Norwich lowering development charges on industrial and commercial

Luke Edwards, Post Contributor

It’s going to be a little less expensive to build commercial and industrial development in Norwich Township.

Councillors voted to reduce development charges on those two sectors by 35 per cent at the May 26 meeting. The decision came after councillors requested a staff report on the current DC bylaw, which was approved in 2024. Since that time councillors have come to worry that the charges for non-residential, set at $33.38 per square metre, is stifling potential industrial and commercial growth.

CAO Matt Smith told councillors that development charges are an incredibly complex area with provincial rules in place on what municipalities can and can’t do.

“(It’s) a phenomenally complicated piece of legislation,” he said.

Still, his report offered several options, ranging from doing nothing to offering exemptions, to reducing charges by a set percentage. Some changes, namely increasing the charges, could have resulted in a lengthy background study and public consultation process.

Councillors quickly gravitated around two options, to either reduce by a set percentage or create an upper limit.

Coun. Adrian Couwenberg wanted to see an aggressive reduction, as a way to make Norwich more appealing to businesses.

“I don’t want to scare them away, especially when we have neighbouring municipalities at a lower or reduced or zero rate of development charges,” he said, adding new and expanded business increases the tax base and helps the bottom line.

“If we don’t get the businesses, we don’t get the development charges.”

But others pushed for a more modest approach.

“I feel like we’re sort of swinging from one extreme to the other, possibly,” said Coun. Karl Toews. He also pointed out that should they take an aggressive approach and later decide they need to raise DCs, they may be forced to go through the lengthy background study process.

In the end, councillors supported a 35 per cent reduction for both commercial and industrial. That brings the costs to $21.70 per square metre.

Total DCs paid include a portion to Norwich and a portion to Oxford County. The changes by Norwich don’t affect Oxford’s DCs.

DCs are meant to ensure development pays for any infrastructure required by the development. For Norwich, they cover: services related to a highway, fire services, parks and recreation services and growth-related studies.

Mayor Jim Palmer warned councillors any reduction could end up costing the general taxpayer.

“Any development dollar that’s not raised will have to be raised through taxes,” he said.

Couwenberg countered by saying an increased tax base with more businesses could offset those potential tax increases.