A statutory public meeting was held during the District of Muskoka Council meeting on Thursday, August 8, to gather input on proposed changes to the District development charges.
Peter Simcisko of Watson and Associates presented a brief overview of the development charges background study and their recommendation, which involved working closely with District staff, developing a growth forecast, identifying the capital needs that the District anticipates, and calculating the development charges that could be put in place to help the District fund the capital requirements to service new growth.
He said the growth forecast anticipates that Muskoka’s population will grow by just under 12,000 people in the next ten years, which translates into about 5,900 additional dwelling units. Simcisko said the growth forecast also identifies non-residential growth for the District. He said job growth forecasted equates to about 3,000 people accompanied by about 2.4 million square feet of additional building space that that employment growth will be accomodated within.
“The net capital costs that could be potentially recovered through the development charge, those total growth-related needs or DC recoverable needs amount to just under 257 million dollars…,” noted Simcisko.
A chart, as per the report, of proposed development charges with the grand totals at the bottom:
Rural, unserviced areas would pay about $4,900 per unit (a decrease of about $391 per unit or 7 per cent compared to existing rates), and in urban areas serviced by water and wastewater services, the proposed development charge would be about $22,000 per unit (an increase of 33 per cent or $5,500 per unit).
The proposed development charges that apply to non-residential development, so generally, commercial and industrial development would increase by $11.76 per square foot (an increase of about $9.55 per square foot compared to the existing charge). “Which is quite a large increase, about five times the current charge. However, again, when we look at what that charge would be today had the District imposed full development charges on non-residential development in 2019 (instead of significant decreases implemented at that time), that charge today would be about $27.83 per square foot within the urban services areas.”
Automatic indexing of the charges bylaw would be included to account for inflation and the bylaw would be in effect until 2030 (unless council wishes to extend it), for five years after it is passed, noted Simcisko.
You can see the full report presented to council HERE.
Council received comments from members of the public representing developers. Some were opposed to the proposed increases and asked for an extension to their adoption in September (with implementation in January 2025) while their professionals have an opportunity to review the background study. Others criticized the parameters used to determine the charges for not encouraging the creation of attainable, owned housing.
Staff noted that the input received, particularly respecting attainable housing, would inform their report when they return to council in September with recommendations and possibly a bylaw. District Chair Jeff Lehman asked if an attainable housing option is included and whether anti-flip provisions could be added. “So that people don’t just receive the discounted price and then turn around and sell the home a year later for a much higher among – buy low and sell high and benefit from the discount… but the home doesn’t stay attainable is the concern that I have.”Is that something that the sector has worked out with these new affordable and attainable exemptions from the Province?”
Commissioner of Finance and Corporate Services Suzanne Olimer said the sector is divided on the tools available to try to keep affordable and attainable housing affordable and attainable. “There is still a lot of work that’s being done to try and determine what methodologies are available. At the end of the day, I don’t think that there are provisions available to us to prevent an owner from selling their property at a higher rate than what they purchased it at.”
Staff is expected to monitor developments regarding anti-flip policies and return with some possible suggestions. Councillors also learned that if the Province introduces new legislation as it pertains to development charges, the bylaw can be revisited.
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