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City wants development industry to start carrying its weight in cost of infrastructure

Proposed updated development charges bylaw calls for steep increase in costs for new buildings
20190121 development bylaw ts 1
Audrey Jacob speaks on behalf of several members of the local development industry at Guelph City Council on Monday. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday

The city wants developers to start paying their fair share when it comes to the cost of development.

At a special meeting Monday night, city staff laid out an updated development charges bylaw that is almost two years in the making.

Development charges are what is paid to the city by developers to help pay for growth-related infrastructure costs.

Monday night was an information and delegation meeting. Council voted to advance the proposed bylaw, with one significant change, to final debate and decision on Feb. 11.

The proposed update calls for increases of 17.35 per cent for residential buildings and 23.95 per cent for non-residential.

“These increases are required to pay for the increasing cost of growth,” said city treasurer Tara Baker. “That cost cannot all be on the backs of taxpayers.”

Developers currently pay development charges of between $12,551 for a one bedroom apartment up to $29,909 for a single, semi-detached house.

The tax-supported cost of growth over the next 10 years is estimated at $50 million, Baker said.

Delegate Susan Watson, who said she brought the “citizen’s perspective” to the process, told council that if developers don’t pick up more of the cost of growth, then taxpayers will. It’s either one or the other.

“There’s no tooth fairy that’s going to step in and pick up a fee for you,” Watson said.

She said citizens are not “ATMs with which to fund growth,” and that the city needs to look at whether it can afford the level of growth it is planning.

“I think we’re hitting a wall in what we can afford to fund,” Watson said.

City council voted down a recommendation that would have seen the University of Guelph lose its current 100 per cent exemption from paying development charges, which has cost the city an average of $200,000  year the past five years.

Staff was proposing a 25 per cent discount replace the total exemption.

Council voted 8-4 in continuing a full exemption (In favour; Cam Guthrie, Mark MacKinnon, Cathy Downer, Leanne Piper, Phil Allt, June Hofland and James Gordon, Dominique O'Rourke. Voting against: Bob Bell, Christine Billings, Rodrigo Goller, Mike Salisbury. Absent: Dan Gibson).

In lobbying for the exemption, U of G vice-president of finance Don O’Leary told council the school'sr contributions to the community overall “negate the need to impose development charges.”

O’Leary said the U of G currently gives a $1.6 million annual grant - $75 a student - to the city to help offset university-related costs.

He said the school is an “economic generator” for Guelph, its second largest employer that puts $780 million a year into the local economy.

Audrey Jacob, speaking on behalf of Silvercreek Developments, Guelph-Wellington Development Association and Guelph and District Homebuilders Association, said developers would like to see the proposed changes phased in over two years.

Her concern lay in developments already in the pipeline where current development charges have been factored in, not new ones.

“An uptake in development charges can render a project unfeasible,” Jacob said.

Guelph Chamber of Commerce Kithio Mwanzia, the “voice of business,” said keeping the city affordable is important in attracting top talent to its workforce.

Mwanzia cautioned increases in development charges would have a ripple effect on attracting that talent.

“No increase in cost of doing business in Guelph lives in isolation,” Mwanzia said.

Lin Grist called for the city to use development charges to help pay for affordable housing.

Ron East of the Council of Canadians called for the new bylaw to require new developments to include the appropriate connections for solar panels and electric vehicles.


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Tony Saxon

About the Author: Tony Saxon

Tony Saxon has had a rich and varied 30 year career as a journalist, an award winning correspondent, columnist, reporter, feature writer and photographer.
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