NEWS RELEASE TOWNSHIP OF CENTRE WELLINGTON
CENTRE WELLINGTON – As part of Council Orientation, staff updated council on the anticipated impacts associated with Bill 23, More Homes Build Faster Act which was passed by the Provincial government on Monday, November 28, 2022. While staff have submitted concerns specific to the Township of Centre Wellington, Mayor Watters and members of Council wish to express official opposition to the Bill, voicing deep concerns.
“The timing of this legislation is quite concerning,” said Mayor Watters. “We are a team of newly elected council members who are embracing the transition into our new roles and inheritance of responsibilities. To have legislation of this magnitude get pushed through very quickly without fully understanding the impacts on municipalities, is quite disappointing. There will be negative impacts on limiting tools for conservation of heritage resources, removing mechanisms that promote good design, and transfers the financial responsibilities of growth from developers to the township, making growth related costs the responsibility of the taxpayer.”
Development charges are designed to help municipalities pay for a portion of the capital infrastructure required to support new growth. Premised on the widely accepted township strategy that growth should pay for growth, development charges help to ensure that existing taxpayers are not required to subsidize costs of the infrastructure or services needed to support new residents and businesses.
Other significant impacts that Bill 23 will have on the Township include:
- Removing growth related studies from development charge funding eligibility will delay the construction of growth-related infrastructure needed to expand the supply of serviced land for development and redevelopment.
- Under the approved legislation, Ontario would reduce development charges by up to 25 per cent for family-sized rental units and eliminate development charges for affordable housing, non-profit housing and “inclusionary zoning units.”
- If the new exemptions apply to future development projects in the Township, a reduction in development charge revenue will result, which will impact the township’s ability to fund growth related municipal services.
- The requirement for a municipal agreement to ensure affordability is a new service that will result in administrative cost to the Township, which would need to be recovered by other revenue sources such as development application fees or property taxation.
- The exclusion of land from eligible development charge costs will impact the ability to fund municipal operations needed to accommodate growth, including emergency services such as Fire and Rescue. Anticipated township growth necessitates the need for a new Fire Hall, for which land acquisition is anticipated.
- The proposed reduction of safe and accessible parkland in favour of an increase to the mix of housing supply will ultimately result in a financial burden on current taxpayers to purchase new parkland for new residents.
- There is a threat to heritage properties, due to removing the listed properties from the heritage register leaving them with no heritage status or protection.
- Elimination of appeal rights for the public on Planning Act applications and reduction in overall public consultation and involvement.
Centre Wellington understands the housing supply crisis all Ontarians are facing. Our rental housing vacancy rate is less than 1%. The Township has responded by implementing as of right permissions for apartment units to be constructed along our arterial roads, by initiating a review of our Community Improvement Plan to provide incentives for new rental housing supply, and by recommending the adoption of a Community Planning Permit System (CPPS) to streamline the planning approvals process. We have approximately 2,400 residential units waiting to be built in registered and draft approved plans of subdivision.
The Township is of the opinion that the legislative changes proposed by Bill 23 will result in significant funding challenges for municipalities, and that these challenges will have the effect of inhibiting, rather than enhancing the supply of new housing and encourage the government to reconsider several of the proposed amendments to Bill 23.
Learn more about Bill 109, More homes for Everyone Act, 2022
Learn more about Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022
