The Town of Whitby hosted a special council meeting in late November to discuss the potential impacts of Bill 23. The meeting included a presentation from Roger Saunders, Commissioner of Planning and Development, that focused on municipal planning in Ontario. In addition to explaining how planning works, he also detailed the current and expected growth in Whitby, as well as current and approved proposals pending or under construction.
A second presentation was made by Lori Tesolin, Supervisor of Policy and Heritage and Principal Planner, and Jennifer Hess, Manager of Development Financing and Long Term Financial Planning that focused on providing an overview of proposed changes included in Bill 23.
Both presentations can be viewed here.
Council then approved report PDD-65-22: Bill 23, More Homes Built Fast Act, 2022. Staff outlined their concerns in the report, which included:
At the December 12, 2022 council meeting, Clarington Council passed report PDS-054-22, which included key comments and concerns on Bill 23.
Some of those comments included:
At the meeting, council added the following comments:
Council also added that provincial intervention in the form of settlement area boundary expansions, Minister’s Zoning Orders and changes to the Greenbelt is not required; nor is it supported; and that Clarington is concerned about the impacts that the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23) could have for the people of Clarington, including seniors and those on fixed income who cannot afford property tax increases that could result from the loss of development charges; and that community services, building design, park space, sprawl and unplanned density are also a concern.
Council has directed staff to work with AMO, Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) and Durham Region to mitigate the impacts of Bill 23 on the quality of life in the community.
A copy of the report and these comments be sent to the provincial government, including the Premier and specific MPPs, as well as neighbouring municipalities, the Region and AMO.
The provincial government’s newest housing legislation, the More Homes Built Faster Act has passed and brings forward numerous important changes that will be beneficial for OHBA members. Some measures come into force immediately, others at a future date. See the key highlights below and the breakdown document for more details.
o Five-year phase-in of development charge rate increases, beginning with a 20% reduction in the first year, with the reduction decreasing by 5% each year until year five when the full new rate applies. This is proposed to apply to all new development charge by-laws passed since January 1, 2022. o Discount remains unchanged, however, further transitional matters now provided. Rental housing discounts do not apply for a development in which a building permit was issued prior to November 28, 2022, unless a Development Charges Agreement has been entered into. If there is a Development Charges Agreement, the rental housing discounts will apply to all development charges payable after November 27, 2022. o Development charge reductions now based on development charge by-laws passed on or after Jan 1, 2022. o Development charge by-laws will expire every 10 years, instead of every five years. By-laws can still be updated any time. o Cap the interest paid on phased DCs for rental, institutional and non-profit housing to prime plus 1%.
o Five-year phase-in of development charge rate increases, beginning with a 20% reduction in the first year, with the reduction decreasing by 5% each year until year five when the full new rate applies. This is proposed to apply to all new development charge by-laws passed since January 1, 2022.
o Discount remains unchanged, however, further transitional matters now provided. Rental housing discounts do not apply for a development in which a building permit was issued prior to November 28, 2022, unless a Development Charges Agreement has been entered into. If there is a Development Charges Agreement, the rental housing discounts will apply to all development charges payable after November 27, 2022.
o Development charge reductions now based on development charge by-laws passed on or after Jan 1, 2022.
o Development charge by-laws will expire every 10 years, instead of every five years. By-laws can still be updated any time.
o Cap the interest paid on phased DCs for rental, institutional and non-profit housing to prime plus 1%.
o Third-party appeal rights of consent and minor variance applications significantly restricted to certain public bodies. Current third-party appeals are dismissed unless they qualify for limited transition.
Please also see the Bill 23 Key Changes Breakdown.
The City of Pickering is undergoing their budget process to plan for the service, program an infrastructure needs of the community.
Pickering is currently in its first phase of this process, and has provided their Draft 2023 User Fees for review. Building & Planning fees can be found on pages 5 - 11, Development - 30 - 32, and Engineering on page 33. Feedback can be provided to Stacey or directly to the City of Pickering through their survey.
The OHBA Job Ready program matches job seekers with construction industry employers offering six-month job placements and on-the-job training, in addition to wrap-around support services for success.
In the program’s first two years, over 300 job seekers have been trained and matched with 100+ employers across the province with 96% retention rate for employees placed on site.
The program would like to get to the root of how to bring more workers from diverse backgrounds into the industry and are examining barriers or challenges to entry.
Please share your input and opinions on hiring challenges and solutions via this four-minute survey to help improve the Job Ready program.
Thanks in advance for your participation!
Please click here to enter the survey.
OHBA Members should be aware of the result of legal proceedings before the Ontario Court of Appeal concerning the use of Interim Control By-Laws (ICBLs) by municipal governments. We are pleased to report that the appellant was successful in appealing the municipality’s use of an ICBL in an inappropriate way and obtained a decision that builders and developers can rely on in any future disputes with municipalities regarding ICBLs. A brief summary of this decision and its potential implications for Ontario builders is set out below.
By way of brief background regarding ICBLs:
In the case of Hummel Properties Inc., the municipality enacted a second ICBL on the subject lands in contravention of the 3-year cooling off period. The lower court found that the municipality was acting within its powers, concluding that two ICBLs could apply to the same property if the ICBLs targeted different purposes. The Association intervened to argue that this was an improper expansion of the ICBL power. External legal counsel at Lenczner Slaght successfully argued that the lower court’s decision was wrong. A more detailed summary of the decision is available on their website here.
The decision has some very positive takeaways for our members:
For more details or information please contact Andrew Parley and Amy Sherrard at Lenczner Slaght.
As per Town of Whitby Bylaw #7748-21, development charge rates will be indexed on February 1, 2023. Based on the 2022 (third quarter) Statistics Canada Non-Residential Construction Price Index for Toronto, development charge rates are set to increase by 15.6% on February 1, 2023.
The new Town of Whitby development charge rates effective February 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024 are:
The full notice from the Town of Whitby can be found here.
Oshawa's Development Services Department will provide a report to the City's Development Services Committee on November 28, 2022 regarding several matters related to planning application processes in Oshawa. One element of this report will be about changes to planning application fees.
A draft amendment to Schedule "D" (Planning Application Fees) of the City's General Fees and Charges Bylaw as amended has been sent out ahead of the report.
Typically on January 1 of every year, planning application fees increase by 3% automatically. The report will consider fee increases greater than 3% for certain application types effective January 1, 2023. Staff have said that planning applications have grown in complexity and many of the City's planning fees are well below other lakeshore municipalities in Durham.
According to City staff, further explanation regarding the fee changes will be contained in the report. The report also addresses certain changes to planning application processes in Oshawa as a result of Bill 109. Access to the report will be available starting Thursday, November 24, 2022 here.
The report and recommendations are anticipated to be considered by council on December 12, 2022.
If you have any comments or concerns, please contact Stacey.
CLOCA is proposing an update to their fee schedule. The new fee structure can be found here.
The 2023 fee schedules provide for a 7% inflationary increase, and are also intended to support and build their staff capacity to maintain or reduce review time. In 2022, they made internal reassignments to dedicate a second staff member to natural heritage-related reviews and to add planning support for files in Clarington to respond to the increase in work there. In 2023, they intend to increase their staff capacity for Whitby and area with a new Development Planner position.
Staff are proposing that the schedules be approved at the November CLOCA Board of Director's meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 22nd. Initially, the new fees were to take effect on January 1, 2023, however DRHBA has received notice from CLOCA that staff are now proposing that the new fees take effect on November 23, 2022 in order to provide more fiscal certainty and to support and build their staff capacity to maintain or reduce review times.
The City of Oshawa has released report CNCL-22-78: City Comments on Bill 23, "More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022", which will be brought to council on November 21, 2022 for approval.
The Durham Region Home Builders' Association is reviewing the report and will provide comment if deemed necessary. If you have any comments or concerns you would like addressed in our correspondence, please reach out to Stacey.
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