Thorold raises concerns over affordable housing task force proposals
Councils would have less say on new development
Councillors for the fast-growing municipality in Niagara had plenty to say when it came to a provincial task force’s report addressing housing affordability.
Released in February by the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force, the report was the subject of a special meeting of Thorold city council April 25.
“Developers will buy one or two properties in a single family neighbourhood and will tear down those particular buildings and build a six-, eight-, 10storey building,” said Coun. Fred Neale.
Construction in family neighbourhoods was just one of several concerns councillors had in response to the report, which includes a list of 55 recommendations the task force hopes will allow the province to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years in a bid to make buying a home a more attainable goal.
“The province has identified that the purpose of this is not only pertaining to affordable housing but to expedite the production of housing in general as well,” said Jason Simpson, Thorold’s chief building official.
One way the task force hopes to expedite the production of housing is by working to “depoliticize the process and cut red tape” by creating a streamlined planning process to remove much of the role a city council has in the approval of new developments.
Instead of all development proposals going through municipal councils to be approved, most would be looked at and signed off on by professionals in the municipality’s planning and development departments.
Councillors expressed concerns over the inability of the public to comment on proposed developments under the new recommendations, emphasizing people should have a say on what is built on their streets.
“We should be able to dictate in our plan where we want certain types of housing to occur, because that’s important to the community,” said Mayor Terry Ugulini. “And there are certain areas where intensification fits, and certain areas where it doesn’t fit and I think that’s where the municipality should be making those types of decisions.”
Another part of the task force’s proposal would give municipalities a deadline for how long they have to respond to developer proposals. If the city or town does not meet that deadline, they would then be required to refund all application fees to the developer.
“If we have 1,000 applications and another city has 100, then we can’t expect to get through all of those in the same time,” said Coun. Victoria Wilson.
Thorold, with a population of 23,816 according to 2021 census data, is the eighth-fastest growing municipality in the country, and the top of the list in the region.
As a way to help municipalities adequately respond to the number of development applications they receive, Wilson suggested a formula factoring in the growth of a city or town, current size of it, and the size of its planning department to determine how long an area has to respond to a developer.
Her recommendation, as well as the comments and concerns expressed by other councillors, was compiled into a letter of feedback to be sent to the task force in response to its report.
Some of the recommendations made in the report have been implemented by the provincial government through the passing of the Homes for Everyone Act on April 14.