Region to revisit development charges
Regional council still hasn’t put Niagara Region’s new development charges bylaw to rest.
Council held a special meeting before their regular meeting of council Thursday, when they debated and amended the bylaw for two hours before finally pulling the plug and referred the bylaw back to the Region’s corporate services committee on Oct. 18.
Council passed the new development charges bylaw on July 20.
Communities in south Niagara immediately launched an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Jason Burgess, the Region’s acting commissioner of enterprise resource management services, said the public meeting offered a chance to add clarity to the original document and improve it.
Welland Mayor Frank Campion, a critic of the new bylaw, asked Burgess if the Region’s efforts to revisit the bylaw were an attempt to address issues uncovered when Welland launched its appeal.
Burgess said he would answer that question in closed session, but later in the meeting, Sterling Wood, the Region’s lawyer, admitted some of the changes were indeed in response to Welland’s appeal.
Gary Long, CAO of the City of Welland, addressed the meeting and said the bylaw would have a negative impact on development in Niagara “just as we are taking off.”
“We believe the long-term growth of our city is at stake,” he said.
He said the new provisions are too complex and will lead to indecision among investors. He wanted the old bylaw left in place or the process re-opened for more input.
Niagara Falls Coun. Selena Volpatti spoke in favour of the new bylaw. She said if developers don’t pay for the growth, it will fall on residents to pay for development, and that’s not fair.
“Our philosophy has always been growth should pay for growth.”
She said the new bylaw accomplishes that goal.
Campion said the new bylaw was a bad piece of legislation.
“It sends the wrong message to the development community. It will stifle or stymie to a degree development … We are putting BandAids on a flawed process.”
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said one of the problems with the new bylaw is the scale of increases in rates.
“There are numbers like 50 per cent and 200 per cent. They are hefty.”
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said his city doesn’t have development charges.
“We weren’t growing six or seven years ago. We are on the cusp of substantial growth, and we are going to jack up the rates on people who are attracted to Niagara?”
Sendzik said the Region should hold off on the new rates for five more years, and give the development community ample notice the charges will increase.
By the end of the public meeting, there was enough support halt the process and council sent it back to the committee level by a vote of 15 to 10.
The Region spent months developing and debating the passed bylaw over the winter and spring. There was opposition from some members of regional council.
Burgess told council he had heard from several developers after the bylaw was approved and it could be changed to address their concerns.
Provincial legislation mandates the Region update its development charges bylaw every five years.
Regional studies show that Niagara needs to collect about $50 million in development charges annually to build infrastructure projects to support Niagara’s growth — about twice the amount currently collected.
Development charges fund new infrastructure such as trunk sewers, improvements to roadways, police stations, libraries or whatever local government decides it needs to service the development.
Developers pass the cost on to consumers who are buying their homes.