BUILDING DURHAM

On December 1, 2021, Oshawa held a special council meeting to review the final staff report on the Oshawa Parking Study.  Report CNCL-21-110 was presented by staff and council had the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.

The special council meeting can be viewed here.

Councillors voiced concerns that the report seemed to be indicating that less parking would be required for developments in the future.  They also felt that having bicycle parking in lieu of parking spots was not realistic of how Oshawa residents get around.

Council voted to send the report back to staff with instructions for staff to reach out to each councillor for comments.

As the Region of Durham is working on their new budget, departments are releasing their business plans and budgets.

The Works Department presented their Water Supply and Sewerage Business Plans and Budgets at the December 8, 2021 council meeting.

As per Town of Whitby By-Law #7748-21, development charge rates will be indexed on February 1, 2022. Based on the 2021 (third quarter) Statistics Canada Non-Residential Construction Price Index for Toronto, development charge rates are set to increase by 11.6% on February 1, 2022. The new Town of Whitby development charge rates effective February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023 are shown below.

Additional information regarding development charges can be found the Town of Whitby Development Charge webpage.

Please note, development charge payments made before February 1, 2022 must have the applicable building permit(s) issued no later than 60 days after the payment has been received; otherwise a top-up payment will be required, equal to the difference between the old and new development charge rates for the Town of Whitby.

The posted development charges may not apply to any calculated development charge rates determined as per section 26.2 of the Development Charges Act, 1997.

The rates shown above, do not include any Region of Durham or DDSB/DCDSB development charges that may also be payable.

For additional information please email developmentcharges@whitby.ca.

Province funding free classroom and on-the-job training in residential construction industry.

The Ontario government is investing almost $3 million to give 166 jobseekers free training and work experience in residential construction across the province. The Job-Ready Program, led by the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA), will connect trainees with rewarding and well-paying careers in carpentry, drywall installation, cement working, framing, and heavy equipment operation. This announcement follows the more than $1.5 billion our government has committed over the next four years to get more people into the skilled trades and help solve the housing crisis.

“The residential construction industry and its workers build a critical part of our communities – the homes that families across Ontario can call their own,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. “As more of these workers retire, we need talented people to fill their boots. Our government is giving people a hand up to well-paying, meaningful careers so they can build better lives for themselves and more homes for us all.”

Program participants will learn about general home building techniques, how to work with power tools, how to of different products in construction, and health and safety on the job. Training will last up to eight months and will be delivered in the classroom and on construction job sites from experienced tradespeople. Virtual training is also available. The project also supports employers currently looking for new talent by helping them with training and providing incentives to hire program graduates.

“While our government’s housing policies are working to address the province’s housing crisis, home prices are still far out of reach for so many Ontarians and their families,” said Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “As Ontario enters a period of economic recovery, our government is working hard to get shovels into the ground to create jobs and build the supply of housing our province needs, to make housing more affordable for all hardworking Ontarians.”

The province is projected to face a shortfall of more than 100,000 construction workers over the next several years, many of which are for positions in residential home building.The OHBA is working with home builder associations and community partners across Ontario to identify regions and employers most in need of skilled workers in residential construction to take part in the program. Participating employers can hire job-ready talent at the end of the program and will be reimbursed up to 30 per cent of the employee’s pay to a maximum of $3,000.

“The Job-Ready Program is an important support to help bring eager entry-level employees into Ontario’s home construction sector,” said OHBA President Bob Schickedanz. “With 166 participants in the program and over 40 per cent of those from underrepresented groups, the Job-Ready Program through the provincial Skills Development Fund is helping unlock new opportunities for in-demand and rewarding careers in communities across Ontario.”

This funding is part of the government’s Skills Development Fund to address challenges to hiring, training, and retraining workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This builds on the government’s ongoing efforts to attract, support, and protect workers, making Ontario the top place in the world to work, live and raise a family.

The provincial government is extending its Worker Income Protection Benefit program, which provides paid sick days, until July 31, 2022.  In addition, the province is extending temporary changes to the Employment Standards Act that prevent temporary layoffs of non-unionized employees from becoming unwanted terminations.  This measure will now be extended until July 30, 2022.  The full news release can be read here.

The full website on the Worker Income Protection Benefit Program can be found here with all relevant details which members should review. Members should contact the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, if they require assistance with the process for submitting claims.

WSIB Claim for Reimbursement Portal

Members can find the portal here for submitting a claim for reimbursement. A reminder that employers are entitled to be reimbursed the amount of infectious disease emergency leave pay that they paid to their employees, up to $200 per employee per day taken, with a maximum of 3 days per employee.

Check the status of your claim

Once you submit your claim you will receive a claim confirmation number. You can check your claim status with the WSIB for an up-to-date view on the progress of your claim.

Payment Schedule

It is expected that it will take approximately two weeks to process an approved claim. The timing of payment depends on the completeness and complexity of the claim.

Get help

For specific-claim related inquiries once you have a claim confirmation number or technical issues with submitting a claim, please request support and a claims specialist will reach out to you. For more general information on eligibility criteria, how to apply and program rules, please call the Ontario COVID-19covid 19 Worker Income Protection Benefit Information Centre 1-888-999-2248 ( TTY: 1-866-567-8893).

The City of Pickering has retained Watson & Associates to undertake an update to the 2017/2018 full cost assessment to inform updated fee recommendations for planning and building permit applications.

The purpose of the update is to reflect increases in complexity in the planning application review processes, and increases in costs associated with administering and enforcing the Ontario Building Code.  It is anticipated that the recommendations from the current update will be completed for Council's consideration as part of the City's annual budget process.  Should there be any recommended changes in fees resulting from this completed assessment, staff would anticipate recommending phasing such fees with an effective date of July 1, 2022.  

To help recover the City's immediate costs for reviewing and processing applications, as an interim measure, staff are recommending to Council that building permit and planning application fees be increased by 5% and 10%, respectively, effective January 4, 2022.  This report will be considered at the December 13th Council meeting.  According to staff, these fee increases are within the established full cost of service, and maintains the City's overall competitive position as compared to other municipalities within Durham Region and the GTA.

For the past several years, the City of Pickering has annually increased building permit fees by about 3% to reflect annual inflation costs.  More recently, the City has been experiencing significant growth, particularly in the City Centre and Seaton, as well as a number of subdivisions throughout the municipality.  Staff have noted that this growth, coupled with evolving market conditions, has led to applications with increased complexity.  This has prompted an increase in staff time and resources to process building permit applications and to administer the requirements of the OBC.

Additionally, the pandemic created financial and operational challenges for the City, and in order to adapt, the City looked at new ways of conducting business.  One positive outcome was a shift to paperless building permit applications.  In 2020, the City's Building Services Section launched a digital submission application process for all building permits, and similarly, the Planning & Design Division has also transitioned to electronic submission of applications and supporting material.

Staff have indicated that while there has been no slowdown in development activity, a review of the City's year end application revenue intake has identified that they are not recovering their costs, despite their annual fee indexing.

If you have any comments or concerns, please contact Stacey Hawkins.

The Town of Whitby is proposing a significant increase to engineering fees as outlined in Report PW 43-21.

As outlined in the report, some fees are increasing by as much as 503%.  The Town says that the increases are needed to fund hiring more full time staff to provide reviews of plans, as Whitby is expecting a large increase in demand as west and north Whitby begin development.  Staff also note that the fees have not increased since 2014.

The fee increases can be seen in the table below:

The Durham Region Home Builders' Association submitted a letter to the Committee of the Whole meeting, held on Monday, December 6, 2021.  The letter brought the scope of the increase into focus for councillors, who questioned the need for such a substantial increase.

While the report passed at the Committee of the Whole, staff were directed to meet with representatives of DRHBA ahead of the next council meeting.

It is DRHBA's hope that through discussions with the Town that the fee increases can be reduced, as these types of high fees contribute to the affordability crisis impacting the housing industry.

If you have any comments or concerns, please contact Stacey Hawkins.