Development charges in the Town of The Blue Mountains are going to be rising in 2024.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 16, council received a report from staff and consultants about ongoing work to update the town’s development charges background study and bylaw.
The town’s current study and bylaw expire on April 24, 2024 and the town must have a new study and bylaw in place by that date.
Craig Binning of Hemson Consulting made a presentation to council about the project to update the town’s development charges regime. Across the province, development charges have been in a state of flux as the Ford government made significant changes to the rules that govern development charges.
The bottom line in The Blue Mountains: development charges will be going up this year.
Binning said the regular fee for a single detached home is set to rise to $37,735 from $24,047. The commercial charge is set to rise to $134.92 per square metre from $85.70 per square metre.
“That’s a sharp increase over the current charge,” said Binning. “We’re seeing comparable sizes of increase in municipalities across the province.”
New provincial rules would require the town to phase-in the increases over five years (20 per cent per year).
The Blue Mountains has a complex development charges regime across the community that depend on the services available. Development charges are paid to the municipality at the time a building permit is issued for a project. The money is placed in specific reserve funds that are used to fund growth related infrastructure improvements and upgrades.
The fees are calculated using a complicated formula that forecasts future growth in the community and how that growth will impact services levels and municipal facilities.
Specific development charges in The Blue Mountains, depend on the location of a project. The town has 11 area-specific development charges - Craigleith, Castle Glen, Osler, Thornbury East, Thornbury West, Clarksburg, Lora Bay service area 1, Lora Bay service area 2, Lora Bay service area 3, Camperdown and Swiss Meadows - in its bylaw. The proposed charges for these areas can be found in Binning’s report here. They range from a low of $37,735 in Swiss Meadows to a high of $136,982 in Osler.
Binning told council the provincial changes have created a lot of uncertainty in the development charges world.
“This is a challenging time to do development charges studies because of the changes by the provincial government,” said Binning. “Development charges are a critical funding tool for development-related infrastructure.”
Recent government changes include: removing background studies as eligible expenses, implementing discounts/exemptions for affordable/attainable housing, mandating a five-year phase-in of increases and allowing a development charges bylaw to last a maximum of 10 years (the current maximum is five years).
Binning said there have been recent indications that the province may be considering a reversal of some of the changes, but nothing has been decided at this time.
Council unanimously approved releasing the updated development charges background study and bylaw to the public by Feb. 2 for public comments. A full public meeting on the topic will be held in March. The new bylaw and study will be approved by council in April.
