Ottawa’s planning committee laid out a new set of charges for developers on Thursday, though recent announcements from the Ontario government are expected to uproot the new framework sooner than usual.
The City of Ottawa last updated its five-year development charges bylaw in June of 2014, requiring an update before next month. The city collects the fees to partially fund growth-related infrastructure such as new roads, transit service and fire stations as well as libraries and other amenities.
As city staff’s background document put it, development charges fund the costs of servicing a larger city, “enabling growth to pay for growth.”
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Development charges are broken down into separate categories based on the building’s use and location in the city. Here’s a sample of the new fee structure as compared with 2014 levels:
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Single-detached home inside greenbelt: $30,977 from $25,113, up 23 per cent
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Single-detached home outside greenbelt: $36,388 from $35,047, up four per cent
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Rowhouse inside greenbelt: $24,748 from $19,399, up 28 per cent
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Rowhouse outside greenbelt: $28,538 from $26,381, up eight per cent
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Rural (serviced) single-detached home: $26,358 from $22,292, up 18 per cent
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Rural (unserviced) single-detached home: $23,989 from $19,602, up 22 per cent
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Industrial inside and outside greenbelt (per square foot): $10.28 from $9.39, up nine per cent
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Commercial inside and outside greenbelt (per square foot): $25.79 from $22.12, up 17 per cent
The new structure also added charges for a “rooming unit,” aimed at closing a loophole that purportedly allowed developers to build student housing but classify it as a retirement residence to avoid paying fees.
The new development charges structure may not last another five years. Last week, the Ontario government unveiled its new housing and development proposal, Bill 108, which includes changes to the funding of “soft” services such as recreation centres and libraries. The proposed structure would see a new process implemented for collecting funds for these services and force cities to revise their development charges accordingly.
