Norfolk approves new development charges

Luke Edwards

Grant Haven Media

The cost developers pay to Norfolk County to build new homes will be going up, but not right away and with potential decreases each year when councillors review the budget.

After plenty of discussion and a few twists and turns, Norfolk councillors at the Sept. 22 council meeting ultimately approved the development charge background study and associated fees though with the annual review caveat.

Councillors struggled with the proposed increases to the development charges, which are intended to ensure infrastructure required by new growth isn’t foisted on the backs of existing taxpayers. It’s often described as making sure growth pays for growth. 

However, the study’s findings were met with opposition from both the development community and members of council. Zeroing in on the DCs for single - and semi-detached units in the urban area - councillors balked at the idea of the nearly doubling of costs to about $48,500 from the previous $25,709.

DC bylaws are heavily legislated by the Province and involve a complicated formula based on, among other things, projected population growth, capital projects that will be required as a result of that growth and how much of said projects are solely for the new residents and how much will benefit existing residents.

With the inflation surrounding construction related materials and equipment since the previous DC bylaw was enacted, councillors were prepared to see a significant increase. However, the extent of that increase had them uneasy.

“To add an inflationary increase, I understand that, I think there’s a need for that,” said Coun. Chris Van Paassen. “But the numbers we use have to be real and they have to be defensible.”

Members of the development community were also opposed to the increases. John Vallee spoke against them at the Sept. 22 meeting, and Sam Bunting also opposed the increases at the previous council-in-committee meeting. With a challenging market as is, they said such increases would only make it harder to get homes built. Staff did make some tweaks to slightly lower the DCs presented at the committee meeting and what was proposed at the Sept. 22 council meeting.

Van Paassen questioned the parks and rec portion of the study, specifically DC numbers for new rec facilities. Though not fully approved, a new arena and pool project has been discussed as part of the parks and rec master plan. Consultants and staff recommended including that within the DC bylaw to allow Norfolk to collect funds, if and when a new facility is built.

The disagreement centred largely on how much of a potential new facility is the result of growth and how much of it simply benefits existing residents.

“If we’re just replacing like for like I can’t see why that much is allocated (to DCs),” Van Paassen said.

Van Paassen tried to get an amendment passed that would effectively reduce the new DC costs on singles and semis by $10,000, roughly the impact of including a new arena/pool in the DC study.

Staff cautioned against such a move, as it would put in jeopardy potential future projects and also risk backsliding some of the progress the County has made in recent years becoming more financially sustainable. Any funding that doesn’t come from DCs would potentially need to be funded by property taxes.

“It’s prudent from a financial perspective to incorporate any of these projects in any study that we’re doing just to ensure that we have the appropriate funding source available when they do come to fruition,” said manager of revenue Rob Fleming.

Van Paassen’s amendment failed.

So too did Coun. Alan Duthie’s efforts. He took another stab at deferring a decision until the new term of council to give whoever is elected the opportunity to set the course. 

It left council with few options. 

Eventually, Duthie tabled a motion that approved the increases, though requires staff to provide an update each year. The idea is that as some of the projects, such as the arena/pool, get more accurately scoped out, the development charges required may decrease.

Provincial legislation allows for DCs to be reduced much more easily than increased.

The new charges won’t come in immediately. Council had previously approved delaying implementation until July 1, 2027. Some around the council table hoped the delay will convince developers to get moving on projects to take advantage of the existing costs before they rise.