Norwich passes on Development Charge Reduction

Luke Edwards, Post Contributor

Seeing no viable projects in the queue, Norwich township won’t be in the running for the recently announced Development Charge Reduction Program.

In an update to council, staff said there were few options for the township to pursue. And those that potentially existed wouldn’t make financial sense. As a result, they recommended taking a pass on the latest provincial effort to get more housing built.

Municipalities had a quick turnaround to get applications for the $8.8 billion fund submitted by the June 19 deadline after it was announced at the beginning of the month. The fund seeks to have municipalities reduce residential development charges by as much as 50 per cent for at least three years, and in exchange receive provincial money to pay for projects that would otherwise receive some DC funding.

“This report is giving you as much information as we have available, which is not a huge amount, I will say,” said CAO Matt Smith.

Staff identified one project in the development charges background study that could fit the province’s requirements. However, the estimated $100,000 price tag for a new fire command vehicle wouldn’t be worth the loss of DC revenue, as it would take only 17 homes built in the next three years for the township to have a net loss, Smith said. Additionally, he wasn’t even convinced the project would be approved by the province.

Oxford County does plan to submit an application for the program, though Norwich Mayor Jim Palmer said they aren’t terribly optimistic about their chances either.

“They (Oxford) were able to bundle a group of projects together to get an acceptable amount of money but even they did not think their chances were particularly good,” he said, adding the program seems set up for larger municipalities like Hamilton, Toronto or Ottawa.