All right. I'd like to call the Bruce County Council
meeting for September 7 to order. And we'll begin with
a declaration of Pecaria interest. Hearing? None. Move on to
the confirmation of Council minutes. Look for a mover in
a seconder. Councilor sharboneau Councilor Craig that the minutes of
the August 3, 2023 Council meeting be approved as circulated.
All those in favor. That's carried. We have communications there.
From Minister Thompson, Increasing Debt Stock Capacity Initiative and Ministry
of Infrastructure red tape reduction for broadband. We'll move to
Item six, and we'll begin with our delegations. We'll start
off with delegation. A. We'll welcome the Director of Policy
and Partnerships from the Nuclear Innovation Institute. Chad Richards. Welcome
to the Meeting. Chad. Am I on now? There we
go. Now. We're good. Well, thank you very much, warden
and Council members of the public. It's great to be
here today and give a bit of an update on
some of the work that we're doing at the Nuclear
Innovation Institute through the Clean Energy Frontier Program. And so
before I get into some of the specific work that
we would like to talk to you about today, just
to kind of set the stage. And talk about the
program. Itself, the Clean Energy Frontier Program is a public
private partnership between Bruce Power and Bruce County that is
hosted at the Nuclear Innovation Institute and now falls under
My purview as the Director of policy and Partnerships at
the nii. The Clean Energy Frontier Program is really meant.
To amplify and highlight the economic benefits that we receive
as a region due to the significant nuclear and clean
energy sector that we have across. The regions of Bruce,
Gray and here on counties, we work with Gray and
huron kind of to take this regional collaborative approach to
economic development to amplifying again those economic benefits of the
clean energy sector and to tackle common challenges as we
move forward with really supporting the clean energy sector here
in the region. Some of the ways that vision becomes
practical work that we do. We make a number of
resources available to you as county councilors and. To elected
officials across the region. One of those that we did
recently was our economic impact report. Really looking at again,
what does the economic impact of large scale nuclear operations
and the clean energy sector in the region look like?
What does that mean for local businesses. That operate here
in the region. And what does that mean for you,
as a municipal government. And the tax implications of those
operations here in the region. Now. We're not working. If
we can just advance the slides one the clicker doesn't
seem to be working. There we go. We also recently
made a plain language toolkit available to local elected officials
from across the region. Really, what this plain language toolkit
was meant to do is provide elected officials with the
ability to talk about these really complex topics in simple
ways. So really giving elected officials the information that you
need to communicate effectively. About topics like isotopes, about nuclear
waste, about energy storage. How do we communicate about those
really complex things in a really effective way? And I
would just like to take a quick moment to highlight.
I really appreciated the support that the Clean Energy Frontier
Program had from members of County Council. At the most
recent amo Conference, we were able to participate in a
sponsored break. Breakfast at amo and highlight all the success
that we're seeing because of the program here. To municipalities
from across Ontario and really appreciated all the support that
we received from county councilors that attended that the reason
that I'm here today is to provide an update on
a study that we recently did through the Clean Energy
Program called the Nuclear Sector Sustainability and Growth Study. And
what this study was was really an opportunity for us
to go out, communicate. With. Senior business executives in the
nuclear sector. And talk to those suppliers. Those key suppliers.
About challenges, opportunities, threats, what's on the horizon for them,
as we move forward, as the kind of clean energy
sector moves forward here. And the mcr major component replacement
project at Bruce Power continues, as well as some of
these new topics that are on the horizon. So really
an opportunity to connect again right in with that supplier
base and learn about some of those key. Things that
they found. And we wanted to share some of those
findings with you today to really again, just provide that
information to you. And I'm happy to communicate with members
of Council afterwards, if there are specific topics that we'd
like to dig out a little bit deeper in. But
some of the key things at the highest level. When
we communicated with the supplier base here in the region,
the key themes that emerge from those interviews were. That
really the regional energy sector requires some vision and some
planning. That there is a significant competition for workforce across
the supplier base here in the region. Positively that the
sector is poised to thrive in this net zero environment
and really tackling meeting those climate change challenges that we're
all seeing across the provincial and federal governments. And that
Indigenous suppliers and relationships within our Indigenous communities is a
top priority for our supplier base. And now my clicker
stopped working. There we go. And that collective advocacy is
also a priority or an opportunity area that the suppliers
see here in the region. So kind of drilling a
little bit deeper into what each of these mean, really
with regional sector vision and planning. We're talking about ensuring
that we advocate for ourselves collectively as a region, that
we're tackling challenges collectively and that we don't take this
kind of siloed approach to growth here in the region.
Suppliers talked about the need for open dialogue around housing
and ensuring that those municipal services are there for their
employee base here in the region and again working as
a region rather than. On a siloed basis, and that
we continue to collaborate with respect to competition for workforce
suppliers. Were very clear that this was the top challenge
that they're facing. There is immense competition for talent locally
and oftentimes suppliers are finding that they're required to bring
some specialized skill sets up. From other urban centers or
even internationally. And that comes with challenges around spousal employment,
ensuring that spouses of those employees can find employment here
outside of the nuclear sector, if that is the case
for those suppliers. So really, I know that workforce is
really a top of mind issue across the board for
every sector. But again, just kind of underscoring that remains
a significant challenge here. For nuclear suppliers operating in the
region. Again positive on a positive, really positive note. And
I think we saw this over the summer. Suppliers were
very optimistic about. The opportunity for the sector to continue
to grow, that there are significant business development opportunities here
locally, with respect to the nuclear sector and even beyond
that, branching out into other clean energy sectors here in
the region. They also talked about the importance of public
awareness and support from governments like yourselves and how critical
that is to the growth of the community. I think
we saw that quite clearly, particularly from this County Council,
with respect to some of the submissions that the County
Council made with respect to the iso's pathways to decarbonization
report and all of those topics. That the County Council
has been quite supportive of in the past, and suppliers
recognize that they see that and appreciate that and really
see it as key to growth going forward. And suppliers
also talked about again, the need to continue to really
come together and tackle challenges by networking, more trade shows,
more. And really tackling that workforce challenge together. If we.
Hope to achieve the success that they envision is on
the horizon. Again, another key challenge, Indigenous suppliers and relationships.
So a suppliers really put this front and center as
a topic that was important to them. They expressed interest
in working with those Indigenous suppliers that have sprung up
here in the region. We're quite blessed that we have
seen. Indigenous owned businesses come. To fruition to support the
nuclear sector like Makwakal makwa Development those corporations. So there
was a keen interest from suppliers to work directly with.
Those Indigenous owned suppliers moving forward and to continue to
support healthy relationships with our Indigenous communities here in the
region. And finally again on those key themes, that collective
advocacy, which I think is a really great platform. For
the Clean Energy Frontier Program and really connects to I
think some of the things that the county is looking
to do with that collective advocacy for the region and
really putting an emphasis on telling our story at different
levels of government. The suppliers also see a need for
that. As a really important way to continue growth in
the region here. One thing that was really neat. Suppliers
were also asked to provide some insights into what business
is like, what doing business is like here in the
region. I won't read through all of these, but suppliers
identify these as the significant regional advantages here. Lifestyle, obviously
being one that's really great. And you can read through
these at your leisure. But these were really again highlighted
as the significant advantages that suppliers saw to doing business
here. That said they were also asked if they could
change one thing about the business environment. In the region,
what would it be? And these were. The three themes
that emerged from asking suppliers that question. There was the
need for planning for the future again, that workforce challenge
that we're seeing across the board and support for business
development. So I'll dig a little bit deeper into those
planning for the future. Was somewhat of a specific call
to the municipal governments that operate here in the region.
Improved infrastructure, so ensuring that we can have the same
amenities as larger centers and really ensuring the same level
of service was identified. Suppliers as. A significant challenge or
one thing that they would change with respect to the
business environment here on Cell Service. If you've lived in
Port elgin over the last month and you're a Bell
customer, I think. That would be clear. The other thing,
the supplier saw showcasing the region as a center of
excellence, which, I think again is a really strong point
for the Clean Energy Frontier Program. That's something that we
do day in and day out. By planning for the
future for more industrial space. And we're seeing that in
municipalities across the region, I know industrial parks are springing
up. In all kinds of municipalities across Bruce County, and
that's really great to see. I think that's something that
suppliers welcome significantly and obviously just to kind of again
more on the public amenities as well. We talked a
lot about workforce again, highlighted as one of the significant
things that they would change about the business environment. And
suppliers are really looking to leverage local programs. And institutions
that we have here in the region, like georgian College,
like different advanced training centers that we can leverage and
really just ensuring that we are able to offer become
an attractive place for workforce attraction and retention. And then
finally on business development support. So really looking, this was
more geared at. Some eppers power really looking at again,
leveraging those relationships with Indigenous communities, ensuring that we can
build those positive relationships, more networking opportunities, which is something
that nii sees. And we can be a platform for
providing that and then kind of at the municipal level,
ensuring that. There are incentives for increased investment in the
region and incentives to continue. And continue an expanding business
here in the region. So I'll wrap up. I know
that was a lot of information all at you once.
This was meant to be an opportunity to provide you
Council with this information. And we're happy to I'm happy
to take questions following this. And I'm also happy to
communicate with counselors one on one. If there's any particular
pieces in here that you see. As digging a little
bit deeper. Digging deeper into. To wrap up some of
the things that we will continue to do. We'll obviously
continue to work with our municipal partners. We regularly, through
the Clean Energy Frontier Program, hold quarterly meetings with economic
development staff to ensure, again, these messages are reaching the
right people at a staff level, and that action can
be taken at that level. We'll continue to coordinate all
of that stuff through the Clean Energy Frontier Program and
happy to continue to be a resource for County Council
as you move forward. So finally, we'll also continue to
build awareness. I think that's one thing that emerged through
our interviews with suppliers is oftentimes they weren't necessarily aware
of some of the great things that municipalities are doing
on these key topics. And we'll continue to take that
message back to them as well. So with that, warden,
thank you very much for your time. And I'm happy
to take any questions, questions from Council. No. Okay. Hearing
none. Thank you very much, Chad. Excellent. Thanks so much.
All Right, our next presenter will be. Virtual. And there
she is. So welcome. From the Western Ontario wardens Caucus,
Kate Gallagher, to our meeting. And she's going to give
us an update on the advocacy. That the wardens caucus
does, and the staff does. And I'm new to the
warden's caucus. And I've been welcomed there. It's a great
group. And I'm very impressed with what. A strong advocacy
group. They are. They put together a lot of position
papers on some very important issues. For all of the
counties in southwestern Ontario. So let's hear what they're up
to. Welcome to the meeting, Kate. Thank you, Warren peabody,
through you to County Council. It's a pleasure to join
you all today to give you an update on who
the Western terrier warrens Caucus is and the work that
we do. And a little bit about what we did
at amo just a few weeks ago. So next, Slide,
please. My name is Kate Gallagher, and I'm the executive
director of the Western Ontario warden's Caucus. And who is
the wwc or wow C. As we say, we are
the 16 upper and single tier municipalities in Western Ontario.
And you may see 15 highlighted in the map, but
just east of Norfolk County is haldeman county and they're
trying us on for size this year and we are
hopeful that they will join us. In complete southwestern Ontario.
In membership. This year, we represent 300 communities, more than
one and a half million residents, which equals 20% of
the population of the province half million square kilometers. And
really the glue that binds our region together. And I
can't say this enough is that we are 90% rural.
Our region is rural. We have some urban centers. But
what really binds the Western Tier warren's Caucus together is
our rural roots. Next, slide, please. So what is the
purpose of the warren's Caucus caucus? Well, we are that
great big region with 20% of the population. And so
when we speak with one voice, we have 16 heads
of Council speaking together on, like issues. There is political
power in that. And so when we go to the
province and the. Federal Government. We have that one voice.
We work together to find. Issues that are relevant to
the entire region, that aren't just issues for an individual
county or community, but to the entire region. So we
look at those big issues that affect all 16 counties.
And we try and implement positive change in the region.
Next slide. Thank you. And how do we do this?
Well, we do this with an amazing team. Through our
membership. So we have the caucus, which is represented with
the elected officials. So Warren peabody has joined us this
year, and we are so thrilled to have him around
the caucus table. And we are supported by a great
team of caos. So that's your cao Derek, who has
been an invaluable resource and a great staff team. I
am a full time executive director. We have a part
time manager of government relations, Justin bromberg, and a part
time administrative coordinator, Charlotte Gravloff. And we are fed information
from our subject matter experts. And that helps develop and
flush out our advocacy work and really give us the
data and information we need to make an impact. At
the upper levels of government. So our Economic Development Committee
is comprised of elected officials, economic development professionals, and Ministry
and stakeholder representatives, and then our subject matter expert groups.
Are the 15. Individuals. From. These different departments. So for
planning, you have Claire dods, from Bruce County, who. Is
just simply amazing. We couldn't do our work without her
social services. I cannot say enough about Christine McDonald. We
wouldn't be where we are with our work on mental
health, addictions and homelessness. Without Christine and her invaluable knowledge.
Communications. We have Adam Ferguson, who has been fantastic, and
we always appreciate all of the communications he provides us.
And likewise, sharing our information. And then on economic development.
There's Jeff loney and Pierre valet, who have been incredible.
And we also partner quite closely on government relations with
the government relations work that you're doing at Bruce County
as well. Next, slide. So when it comes to advocacy,
how do we do what we do? We meet with
ministers at amo and roma and really key to our
work is we meet with the deputy ministers and Assistant
deputy ministers before and after and in between those conferences.
That's where a lot of our work and our advocacy
gets done. We also meet with Ministerial staff. And a
key to our success was prior to launching our strategic
Priorities. This year. In April, we got together. All the
MPs and mpps from the region. And showcased their strategic
priorities to them before any meeting released before any launch,
so that our partners at both Queens Park and Parliament.
Hill knew our strategy, strategic priorities before anyone else, so
that they could also take those to Queens Park and
Parliament Hill for us. And. Okay. I'm stumbling on my
word. There. Are other elected officials could also sing from
the same song book when it comes to advocacy. We
also monitor government legislation. So. We're constantly having pre budget
submissions and submissions. As the warda mentioned. And we can
do it without amazing partnerships with Swift amo scm in
Eastern Ontario. One's caucus next, slide. So what did we
go to amo to talk about? I'm sure it's not
a surprise to anyone, but we want to talk about
housing. In Bruce County, you have an amazing housing strategy
and work that you've been doing. And that has informed
a lot of the work that we've been looking at
as well. One of our asks that we approach the
province with was how you're going to keep municipalities whole
without those development charges? What does that look like. As
a whole for us. They did announce the bff that
Building Faster fund. And 10% of that has been reserved
for rural communities. However, we represent 20% of the population.
So. There needs to be some work on that bff.
And Secondly, those 29 fastest growing municipalities were identified to
have numbered targets. And in June, 3 of our municipalities,
Chad and Kent, Norfolk, and haldeman, were asked to provide
their numbers for targets for housing. So. We've asked at
amo what is the province expecting of US upper tier
municipalities, as far as targets? And how can we contribute?
So that's what we asked at ammo. And we are
waiting with beta breadth the answers on those questions. Next,
slide. And you can't have housing without workforces and as
Chad alluded to. The nuclear industry looking for workforce and
all of our industries across the region, looking for workforce.
And so we've really honed in on the Ontario Immigrant
Nominee program. This program was a pilot in chatham, Kent,
with great success and. It's a project that brings new
immigrants specifically to Ontario based on occupations that we need
in our region. We completed a workforce strategy that identified
the occupations we need in our region. The top two
are already included. So that's horticulture and health services. Now
we need retail sales. And cleaners and drivers. So we
are trying to get. Those occupations included in the oimp
as well. Next, slide. And last but not least when
we're looking at our strategic priorities, mental health, addictions, and
homelessness is one that we've been actively involved in. And
our first ask has been to ensure that the mobile
crisis Response Teams receive permanent funding so that our police
services come April 1 every year aren't wondering whether or
not. They can send out a social worker with their
police teams. So we're asking for permanent funding for those
mobile crisis response teams. And Secondly, we're asking for permanent
funding. Rural funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program. Our urban
counterparts have. A very different mental health addiction to homelessness
crisis than we do in our urban, rural communities. Rural
homelessness looks different. And the way we approach it is
very different. So we need dedicated funding in our rural
communities to address homelessness. And so that's one of the
asks that we approach the government. With this Amo. Next
slide. And so those are the top three strategic priorities
that we are actively working on. And in the background,
we continue to support Swift. Swift will have the fiber
in the ground this fall. We are very excited about
that. And there will hopefully be more to come with
Swift in the coming months. And we'll leave that to
Barry to announce, hopefully here shortly, next, slide. And as
I mentioned, we have our Economic Development Committee, and they
are actively working on our Workforce strategy. Alluding back to
Chad and the workforce development work, the expansion potential expansion
at Bruce Power. Then we've got Stalantis and Windsor and
Volkswagen and St. Thomas and elgan. So we have three
very huge projects in our region that are happening. So
workforce is top of mind and the Economic Development Committee
is actively working. On actions to ensure that we have
a workforce to meet the growing demand in our region.
Next slide. And we couldn't do this without amazing partners.
First and foremost, we have to mention the Community Futures
of Western Ontario. They are an investor. In our economic
development work and workforce Planning West. All of the workforce
planning boards are incredible partners. And we also work incredibly
closely with the Ontario big City mayors. Our Canon parts
are in Eastern Ontario. And emo and all of the
other organizations at the bottom on project specific work. Next
slide. If you're looking for more information on who we
are and what we do and staying on top of
all of those great submissions that we do make. Everything
is posted on our website. Wwc. Ca we have monthly
newsletters and frequent press releases. We are on Twitter or
X, and also on Facebook. Next slide. So what are
the benefits for Bruce County around the wowc table. Is
that regional table, as we mentioned, is that one voice?
It's the power of 16 counties representing our rural communities.
There's an advocacy to both the provincial and federal governments.
There's that staff support for the subject matter expert teams.
Those SMEs are not only feeding information up to the
caucus, but it's also an opportunity for R and D
as we like. To say, robbing and duplicating amongst our
peers. And then there are the regional projects we have
the Connected mapping Tool, as well as our upcoming Rural
Housing Information System that we're working with the Rural Ontario
Institute on Next slide. That is a really quick overview
for you of the Western Here warren's Caucus. I'm happy
to take any questions. And there's my email and phone
number if you'd like to reach out anytime. Thank you
so much for your time. Thank you, warden. Okay. Thank
you. Kate. And. The Meetings at Amo. That the Western
wardens Caucus head were excellent. There were four Cabinet Ministers.
There. And the group was very well prepared and made
a good case. Disappointed. The one thing the mobile crisis,
full time funding didn't really get a concrete answer on
that. And we've all been advocating that for a year
or more now and still haven't received an answer from
the government. But county and lower tiers and the wardens
caucus will keep pushing on that. Among other issues, questions
from Coun. Council. No, yes. Councilor Hamill. So thank you
very much for the presentation. When I reviewed the priorities,
I was hoping to see emergency departments and healthcare as
a priority this year. I know it's a priority all
the time, but it's getting worse. So. I believe that
just wanted to say hopefully it's a large priority for
next year, just more of a comment. But that's how
I feel. Okay, thank you. It's good in pit. Further
questions. Okay. Well, thank you very much, Kate. Thank you
for all your work. Bye, Bye, bye.
Okay, we're moving on to item seven. We have a
staff report, and we're going to call to order. Public
meeting. On Development Charges this public meeting is being held
in accordance with the Development Charges Act. The purpose of
the public meeting is to provide for a review of
the Development Charges proposal and to receive public input on
the proposed policies and charges. The county of bruce's Development
Charges Consultant Watson Associates economists while presenting the report with
recommend. Recommended charges, followed by questions from the public. So
we have Director henley. He's going to kick the meeting
off. Thank you, warden. Welcome, members of the public and
those present and online. My name is Edward henley. I'm
the Director of Corporate Services and the County's treasure. And
I'll be presenting the first presentation, which is discussing why
the county is looking at collecting development charges. And then
shortly after that. There'll be more of a technical presentation.
From darryl Labs, manager at Nation Associates. Economists presenting that
information. And we encourage all questions and comments from the
public. So we'll start off with. Why does the wanting
the county want to collect development charges? Essentially, funds are
needed for growth related infrastructure. Otherwise, service levels will decrease
without growth related improvement. The county does not currently have
sufficient funds to pay for the replacement of our existing
infrastructure and has had to levy large tax increases over
a 15 year. Period of 2.1%, and there's still a
shortfall that needs to be addressed. We'll discuss that shortly.
So if we don't have sufficient funds. For our existing
infrastructure. And we're trying to resolve that. Adding on the
costs of the new growth related infrastructure is also going
to be a challenge. And development charges are an alternate
revenue source that mitigates having to raise property taxes. For
2023, Council approved the Strategic Plan, which outlined. That one
of the goals financially was to reduce the county's reliance
on property taxes. For the cost of operating the county.
So this is addressing one of those goals. Now in
2023, our budget theme was fiscal sustainability being resilient to
change building reserves and workforce attraction and retention and development
charges. Really speak to three of those. So here's a
little bit of a snapshot of our capital situation. So,
our asset management Plan when we take into account all
of our infrastructure, our roads, our buildings, our bridges. Especially
we found in 2022. Ideally, we should have been setting
aside up to $30 million. And. That's represented by. The
red area there. The blue area shows how much we
were actually setting aside or spending. That was 12 million.
So there was an $18 million shortfall. Now with the
asset management plan that's showing the blue area slowly going
up over time so that eventually. By 2038. Will be
collecting the appropriate funds to cover off our existing infrastructure.
But of course, in that time there's still inflation. As
you can see. And the red area that's shown represents
the shortfall. So to fund that we would have to
either defer repair, repairing and replacing infrastructure closing, increased borrowing
or increased taxes. So the green area on this chart
shows the cost of the growth related infrastructure. Now we
only looked at it going forward from 2023, but. The
growth related infrastructure that we would like to collect development
charges to pay for because otherwise. That unfunded area becomes
even bigger. So this is an alternate way that does
not involve. Including increase in property taxes or borrowing. Now,
development charges are an alternate revenue source that reduced the
need to increase property taxes. But how much. We're looking
at collecting approximately $3.2 million per year, plus inflation from
development charges. And that would pay for new or expanded
county infrastructure due to growth. So currently we're looking at
$621,000 is equivalent to a 1% tax liability increase. So
if we were to collect that $3.2 million per year
starting this year, we would have to increase property taxes
over 5%. And that is what we are trying to
avoid. The alternative again is to not expand infrastructure to
accommodate growth. And allow service levels to decrease. So let's
take a look at the numbers. Here. Over ten to
14 years. So the 14 year outlook is for highways
and fleet that's required by the regulations governing how development
charges are calculated and ten years for everything else. We're
looking at approximately $105,000,000 in infrastructure that could be growth
related or have growth related component. Components over that time
frame. So the majority of it is in highways, and
then a lot of it is in the ambulance sector.
So. With the Orange Column. What we've got is $44
million of that 104,000,000. Could be attributed to development charges
and growth, so that's the amount that we could recover
over that time frame. If we collect it from DC,
then that would be coming from. The new growth. And
otherwise, we'd have to collect that 44 million from the
taxpayers. So what does new growth mean? So essentially, the
existing properties, the people that live here have already really
paid into the service levels that they have, whether it
be. The roads. Our facilities and Parklands long term care
if you increase your population another 10% or 20%. Then
presumably, you need to improve the number of spaces in
your long term care. Your Child care. Improve the highways
with more efficient ways to move around, maybe roundabouts or
widening the highways or the bridges. And so who should
pay for that cost? Should it be the existing taxpayers
who've already paid in? Or should it be the new
growth. That should contribute also to the cost of expanding.
So that's really the real question there who should pay.
The last two columns with residential dcs, about 34 and
a half million would come from. Of that, 44 million
would come from residential, and about 9.4 million would come
from non residential. Now what would the $44 million be
spent on? Let's take a look at a few items.
The Development Charge study, which is about 180 pages, details
all of the items and. Provides more additional financial numbers
for it. But let's take a look at the high
level. We're looking at. An expanded paramedic station under construction
right now in Port elgin. And that's looking outwards, 40,
50 years. For the future. And then holly rood, we're
looking at a new paramedication in and around that area.
And there currently isn't one in that Southern part of
Bruce County. And what it essentially means is that. The
paramedics would be able to report to that station and
start their day there instead of starting somewhere else and
then spending half an hour driving there and driving back
so provide better quality level of service for that area.
Roads and bridge widenings. There is a portion, although a
small portion. For the paisley and WALKERTON Bridges, so the
paisley is currently under construction in WALKERTON. Is under review.
And so that could involve widening sidewalks or widening the
road a little bit for active transportation as well. We've
got some roadway roundabouts to make. Things better with the
increased traffic traffic and hopes bike lanes to get the
bikes off of the main roadway to make it safer
for both. Cars and. Bike provision for trails, expansion and
machinery. We're looking at bringing a master plan later this
year. Hopefully that will provide some more additional information on
that long term care expansion. Our neighbor, Gray County, is
expanding their long term care, and they're borrowing tens of
millions of dollars to pay for it. And it's certainly
a financial challenge for them. And. That's even after collecting
development charges for long term care. So it's very costly.
And we're hoping to collect that for the future. Where
would the dcs be raised from? So let's look at
it geographically. This is broken out by municipality. Local municipality
in Bruce County, and it's also then broken across left
and right by the type of. Construction. This is just
residential. So I'll just point out a couple sogging Shores,
you'll see on the far right with the total amount
would be about $744,000 per year. Soggins Shores is the
growth center for. Bruce County. And that is where the
majority of the money would be collected. At least for
individually out of the 2.4 million per year. Now when
you look at. The type of homes they're looking at
approximately. 26 single and semis per year. But then when
you look at. The multiples about 53 year that would
be apartment buildings and then. You've got our town home
complexes. And then you've got apartment buildings 31 and 31.
Boat 62 per year. When you take another look at
say Northern Bruce Peninsula. They're mainly singles and semis with
17.4. But then on the far right you're going to
see that they've got quite a number of seasonal units.
So the seasonal population is also included in the calculations
and development charges because they're all driving the roads and
using our. Facilities in Bruce County, as well. Now, if
we take a look at the nonresidential, it's a little
bit of a different story here. So. The total on
the right hand side would be about 800,000 per year,
and over 431,000 or more than half would be coming
from the King cardan area. And that is the area
that. Has large industrial areas that are ready for development.
And so that is really the driver there with other
municipalities being a little bit less. Now if we take
a look at comparing. Development charges to taxes. So right
now, without development charges, all the costs would come from
taxation and. That is the green columns on the right
hand side. At the bottom, it shows 62 million. That
is the total levy. That. The county collected in 2023.
62 million. And if we divide that out by which
municipalities paid which amounts, or at least the amount was
collected from the different municipalities, you'll see that for example.
Sogging shorts the growth center is paying the source of
23% of the county levy tax levy. And with development
charges, which is on the left hand side. 27% of
the development charge revenue each year would come from sogging
shores. So that's an example of the growth centers really
paying for the growth areas. For the growth cost, so
27% of the development charges would come from. The new
construction, not from the taxpayers. Where in sogging shores as
an example whereas. 23% of property taxes if we did
it through the property taxes instead, by not having development
charges would come from sogging shores. Now let's contrast that
with for example. South Greece Peninsula. So with South Bruce
Peninsula. What you're looking at. Is about 15% of the
property taxes comes from South Bruce Peninsula. Whereas. 5% of
development charges would come from South Bridge Peninsula because the
growth isn't quite as strong there. So that is an
example of how the dynamics would work financially. On the
right hand side, it's the taxpayers that pay in that
manner on the left hand side. Is how the new
growth would pay. With the new construction. And that split.
There. And there is more information. Available on our Development
Charges webpage. All of the information that's presented at all
the meetings is there. And there should also be links
to the videos. Of most of the Council meetings. And
in my email and phone number there I'll turn it
over to my colleague. Darryl lapse to make the other
presentation. Thank you. Thanks, Edward.
All right. And thank you to the warden. And thank
you to Council for having me here today. I'm going
to undertake a little bit of a presentation, a little
Slideshow. On the results and the findings of the development
Charge Background Study process. As part of this formal public
meeting. So for the format of this public meeting. So
I'll kind of go over a little bit about the
purpose. We'll talk about the study process and the timelines
that we undertook. Provide a little bit of a development
charges Overview Along with some of the legislative changes that
have occurred over the last couple of years. We'll present
the proposed policies and charges. And then I will be
here to listen to the presentations from the public. And
answer any questions and then as well answer any questions
from Council before. We formally conclude the public meeting. So
the public meeting is really to provide. The public with
a chance to provide their feedback so that they can
hear about the policies and charges that are proposed as
part of the background study. This is a mandatory requirement
as part of the Development Charges Act. And as well,
prior to Council's consideration of the bylaw, we had to
prepare a background study and put that on the county's
website, a minimum of 60 days. Before. Council can consider
the bylaw. So as part of the study process, we
began back in March of 2023 and through may. We
met with staff. We undertook the Policy review. And started
preparing the calculations. We've held Council workshops on April 21
and June 15. We held a stakeholder meeting on July
5, and then we released the background study on July
20. Today, we're holding the formal public meeting and then
September 21. Its anticipated Council will consider the recommendations set
out in the study. And then on October 5, that
Council would consider the bylaw now, given the requirement of
60 days from release of the background study, Council could
consider the bylaw as early as September 1 or sorry,
September 21. So development charges are really a revenue tool
for municipalities to recover the capital costs associated with growth
and development in your communities. So with new developments, new
residential developments, new non residential developments, there comes the need
to build infrastructure. New roads or road widenings or intersection
improvements, et cetera. And so development charges are used to
recover the cost. Of this infrastructure. Now these costs are
in addition to what would normally be constructed as part
of a subdivision. So the developers and builders will have
to construct the internal roads, sewers, water mains, et cetera.
But really development charges are to collect for the broader
infrastructure to connect the network. So municipalities are empowered to
impose these charges. By passing a bylaw under the Development
Charges Act and Development Charges are typically collected just prior
to issuance of a building permit. So, the Development Charges
Act lists 19 eligible services for which municipalities can recover
costs. What we've highlighted in the teal Color is what
we've considered as part of this background study process. So
services related to a highway which is really a transportation
or road. Roads related infrastructure, along with public works, ambulance,
long term care, parks and recreation, which in this case
is trails and childcare and earlier services. You'll notice we've
crossed out housing services as a result of Bill 23
that was passed last year. They removed that as an
eligible service. In the Act. So just a brief overview
of some of the changes that have occurred since 2019.
There were a number of bills. Passed in the legislature.
Before Bill 23, which I'll talk about in a moment.
And they've added some changes to the application of DCs.
So there's the requirement for installment payments for certain types
of developments. So if you have rental housing or institutional
development, you pay your development charge. In. Six equal installments
over five years. And if you proceed through a Site
Plan, Application or zoning bylaw Amendment applications. There is a
rate freeze on the development charge. So when I submit
my site plan application. The DC rate is frozen as
of the date that I submit my complete application from
there. Once the municipality approves the applications, I then have
two years to pull my building permits and my rate
is frozen at the time I submitted my application. So,
for example, if I submitted my application today. The development
charge in effect is zero so my rate will be
frozen at zero if I build within that time frame.
Villa, 97, came in 2020. Some minor changes in addition
to those other changes. Provided for removal of a mandatory
deduction we had to do in the calculations and then
provided that list of eligible services rate in the Development
Charges Act. As well. There was some other minor changes,
an exemption for universities, and some reporting rules for the
annual Treasurer statement. So on November 28, 2022. The province
passed Bill 23, the More Homes Built fastracked, which provided
a number of changes to the Development Charges Act. Some
exemptions, et cetera. And I'll go through what some of
those changes are, as they would apply to a bylaw
if the county passed a development Charge bylaw as well.
They brought in some changes to the Planning Act. With
respect to community benefit charges and Parkland dedication. But that
doesn't apply here. So in terms of mandatory exemptions. The
province has introduced a number of additional mandatory exemptions, and
we split them into two sections. Here the top, which
is outlined in Orange. These are not yet enforced, and
I'll talk about that in a second and then the
green at the bottom. Those are in force. So what's
not enforced right now. Is affordable rental units and affordable
owned units. So if I were to develop these type
of units. They would be exempt from development charges. And
the definition proposed definition set out in the act is
where the rent or purchase price is no more than
80% of the average market. Which would be defined by
the province. By the bulletin. They would post. Now, most
recently at the amo Conference, I know there was a
statement by the Minister that they were looking. At revising
this definition and making it more of an income based
approach. But we're yet to see what the details are
on that. In addition. There's also attainable units, which again
have yet to be defined. They're not necessarily fall under
the definition of affordable units or rental units, but they'll
have their own separate definition of what attainable is. For
all of those exemptions. To get that exemption. The municipality
would have to enter into an agreement to ensure that
those developments remain affordable or attainable for 25 years. For
the exemptions that are currently in force. If there are
affordable housing units required through inclusionary zoning, those would be
exempt. Nonprofit housing developments are exempt from development charges. And
additional residential units. So if I have a single detached
home, semidetached home, or a townhouse. Or I can put
up to two apartments in the basement or one apartment
in my basement and one in an ancillary building. Let's
say on top of a garage. And I don't have
to pay development charges for those additional units. As well.
Bill, 23, brought in some discounts. So if I am
building rental housing, get a discount based on the number
of bedrooms. So if I have one bedroom or less,
I get a discount of 15%, two bedrooms, 20% and
three bedrooms or more. 25%. Discount. As I mentioned earlier.
Housing was removed as an eligible service. From the Development
Charges Act, and there was some refinement to the definition
of capital costs, which removed studies as being eligible for
recovery. As well. There's the requirement for a mandatory phase
in so whatever charges are calculated and in the background
study. Only 80% of those charges can be imposed in
the first year, and the second year would be 85%,
then 90, 95, and 100% after five years. And then
lastly, there were some refinements to the historical level of
service calculations. You'll find those in appendix B, to the
background study. We now have to look at those over
15 year historical period previously it was ten. For those
developments that proceed through site plan or zoning bylaw amendment,
or the rental or institutional developments that get to pay
in installments. There is the ability to impose interest on
those payments. Bill 23. Has now set a maximum interest
rate that you can impose, and that's the average prime
rate plus 1%. There is also the requirement to allocate
60% of the monies in the Reserve fund. In each
year. So for services related to a highway. If the
bylaw was to be passed each year, 60% of the
monies that are sitting in that reserve fund will need
to be allocated to projects. And then the dcu bylaw
previously, they had a life of five years that's now
been extended to ten years. So with respect to the
Development Charge calculation, there's something like 60 or 70 clauses
in the Development Charges Act and many years of tribunal
cases that kind of set the precedent on how to
calculate these charges. But to put it very simply, first,
we need to. Identify the amount, type, and location of
growth. So is it residential, non residential. Where is it,
and how much. From there, then we need to identify
the servicing needs to accommodate the growth. So if we
need to accommodate. Additional traffic. Let's say from there we
need to identify the capital costs to provide the services
to meet those needs so that would be specific Lane
widenings or intersection improvements to accommodate that increase in traffic
arising from the development. So once we have all of
the capital costs identified, we need to make a series
of deductions. And so if we know of any grant
subsidies or other contributions. We need to net that out
of the calculations, any share of the projects that benefit
existing development. So, for example, if I'm replacing an existing
facility, there is a benefit to the existing community of
that facility that was there where we're just replacing it
and maybe building a bigger one. So just. The larger
component of that facility would be development charge eligible. The
rest would be a deduction of benefit to existing development.
We also have to deduct any amounts in excess of
the historical service level calculation we have to do. And
then we also need to net off any balances in
the DC Reserve funds, if that's applicable. From there we'll
have the net costs related to growth. Then we allocate
that between residential and nonresidential benefit, and divide it by
the growth. To calculate the DC. So very simply, we
take the costs associated with growth divided by the growth.
And we come up with a development charge per unit
for residential development and development charge per square foot of
gross floor area for non residential development. So, the Development
Charges Act I mentioned a number of the mandatory exemptions.
That were added from Bill 23, and those are highlighted
in Orange, so won't go over those again. But in
addition, the act does provide some further exemptions. So upper
tier, lower tier governments. So the county wouldn't impose a
development charge on a lower term municipality when they build
a facility and vice versa. Similarly, school boards are exempt
from development charges. If you have an industrial building and
you expand it up to 50%, you don't have to
pay a development charge anything. After that 50% expansion you
would be subject to the development charge and then as
well an exemption for universities. Now, in terms of discretionary
exemptions, Council does have the ability to provide for discretionary
exemptions. You can reduce in part or in hold the
charge for different types or classes of development. So places
of warship, for example, or industrial development. You can phase
the charge in over time at a lower rate than
what's required. And then as well as part of this,
you would provide redevelopment credits for existing facilities that are
redeveloped. So. If I have a single detached home and
I knock it down and build four townhomes, then I'm
only paying four townhomes worth of a DC less a
single detached DC, so I get a credit for what
was there. In terms of the proposed discretionary exemptions that
are unceded in the draft bylaw as part of the
background study. We've included places of warship, cemeteries, railroad grounds,
hospitals, nonresidential accessory buildings, and temporary use buildings. These are
some of the most common exemptions we see across the
province. But. These are up for Council's consideration. As part
of the background study. And this will be provided in
appendix E to the background study. We've identified this local
service policy and really what this does is it sets
out. What's the developer's responsibility to construct and pay for,
and then above that what would go into the development
charge studies. So if we're looking at local roads, and
as I mentioned earlier at the beginning of the presentation,
if there's internal roads, water, mainstream, et cetera. Within a
development that's typically paid for by the develop. Developer what
we've done as part of this policy is just set
out for all the different types of infrastructure at the
county level. What would be the developer's responsibility versus what
would be included in the development charge. So in terms
of. Using a development charge. I mean, you're not required
to pass the development charges by law. However, do you
like to show this kind of relationship between. The funding
sources. So if you have new developments and you have
growth and it's going to require you to spend money
on infrastructure to accommodate that growth. The money has to
come from somewhere. And so to the extent it's growth
related, you can use development charges to fund that infrastructure.
Otherwise, you'd need to use existing taxes. Or existing reserves
to pay for that infrastructure. So in terms of the
background study information. The growth forecast that we were looking
at. We used two time Horizons. Ten year forecast and
a 14 year forecast, which we used for the transportation.
And so over the tenure, we're looking at growing by
just over 8900 people. In just under 4300 Residential units.
For non residential floor space, we're looking at 2.7 million
sqft for the longer term. The 14 year, we're looking
at just over 12,000 people in just under 5800 residential
units and just over 3.2 million floor space. In terms
of the unit mix for residential development, you can see
we have 38% are anticipated to be low density, so
you're single or semi detached homes, 21% will be medium
density, so your town homes are row houses and 27%
being high density, which would be your apartments, 12% would
be. Seasonal and 2% would be conversions from seasonal to
permanent for nonresidential floor space. For industrial, we're looking at
about 65% of the floor space and non industrial uses
being 35%. I mentioned earlier on the services that we
were including. Services related to a high race so, roads
and Public works. Trails long term care services, child care
in early years and ambulance services. As part of the
study, you'll see, we've spoken to something that's called a
class of service. We've called that fleet, and it really
is a combination of roads, trails, vehicles, and. Long Term
Care Services, vehicles. So in terms of the proposed calculated
charges. For all Services for a single detached home, the
charge. Is about and I apologize for the size. I
think it's 76, 65. I don't want my glasses. I
think. And what we've shown below, that is 80% of
the calculated charges, because as I mentioned. With the phase
in requirement, we can only impose 80% of the charge,
so that would be $6,132, which would be imposed in
the first year. And then that can escalate over the
subsequent years. For. The remaining schedule charges there. We have
categories for other multiples. And that's really your townhomes or
your row houses. We have apartments, two bedrooms, plus apartments
that are studio and one bedroom. And then your special
Care special dwelling units. Which typically have persons per unit
of about just over one for nonresidential charges. We've calculated
two point ninety four cents per square foot. But 80%
of that calculator charge equates to $2.0.35. As part of
the background study process. One of the items was identified
was to look at the nonresidential development charge calculation on
two different bases. And so we looked at it on
this blended. We take all of the non residential floor
space and divide that into the cost we are covered.
And that's how we came up with the $2.94 per
square foot or 235 at 80%. In appendix Age to
the background study. So at the very back we've provided
an alternative calculation for Council's consideration. And this is where
we've calculated industrial versus non industrial uses separately. And you
can see for industrial, the calculated charge would be a
dollar 60 for non industrial uses. It would. Be $5.33
per square foot. So how do these charges compare. Across
the counties. So we looked at a number of counties.
And so you can see Bruce County. They fully calculated
charge at the 7665 and even at the 80% 6132,
being at about the middle. So simcoe county being the
highest, that's just over $13,000 per single attached unit. You'll
see, huron county doesn't have a development charge, so that's
zero. But duffering county being at the lower end at
just over $3,200 unit. For non residential comparison, we've used
that blended rate as the comparator, but. For commercial charges
per square foot, you'll see the fully calculated charge of
294 just under peterborough and just over county of Wellington.
But with the 80% of the charge being implemented, it
would actually put us under the charge for Wellington County
at $2.35. In terms of industrial, you'll notice peterborough, Oxford,
and huron Counties all exempt industrial development, so there's no
industrial development charge. There. So $2.0.94 puts us below simcoe,
which is at but above Wellington County at. So within
the county if we were to apply. The County Charges
to the lower tier municipal charges. We've kind of put
this into a graph so you can see. The arrows
are denoting the lower tier municipalities so on the far
left we have sogging shores. If we were to include
the county charge fully calculated, the total development charge for
a single detached unit would be around $40,000. And for
King cardin, it would be around $30,000. And then you
can see some of the other municipalities off to the
right. That don't have development charges currently. It would just
be the county charge that would be imposed. In terms
of the commercial development charges, again using that blended rate.
You can see on the far left we have sogging
shores in Concardin. The dark blue component of the bar
graph is the county calculated charge. And then you can
see in the middle. We have South Bruce Peninsula, Middle
left. And then. We have some of the other municipalities
that don't have development charges off to the right there.
And then similarly, for Industrial Development charges. Similar kind of
layout we have on the left. We have sogging shores
or Sorry, we have King cardin and then we have
South Bruce Peninsula and then we have the remaining municipalities
don't have industrial development charges or they're exempt. So in
terms of the next steps in the study process. So
after this formal public meeting, Councils anticipated to consider the
recommendations in the report and the draft bylaw on September
21, and then consideration of the actual bylaw as anticipated
for October. Fifth. But Council does have the ability to
consider the bylaw as soon as September 21. And with
that, that ends my presentation. Thank you very much.
So at this point. With the award. Permission
will open up. The area. The public meeting to comments
and questions from I guess the public initially. Yes. Go
ahead. Linda, yes. I'd like to offer some guidance in
this. So I appreciate all of the input that we
have received. And we have members of the public from
the Municipalities of King cardan here in Kinlos and brockton
that have joined us in the Chambers. Some of which
would like to speak. We have members that have of
the public that have joined us remotely. So we'll be
starting with the members that are in the Council Chambers.
So the first to speak would be Alex Bugnadovic. I
apologize. So come to the podium. If anybody else wanted
to join you there, you're welcome. And if you could
just introduce yourself, we'd appreciate that. Hello. So I'm Alex
bogdanovich. This is Ali vera bogdanovich. And this is Steve
over here. He's my dad. So we're a family run
business where builders and developers and we've worked. In Bruce
since 2007. We primarily build in King Card and here
on kinloss, and we've done work in Port elgan and
brockton as well. So our first question is directly related
to our development of crimson Oak Valley, which is located
in Huron. Loss so our development as developers, we paid
our development charges in full. Those are Parkland fees as
well as our Parkland fees in 2020. Yeah. So that's
when we got the plan approval, we paid off everything.
So our question to the Council then would be with
the increase of development charges. Would we be affected even
though we've completely paid out. Our development fees. Thanks. Okay.
Yes. Director henley will answer that for you. Thank you.
That's a good question. A lot of people are bringing
that up. So there's four municipalities in Bruce County out
of the eight that currently collect local development charges. And
here on kinloss is one of them, along with King
cardan, sogging Shores and South Bruce. Now. In some of
those places, it's only certain areas that the charges apply
to. So what I hear was it was that subdivision
stage approval. So we paid out when we had plan
approval, the Parkland and the development chart. Okay. We've already
completed. We paid two years ago. Okay. If you didn't
get it on the microphone, the bugdanoviches state that they
paid two years ago. For the development charges. And likely
it was the local development charges. So there would be
what we're proposing is a county level of development charges.
Municipality Some municipalities are split into two types. There's the
lower tier that provides certain municipal services, and then there's
the upper tier, the county that provides other services. So.
We provide the county provides the larger roadways, the county
roads and bridges. Library Long term care, paramedics, et cetera.
So the development charges that the county are collecting would
be for services that are separate from the local municipality.
Now, in terms of whether they would apply, there's two
things that we could take into consideration. The county has
not defined yet at what stage the development charges would
be collected? There's two options. Subdivision. Stage or Building Permit
stage. We're looking at collecting at the building permit. Approval
stage, which is the later period. From the Development subdivision
approval stage. So only when. A developer is acquiring the
building permit. Would that come into question whether development charges
should be paid. Now, my colleague darryl ABS mentioned that
there are a number of exemptions and reductions that are
proposed by. The province. Or for effect in the future
are already in effect, but. One thing I'd want to
point out is. One exemption, which would be site plan
approval if the site plan for the project was approved.
Within two years prior. To the approval date. Of the
building permit, then the development charges at that two year
period or somewhere within that would apply. So say, if
the site plan was approved. One year ago. Then one
year ago the county did not have any development charges.
So then they could pay either the current or the
development charges one year ago, whichever is less. And if
it was zero, then they would pay zero. And that's
the province's promotion of building right away. Instead of waiting
a number of years. The other situation. Would be zoning
plan. Bylaw approval. Zoning amendment by law approval. And that
is also two year period. So there will be for
the first year. So probably quite a few. Property developments
that would be exempted. And I believe in this case.
If it's a property that's already built, it's not retroactively
applied. It's only moving forward. Thank you. So just to
clarify, we have 47 lots remaining within the subdivision. Are
you saying that now, when we apply for a building
permit, that's going to be on top of what we've
already paid for. So the short answer is Yes.
The development charges that were already paid were the local
huron kin loss development charges. There are three types of
divo and charges that could apply. There's the local municipal
development charges, county development charge and an education development charge.
Currently, the school boards in Bruce County are not collecting
education development charges, so that doesn't apply in many other
areas of the province. There are education development charges. So
currently. Only four of the local municipalities collect these seas.
And there are no current county development charges. So, yes,
moving forward, county development charges would apply. But again, if
the site plan approval was within the last two years
of the date of the building permit approval date. Then
likely they would be exempted. Okay. So, for example, our
subdivision is septic. And one of your dcs inquires about
water waste water services. So is that deducted from the
dcs that you're offering to our subdivision to have to
pay. That's again, another great question. So this speaks to
the division of the services that different municipalities provide. The
local municipalities generally provide in Bruce County generally provide water.
Sewer, drainage. And Parks and rec and some other services.
For the county, we're only looking to collect development charges
for roadways. Long term care. Certain Parklands primarily trails. Childcare
and paramedic or Ambulance services. So wastewater. Drinking water and
drainage water is not a development charge that we're collecting
for. So there's no money that's going to be collected
from us relating to that service. Okay. I think right
now we have a number of people online. So we're
going to take questions from them. And certainly the baganoviches
have some questions. They need a lot more clarification. So
I think Edward. Staff will need to arrange to talk
to them on the phone or meet with them because
they do have some quite legitimate concerns. Thank you. We've
got to get those answers for you. But we do
have other developers online. So right now we're going to
hear from wt. Land, Josh Martino. Hi, There. How
are you. Okay. Mr.
Martino, we can hear you if you would like to
provide your comments. Hi there. I submitted a written letter
on behalf of the ownership group here, but. We own
approximately 242 units in walkerton, 120 units in paisley, and
40 units in Mild May. They're all at the various
stages of development. But I guess the biggest question would
be. For the parcels we own, they're all apartment blocks
that are site plan approved in Walker jen, specifically, where
we have. A Site Plan agreement signed. Would that. I
guess be applicable to this or are dcs kind of
frozen since we've signed that agreement as per that bill.
Hi. Yeah. So if there's site plan approved the Development
Charges Act says that. Once this site plan is approved
by the municipality, then the DC rate is frozen at
the date you submitted the application. So in this case
the county development charge would be zero, so it's frozen
there for two years from when the municipalities approved the
site plan. So once that application was approved, you have.
Two years to pull the building permits and then no
charge would be applied at the county after that, any
building permit pulled after that would be subject to the
charge. Okay. Do you have a further question, Mr. Martino.
No, I think that was a big question Mark that
we had that we definitely needed some clarification on. And
I think. When it comes to acquiring land in the
future, for us, it would definitely be something that we
need to take into consideration for our group. In terms
of future acquisitions of land and how we proceed with
developing in the County. Thank you. Now call upon Mr.
Wade Roberts. Followed by Keith battler. So Mr. Roberts, if
you can unmute yourself. And introduce yourself. That would be
appreciated. Yeah, Hi, there. I'm developer with the Good Life
Building Co. We also have site plan approval for an
apartment block in WALKERTON. So you guys actually just answered
my question there with Josh as well, so I don't
have any other further questions from my site at this
time. Okay. Thank you. Next. Mr. Butler, would you like
to unmute yourself. As we give him an opportunity
to unmute himself, I'd also like to comment that we
have the chief building official from the Municipality of South
Bruce, and the chief building official from brockton. So in
that order, if you'd like to unmute yourself. You're welcome
to make comments to Council. Good morning,
Council. Thank you for the welcome there, Linda. Just a
quick question. From the lower tier perspective here. What kind
of compensation. Will be granted to the lower tier for
collecting the fees and doing the administrative portion on that
and second parts of that. What legal kind of enforcement
mechanism is there. To make us collect these fees on
county's behalf. Hey, Edward. Yes. Thank you. That's a good
question. The development. Charge Regulations were implemented and passed by
the provincial Government and have been in place for several
decades and. It has always been. In municipalities where there's
a split upper and lower tier. It's always been assigned
to. Whichever municipality or municipal government that issues the building
permits if it's done at building permit stage, that's the
legislation that's provided by the province. And there's a requirement.
For local municipalities to collect those funds. Similar to how
property taxes are collected. Without. Paying a fee to. The
county. And the reason for that is it saves taxpayers
money. Instead of having two different levels, the government collect
taxes. Having one send one bill out. And that's how
the province does property taxes. And they follow. The same
format with development charges. So really, if one level of
government charges another, it's just going to raise the costs
for the people that are paying the fee. In terms
of what if the local municipality does not choose to
collect the funds. That's something that the legislation provides some
remedies for, and I'm certain that that won't be the
case. And won't have to review those options. Okay. Who
has the next question, Linda. Okay. So I think Mr.
Butler. Had. A time commitment there, so I don't see
him online anymore, but we will reach out to him
to ensure that we receive his comments. I believe the
chief Building official of brockton is here. To get information,
and we'll submit any comments that he has directly to
our director. We do have a representative. Of the Bruce
Gray District School Board, and they're watching virtually as well
as can do homes. So unless there is any member
of the public that's in the audience in the Chambers
here wishing to speak, I believe that concludes our public
comment. Okay. Yeah. You can have one more question. Go
ahead. So those costs were mainly based off of, for
example, like roadways and the ambulance and such at the
county level. But as a developer, we finance our entire
development and pay for our own roadways. So if. Anyone's
paying for the roads and such it would be US
developers. And then on top of that, to pay even
further for roadways for the rest of the county. It
doesn't seem reasonable to US developers. At least I'm speaking
at my own personal perspective. For example, we did 77
properties and we're already paying for 1 Road. So now
to pay for development charges on 77 additional properties of
the increase. That would be a lot of money. Okay.
We'll take that comment into the record. Thank you. I
wanted to provide some additional information. With regards to the
County. So with regards to collecting development charges, again, I
previously mentioned that in the county of Bruce, there are
eight local municipalities, four of them currently collect development charges,
and the other four have not had that experience. So
the county is going to be providing some education and
some assistance with calculating the amounts and. Other assistance in
terms of that. But again, the County. Is not collecting
the development, the building permits or evaluating them. So we
would require the cooperation of local municipalities, but we will
be providing assistance there. Okay. Now we'll open it up
for questions from County Council who would like to go
first. Councilor Hamill. Thank you, warden. And I believe to
Darryl. If a demolition permit is taken out and a
house is taken down, and then a house is built
on the same spot. Do they pay a development charge.
No. So they wouldn't pay a development charge. You have
the ability in the bylaw to kind of restrict the
time horizon. So most municipalities restrict that to five years.
So if you have a house that Burns down and
you build another one within five years, you're not going
to pay a development charge on it. Usually there's a
restriction in there on the time horizon. Because you don't
want someone if they demolish a house and it sits
there for 15 years. And then all of a sudden
they build a house tracking that. And then also they're
not in the plans for adding to the servicing and
stuff. So typically, there's a time horizon that's limited on
that. But if it's within that Tom razin typically five
years, they wouldn't have to pay a development charge. If
I could add a little bit more clarification. So there
are the odd circumstances where especially in. The more commercial
areas where there's an old house that's torn down and
replaced with a commercial. And in that instance, there's going
to be something in the bylaw called credits. So basically.
If a house was torn down and then replaced within
that time frame with a commercial structure. As an example.
Then the amount that would normally be paid. For. The
residential would count as a credit towards whatever. So if
say. The. House. 's development charge would be $7,000. As
an example. And the new commercial structure would only would
have to pay 6000. Well then that 7000. Is more
of a credit against the 6000. If the new commercial
building would have had to pay 10,000, well, then they
would only have to pay the difference between the 10,000
and the 7000 within that five year time frame. It's
very rare, but there is that also. For conversions of
building types. And then follow up would be if you
took down a ten unit apartment building and put up
a 20 unit apartment building. The credits would therefore give
you credits for ten, so to speak. That's correct. Yes.
Okay. Who'd like to go next? Luke. Yeah. Thank you,
warden. And. Thank you both to our presenters and to
the members of the public who spoke to us this
morning. Appreciate everybody's time and inuit. I guess I just
wanted to reiterate the comments that were submitted by the
town of Saga and Shores, which are important to those
of us who are currently collecting development charges within the
county. It's critical. I think that. As we develop the
final bylaw. That. We ensure that the timing for collection
is aligned between the lower tiers and upper tiers. In
terms of a process that's functional for the lower tiers
who have to collect these dcs, we need to have
the same timing of collection. And I would say too,
that. I think we can cooperate on getting to the
right spot if the lower tiers need to adjust or
I can speak for the town sogging shores at least
if we need to adjust. To come into alignment in
a way where we can meet in the middle. I'm
sure that the town socking Shores would be open to
that. The other thing and the more important thing in
my mind is these non statutory exemptions and ensuring so
the town is hiking chores through our development charges, implementation.
Have set up non statutory exemptions. Including ones focused on
affordable and attainable housing. These are critical exemptions for us.
So. We have a DC. We've had a DC for
a long time that DC has been very successful at
bringing in revenues, which have allowed us to build the
infrastructure which support the growth that we're experiencing. I firmly
believe that one of the reasons we're one of the
fastest growing communities in Ontario today is because of the
DC that we have. But we have balanced that with
non statutory exemptions, which incentivize the construction of the type
of housing that we need. Affordable and attainable housing. And
I understand the Province is bringing in. Or has already
brought in and is still rolling out. Mandatory exemptions, which
will cover off affordable and attainable housing. I guess I
would say. That I would like there to be alignment
between the county's bylaw and the saging Shores bylaw and
all other bylaws across the county for DC so that.
We have similar or. Most preferably exemptions that are exactly
the same and so that we don't. So there's in
confusion, it becomes very difficult, I think, to implement. Those
non statutory exemptions. If the county has some and we
have other ones and they're different, right. So I'm hopeful
that our staff. Will work together. With our staff at
the lower tier, to find a way to make sure
that those do align. And as I say. Just. As
with the timing of collection, I think there's a willingness
from sogging drawers, at least to adjust as required to
meet the county in a place that works. As we
implement. An upper tier development charge. So those are very
important issues for us. And I wanted to put them
on the table. Thank you, warden. Ken. Through you, warden.
I would concur with my colleague, Mayor sharboneau. I think
harmonization is a crucial factor in implementing this and making
it workable for our staff. But I want to take
a little step back farther than that. The implementation. Of
the development charge is crucial for the financial well being
of our County. To even go back to that very
fundamental question. Are we doing this well, from my perspective,
yes. And. I appreciated the charts indicating. The differences between
the municipalities in Bruce County. Some do, some don't. And.
There's gut instinct about what the effect of development charges
do. Whether they do or don't implement. Affect growth.
Some municipalities say yes. Some say no. That's for your
municipality to figure out yourself. The other chart that I
noticed. There's. A significant. Difference for sogging Shores for residential
housing unit construction. Significant difference in King cardan for Industrial
development. So I look at this and I say, Holy
Schmolies King cardan is going to take a whack on
this one. As far as industrial challenges go convincing people
that this is a really good place because. We desire
to increase the industrial construction in Concardin. Having said that,
I still think the development charges are the right way
to go to. Build our future and the counties. So
I'm on board for this. Will it be perfect the
first day? Of course not. But we'll get it right.
Don. Thank you, warden. Through you, I guess a little
clarification first and then a concern. I have the clarification
on the crimson Oak subdivision, and I have a couple
of other subdivisions going on in my municipality. The site
plan approvals have been done. And the zoning bylaws have
been done. So is it everything from two years ago
if they had a building permit for two years. They're
good, but anything new, they will be charged. The DC
charge. Yeah. So through the warden. So. Once the site
plan or zoning bylaw amendment application is approved by the
municipality that starts the clock. So from there, then you
have two years to pull the building permits and then
they don't pay the county DC because it's frozen at
zero. Any building permit pulled after the two years from
the approval would be subject to the county's development charge
at the day. Basically one would anything built out there'd
be nothing in there to be moving forward. My other
concern is the hard sell of this being the municipality
that's on the south end of the county, neighboring a
county that doesn't have development charges. What the industrial park
coming online. Some mckenz comment says, how do we attract
people to come to Bruce County, just over the border
of harrington county when they have no development charges? And
that's a concern. I have just where our municipality is
situated, every other municipality. Has borders with counties that have
development charges. That's a good question. I'll give two examples
one residential and one non residential. So starting with the
non residential. Certainly here on county does not. Have development
charges and Great County does now. Great county currently their
non residential charges and also their residential charges are much
higher than. What we're proposing even before the phasing. And.
There are a lot of reasons why. Someone might build
something in one place or another. And if we're comparing
Gray County to Bruce County, certainly. The nonresident the non
residential or industrial charges. Would be consistently less than Gray
County. But sometimes what builders will look at is not
just that, but they'll look at utility costs, ongoing cost,
availability of labor in the local area, or even availability
of land to be developed for whatever size that they're
looking at. So there are. More than one type of
criteria. Certainly. If. Your County. Was with zero or even
Perth County. If development judges were the major factor and
the deciding factor, then perhaps then there would be no
growth in Bridge County. So let's take a look at
the residential so, for example. I personally live in King
carden and the street over from me. There's houses being
built for a million dollars. There's development charges in King
cardan right now. Why wouldn't they just be a little
bit south in huron county? Well, perhaps the type of
people that would buy a million dollar home aren't in
here on county or don't want to live there. So
there's the attractiveness of the communities that is also a
factor. And also if we look internally. We've got say
sogging shores that has the highest local development charges of
the four local municipalities that do charge development charges. Why
is there so much development going on there? And very
little going on, say in neighboring Aaron Eldersly. Where there
are no development charges locally. So that also is a
question. And so the reason why. Developers build in certain
areas isn't solely focused on development charges. There are a
lot of other factors that are involved. Okay. Further questions.
Okay, I have just a few comments. I agree with
Luke on the non statutory language for exemptions. I think
we need to see that. What staff would propose. I
don't think we can wait for the province to come
up with some language on those exemptions regarding attainable housing.
I know the Minister did mention that amo, but now
he's gone along with the associate Minister. I don't think
that will be a priority for the government right now
to clarify that for us. So I do think I
agree with Luke. We do need to clarify. That on
our own. Certainly do support exemptions for those builders doing
the attainable housing. Especially, for example, in the rental market.
We haven't had a lot of rental apartment blocks constructed
in Bruce County. And I'm not sure. We should be
taxing those given the need for rentals along with the
rental townhouses. If those townhouses. The rents are within the
80% that the province proposed. I think we should give
them exemptions and I think it would be up to
us to come up with that language. We're not going
to be able to wait for the province. On the
industrial land. I am very concerned. As councilor Murray is
about our neighbors in both Huron. And. Gray. The numbers
I have here, Edward. I just copying off the chart.
Bruce Industrial would be $3 a square foot. Versus Gray
at. Am I correct in reading the chart. So the
difference. Is. In Great County, they go by square meter
and that's their charges are by square meter. And they
have to. Be what do you call calculated out to
the square foot. So the other issue that you have
to look at is with Gray County is they did
not collect development charges for non residential for the longest
period. So they've had development residents for a while, but
it was only recently. In. 2022 when they decided to
when they passed their most recent development charge bylaws, they
would begin collecting non residential. But what they did was
they did it in a phased way where they passed
the bylaw in 2022. I think it was in December,
so there was 0% for 2022, and then 2023 was.
25% of their destination rate plus inflation. And for 2024,
it's going to be 50% of their destination rate. And
then 75, and then 100%. The province is now defined.
The phase in is 80%, 85, 95, and then 100.
So we would likely be proposing to be about 60%
for the first year. Instead of 80% and that would
bring us equivalent to the phased in amount in Gray
County or just under. And then the following year, when
they bump it up to 75%, it'll be well above
what our rate would be. And then following it would
continue to be well above the rate of breach. County.
Okay. I'd like to maybe see some more numbers on
that. Reading the chart if we're going to be according
to the chart, we're far ahead of Gray County. And
of course, there are numerous reasons, as you mentioned, why
a business would locate, but certainly. A very attractive feature
when you're selling land either in ripley or in Suggesting
Shores or Concardner. Walkerdon. Is saying that we don't have
development charges. And then if we were to say that
we're four times higher. Than Gray County. That would be
an influencing factor in attracting somebody to this area. And
we are in competition. With wingham has a lot of
land empty down there now. And godrich, and hanover, no
one sound. I think as Don originally pointed out, we
need to be very cognizant of those numbers. On the
industrial. Can you, Luke, just make a comment and follow
up to your comments, warden. And I certainly agree with
your assessment that we need to be. Competitive, particularly to
attract industrial investment. We have a lot of opportunities in
Bruce County for industrial investment coming up. I think because.
Of a lot of initiatives happening in our region, particularly
those in the nuclear sector, but other ones as well.
We want to be able to seize those opportunities, but
I think there's a couple of ways to go about
it. One would be to look at. The Industrial and
Commercial Charges as part of the DC bylaw itself. Either
choose not to implement an industrial charge or to implement
a reduced charge has been laid out. The alternative approach.
And the one that I prefer, I guess. Is. To
identify. In which commercial activities we want to incentivize and
then do that through community improvement plans. Right. So we
implement. The industrial and commercial charges at the full rate
as part of the bylaw, and then in a subsequent
bylaw and a community improvement plan bylaw. We say these
are the types most likely high employment, industrial. Developments that
we want to have in Bruce County, or we want
to ensure. Receive a competitive rate and then. We incentivize
them by rebating the development charge through the community improvement
plan. So that's what's talking that's the approach talking chores
has taken. I like it because it's not just a
blanket. Reduction. It says, this is who we want. This
is who we want to incentivize. And then we target
them specifically. And then in effect give them a zero
rate. So that's the approach I like I'd be very
interested to hear back from staff when this comes back
about which approach they recommend. And mechanisms for implementing that.
But I do agree. With the outcome that you're looking
for and hope to see some good recommendations on how
to get to that outcome. Thank you, Warren. Yeah, that's
a great idea. The high employment incentive. We could have
a lot of warehouses and two or three jobs. And
then not worth giving that an exemption, but certainly high
employment. Okay. Further questions. Okay. So hearing none.
We'll ask Edward to recap the next steps. Thank you,
warden. So the next steps would be. Staff will take
into account all the feedback that we received today. Any
additional questions or comments that we might receive after this
meeting and. Also. We held the county held a number
of. Meetings, three sessions with local municipalities and then also
a stakeholder session, and the comments from the stakeholder session
are also included in the Agenda package. From the questions
that were asked, some of which were again asked today.
So you got a good flavor of that. We'll then
bring a recommend. Recommendation for amendments to the proposed bylaw
the Consultants generally provide the maximum options and. We'll provide.
Recommendations. So we're looking at recommendations for the date that
it would start. If there's any adjustments to the Provincial
recommended implementation percentages, and again. Some discussion regarding
exemptions potentially and the impact and financial cost of these
exemptions. And. Proposed Options for cips. That will be on
the 21 September. And from there, we're looking for guidance
from Council to direct. How the bylaw should be shaped
and amended. We're looking at bringing the bylaw back to
Council on October 5. For review and consideration. There is
a reason why we have that date. And currently. There
is the paramedic Building that's under construction. In Port elgan.
And to ensure that we're able to capture that and
gain development charges for that project to help reduce the
total cost to taxpayers. It's important that the bylaw would
be approved, not necessarily implemented, but approved before. The substantial
completion date. And we're looking at end of October right
now for substantial completion. So that's where we're headed. And
September 21 will be the additional information. Thank you. Okay.
Thank you. Motion to adjourn the public meeting. By Don.
The meetings now adjourned of the public meeting. Now we'll
move to the committee meeting minutes. Look for a mover
and seconder on the minutes moved by milt. Seconded by
Mark that the minutes of the following committee meetings be
approved as circulated August 3. Corporate Services, Human Services, Long
Term Care Homes, Committee of Management, Museum Paramedics Services, all
those in favor. That is carried. We have bylaw to
confirm proceedings. A mover and seconder, please moved by Ken.
Seconded by dawn that bylaw 33 being a bylaw to
confirm proceedings with the Council of the county of Bruce
at its meeting held the 7th day of September 2023
be approved. All those in favor that is carried. Our
next meeting date, October 5. Mot. Motion to adjourn at
1115 made by Steve meeting is adjourned now with Council's
permission, I would like to. Take a quick break as
well as to amend the agenda. We have some people
waiting for item three on the agenda. So if we
could bump planning and development up. And then Human Services
below that after a quick break. That's okay with Council.