In 2022, the Town of Collingwood saw its first-ever request from a developer for a minister’s zoning order come across their desk.
Moving into 2023, any future developers will have to pay for such a consideration.
During Monday’s (Dec. 5) strategic initiatives standing committee meeting, councillors were given new rate sheets for town user fees and charges that will go into effect as of Jan. 1. As part of that, a list of new town fees for developers have been added into the mix.
During Monday’s presentation, Director of Planning, Building and Economic Development Summer Valentine noted that a development process and fees review is currently underway for all of planning services, which is expected to be completed in 2023.
“It’s currently in the procurement phase, so we’ll be looking at planning, building, engineering and any other related development fees,” said Valentine in an interview with CollingwoodToday following the meeting.
Every year, as part of the budget process, Town of Collingwood staff review the current fees and charges and provide requested changes, additions or deletions to their fees. As part of the planning department’s review, it was noted that new provincial tools were adding to the cost of applications coming before the town’s planning department.
“We did notice there were a number of gaps, and we noted those gaps are primarily related to provincial tools that are either new or have been around for a while but the province is now using much more frequently,” said Valentine.
Examples of such tools include minister’s zoning order (MZO) requests and community infrastructure and housing accelerator (CIHA) requests, which will now each cost $16,230 starting in 2023.
An MZO is a provincial tool to fast-track a change of zoning on a piece of land with provincial authority bypassing the municipal zoning process. CIHA, which was passed by the province on April 14 as part of Bill 109 – The More Homes for Everyone Act, would replace the MZO process but be similar with an enhanced process and controls.
The town contemplated its first-ever MZO request with a private developer this year for the Poplar Regional Health and Wellness Village project.
For the town to process a block plan request or a phasing plan request will now cost a developer an application fee of $9,070 plus $500 per gross hectare, as well as a contingency deposit of $2,390. For an amendment to either plan, developers will have to pay $5,730.
“For those provincial processes...we didn’t have any fees. We wanted to cover off those gaps at this time,” said Valentine. “They will be reviewed more comprehensively through the wider review.”
According to Valentine, the fees will cover the additional staff time it takes to process such applications and include contingencies such as requesting legal advice, peer reviews and any third-party consulting that may be required to process the applications.
Overall, municipal departments across Ontario are all contemplating how new provincial policy changes, as well as work being undertaken at the municipal level are going to impact development in the coming years.
The provincial government has said the variety of new and amended pieces of legislation, including Bill 109, Bill 23 – The More Homes Built Faster Act, changes to the Provincial Policy Statement and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, have the shared intended goal of addressing the housing crisis by getting more housing built faster.
However, critics of the changes have argued the bills could result in less public consultation, fewer environmental protections and downloading of fees that were previously borne by developers to be passed on to the taxpayer.
“We’re seeing an unprecedented level of change on a number of fronts to the land-use planning system in Ontario primarily driven by the very laudable goal to combat the housing crisis,” said Valentine. “The question I’m grappling with as a professional land-use planner is, what are the unintended consequences of this rapid change?”
Valentine also notes at the municipal level that the town is currently working through creating an Affordable Housing Master Plan, and is working on an update to their own Official Plan.
“Taking all these things together, what do they mean as a complete package? There’s a lot going on and it’s challenging to fit all the pieces together. We’re working on a number of fronts to put the puzzle together,” said Valentine.
On Monday, Dec. 12 during council’s development and operations standing committee meeting, Valentine is expected to provide an update to council on the impacts of Bill 23 on Collingwood’s land-use planning.
“At this point in time, ourselves and many others across the province are grappling with widespread changes through Bill 23,” said Valentine. “This will cover off some of the anticipated cost implications related to some of the changes.”
The meeting will take place starting at 5 p.m. in council chambers at Collingwood Town Hall, and will be streamed live on YouTube.
