroughfares are cleared.There are also cases when city utilities fail and cause damage to a home. Causing damage to a home and a home based business could increase the city’s liability. If so, I don’t know what mechanism can be put in place to charge home based business a higher property tax rate in order to offset additional potential costs.MarionNovember 16, 2020, follow up answer from the City:Hi Marion,Thanks for your question and sorry for the delay in answering. It is challenging to say definitively how our proposed changes to home-based business regulations will impact the City’s liability as insurance claims are dealt with on a case-by case basis. Should an incident or loss occur and the City of Kamloops becomes involved, the City, along with our insurer, would investigate all the circumstances of the loss and determine whether or not there was any negligence involving the City.In general, the City of Kamloops will be responsible for their legal duties and the home-based business will be responsible for theirs. We encourage home-based business operators to discuss their insurance needs with a professional insurance broker. Their broker would give them the information they need for their liability and property protection.With respect to property taxes for residential vs. home-based business use, properties with home-based businesses pay more property taxes if the property is deemed by BC assessment to be a split Class property (Residential/Business). In 2020, the Residential (Class 1) municipal rate was 4.74 per $1000 of assessed value and the Business (Class 6) rate was 12.91 per $1,000 of assessed value.BC Assessment gives direction that if a property is primarily residential in nature it will be classified as Residential. The general rule is that only those with substantial high visibility home-based businesses (which would include businesses such as home-based hair salons proposed to be allowed in our new zoning bylaw) would be split-classified. Please consult BC Assessment’s Home-Based Business (Live-Work) Properties Policy for more information:https://info.bcassessment.ca/services-and-products/APPs/Home-Based-Business-Live-Work-Policy.pdf–Zoning Bylaw Review and Update Project Team