The residents of South Bruce could find themselves on the hook for some significant infrastructure spending depending on how South Bruce Council decides to handle development charges.
During council’s May 27 meeting, the question of implementing development charges was once again in front of council, though this time there was some immediacy to it – council could have implemented the charges as presented by motion that night. Council, however, after hearing from local developers, decided to seek more research regarding the issue.
Ignoring the fact that a significant amount of that feedback was erroneously asking about affordable house building costs versus sale costs (erroneously as the Development Charges Act clearly refers to the “purchase price” of the unit, not the building cost or the land or any separate part), much of the feedback was bringing to council’s attention that the developers were concerned about the additional expenses.
The additional one to three per cent increase on a new house sold for $500,000 (as reported by a consultant), which represented the most that council could charge, depending on the area, might be too much for the developers or the market, if you listened to the feedback.
What (most) of the developers present didn’t address, however, was the fact that, if council doesn’t implement full and immediate development charges, it will fall to the taxpayers to prop up these developers’ businesses.
Development charges are meant to combat a significant issue: the fact that people building and buying new houses are benefitting from the infrastructure paid for by existing ratepayers. Water, wastewater, roads and other municipal capital projects are typically scaled for what’s needed in the area, so when what’s needed grows, without development charges, everyone must pay for those expansions that are enjoyed primarily by the developers and owners of these new houses.
Normally, this isn’t such a big issue. In my hometown of Blyth, you could be thinking there was a lot of development with the handful of detached and semi-detached homes that have been erected over the past few years. However, South Bruce has a significant amount of development approved or proposed at this point according to a presentation later that evening. Hundreds of units are being considered, and that could put a strain on the local water and wastewater systems.
As a matter of fact, there are nearly 1,200 units either committed or proposed in South Bruce, which almost covers what is necessary for the 48% growth estimated for South Bruce according to presentations later in the meeting.
Without development charges, however, that means that existing ratepayers will be on the hook, through increased taxes, for the increase in infrastructure necessary for those builds.
I’m not saying development charges are the way to go. Given the situation, however, if council does what some of the developers were obviously pushing for by outlining all the expenses related to development, existing taxpayers are going to have to field some or all of that shortfall for infrastructure to allow developers to build and sell up to 1,200 houses, and most of those taxpayers will never step foot in those houses.
It’s a tough choice, and council needs to make it. To make sure the right decision is made, everyone needs to make their voices heard, not just the developers.
