Despite evidence, council issues moratorium on some development fees

In an effort to spur the development of multi-unit residential housing, a divided city council approved a three-year moratorium on development charges for certain market housing, despite evidence development fees don’t.Developments affected by the moratorium include duplexes, triplexes, row houses, townhouses and small multi-unit apartments of 30 units or less.

The 7-5 vote in favour of the moratorium came during Tuesday night’s city council meeting, at which staff joined a handful of city council members in cautioning the group against it. “There’s not really a clear indication that there’s any direct correlation between DC rates and development activity,” Longston said, noting that although the city charted development activity in the wake of past reductions they couldn’t prove an impact.

Concluding her thoughts on the matter, McIntosh said residents would unlikely support subsidizing new builds through taxation, which Fortin’s motion calls for, and that developers will continue to “sell or rent at whatever the market suggests they can charge.” “A reduction in development charge collections will increase the cost of public services for all residents,” the AMO cautioned. “This will increase pressure from taxpayers to constrain growth and to constrain demands on the already stretched property tax dollar.One case study in Ottawa, where development charge concessions were made in a specific area, did not lower the price of housing compared to the rest of the city.

Lead researcher Adam Found told Sudbury.com in 2019 that there’s no evidence development charges discourage development. He pointed to the City of Kawartha Lakes, where a reduction in development charges was followed by a drop in construction, and an increase in development charges was followed by a spike in construction.

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