‘It isn’t something we want to be leading the pack in’
Pelham’s development charges poised to become highest in Niagara
As municipalities conduct studies to determine updated development charges after “dramatic legislative changes” by the provincial government, Pelham town councillors heard proposed changes that would see future residents pay for new development and — at least for now — put the town near the top of the regional pack.
During a public meeting last week, consultant Bryon Tan of Watson and Associates presented the firm’s completed development charges study for review and to receive public input on the proposed policies and changes.
Tan said the process began in September 2002, working with the town to calculate development charges through areas such as growth, services required to accommodate growth, capital costs and other areas.
In his presentation, Tan laid out the provincial changes — specifically Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act and Bill 134, Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act — and its impact on the town.
Development charges are a revenue tool to recover capital costs associated with residential and nonresidential growth. In Pelham, that includes fire services, roads, public works, parks and recreation, water and wastewater.
The proposed development charges would see an increase in both residential and non-residential charges. A fully serviced residential unit (with water and wastewater services) is looking at a charge of $37,707, compared with the current charge of $29,240.
Outside the serviced area, the development charge would be $29,061, up from $23,555.
For a non-residential building, costs increased to $17.23 from $13.47 per square foot.
As part of the proposal, Tan said developers will get a 20 per cent reduction on charges if they begin building within one year of having an application approved.
For a residential unit, the development charge would increase by $900, and non-residential charges would rise slightly by $0.31 per square foot.
If passed, Pelham would have the highest development charges in Niagara. Lincoln’s numbers are higher, but remain pending.
Ward 1 Coun. Kevin Ker said for years Pelham had difficulty with developers getting zoning changes and “sitting on them for prolonged periods of time.” This change to the bylaw may be an “incentive to move
them along.”
“We’re all under severe duress relative to building and growth and we recognize the town of Pelham is a place that has a significant amount of developments that have just sat for a large number of years, which is very disappointing,” he said.
“This development charge approach is a positive one.”
Local developer Stephen Kaiser joined the meeting virtually to express his concerns, identifying specific costs due to growth as problematic — new roads, and parks and recreation dollars — and questioned affordability. He said the costs in Pelham are “five times” more than development costs in Welland.
The City of Welland is reviewing currently its own development charges.
In response, Ker said comparing the two municipalities is “a little bit apples and oranges.” He said there are a number of roads being impacted by new developments that were never designed for the increase in vehicular traffic.
“Putting that burden on the existing person who lives on that road to say, ‘Well, I have to pay for all the new roads going in front of my house so people can get in a brand new subdivision’ is a little bit working backwards,” said Ker. “I agree that it’s a challenge, but asking existing ratepayers to suddenly bare a significant portion of development is not in my interest.”
Ward 3 Couns. Bob Hildebrandt and Shellee Niznik also agreed new developments should pay for the associated costs of those new developments.
Mayor Marvin Junkin said he would not support the increase, that it is “too high” and said “it isn’t something we want to be leading the pack in.”
Kaiser also expressed shock to see a new charges bylaw on the March 6 council agenda, adding there has been “zero consultation with the industry, zero front-end consultation as far as I understand, and a matter of weeks to figure out what the end bylaw will look like.”
Corporate services director Teresa Quinlin-Murphy said the town’s study and process is in compliance with legislative requirements. She said the study has been out for 60 days and “opportunity was there for developers to come forth earlier.”
Chief administrative officer David Cribbs said while there has been less industry meetings than in previous years, the study is “fair.” Council, as well as the previous council, has looked at development charges on multiple occasions as the province conducted “four dramatic legislative changes” with limited consultation.
He said it is up to council to determine whether “it is, or is not, problematic.”
“Where do you want to position Pelham and who should pay for growth. Those are the question to be asked,” said Cribbs. “We are ahead of the curve as we have been on that last number of years ... I think it would be uncommon or bizarre for Pelham to have development charges that are in the lowest half of Niagara.”
Ward 2 Coun. Brian Eckhardt said while he is not against the charge increase, and agrees it should be developers’ responsibility to pay costs associated with construction, he would put forward a motion to defer at the March meeting.