City council approves fee proposal

City council has come to what the mayor calls a “landmark decision” on how growth will pay for growth in Regina.

All but one councillor voted in favour of the new phasing and financing plan Monday, laying to rest the restructuring of a complex framework for development that has been toiled away at since 2007.

The plan outlines when and where new development can occur. It also dictates how the cost of growth-related infrastructure will be split between developers and taxpayers.

Under this new model, developers pay entirely for projects that only benefit their area. They also pay fees that are dedicated to broader system improvements. Taxpayers, meanwhile, chip in for infrastructure that adds services to existing areas or addresses problems.

The new rates will grow to $451,000 per hectare by 2018, and taxpayers will pick up a $212-million tab for infrastructure over 25 years.

This agreement wasn’t arrived at easily. When city administration first came up with the plan, it was met with resistance from the development community and hesitation by council. Staff were sent back for more negotiations.

“You always want to have consensus if you can,” said Mayor Michael Fougere, calling it “unfair” to force the original plan on developers. “Finding common ground is, I think, fundamental to good public policy.” He got his wish — more or less. Although most of Regina’s development community was in attendance at council, only four spoke. Two, Dream Development and Rosewood Park Alliance Church, praised the plan.

The two other delegates were generally in favour of the plan, but took issue with a couple of points.

Chad Jedlic of Harvard Developments was concerned with new regulations that will require subdivisions to store wastewater during major storms.

He also wants to see the twinning of Dewdney Avenue between Pinkie Road and Courtney Street occur, which was accidentally left out of the 2016 capital budget. He called it a critical aspect for Harvard’s development there called Westerra.

“One of the necessary evils of this plan was the notion to defer transportation investment” in favour of water and wastewater projects, he said.

The mayor called these “tradeoffs” that were needed to tackle the most fundamental infrastructure first.

Meanwhile Mark Geiger, who owns Skywood Homes and Developments, was disappointed to see his property known as McCarthy North removed from the list of subdivisions that can proceed by 2018.

“I feel this is a little unfair,” he said. He disagreed with administration’s argument that restricting the number of developments proceeding at once will allow for fuller build-outs of the ones going ahead.

Coun. Jerry Flegel took up Geiger’s fight, saying he was concerned with stalled development in the northwest and that, “We should not be deciding where people want to live.”

He proposed an amendment to the plan that the subdivision be allowed to go ahead sooner, but received no support from his fellow councillors.

Flegel ultimately voted against the plan in its entirety.