{"id":32220,"date":"2022-11-17T19:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32220"},"modified":"2022-11-17T19:17:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:17:51","slug":"provinces-housing-measures-continue-to-raise-municipal-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/provinces-housing-measures-continue-to-raise-municipal-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Province\u2019s housing measures continue to raise municipal concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ontario Government\u2019s plan to create more housing across the Province continues to draw concerns from municipal leaders at both the Town and Regional level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the inauguration of Aurora\u2019s 2022-2026 Council on Tuesday evening, one of the first orders of business lawmakers will be set to tackle will be to formally oppose Bill 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a motion that will come before Council in the coming weeks from Mayor Tom Mrakas, Council will be asked vote for calling upon the Province to \u201chalt\u201d the Bill\u2019s advancement through the Legislature to allow for further consultation with municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal, says Mrakas in his motion, is to \u201censure that its objectives for sound decision-making for housing growth that meets local needs will be reasonably achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany of the proposed changes (within the Bill) are significant and will restrict how municipalities manage growth through implementation of the Official Plan and the ability to provide essential infrastructure and community services,\u201d reads the motion. \u201cThe effect of Bill 23 is that the Conservation Authority will no longer be able to review and comment on development applications and supporting environmental studies on behalf of a municipality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill, he adds, proposes to freeze, reduce and remove development charges \u2013 money paid to communities by developers for infrastructure improvements to account for growth \u2013 and parkland dedication requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBill 23 will remove all aspects of Site Plan Control of some residential development proposals up to 10 units,\u201d the Mayor continues \u201cChanges would also remove the ability to regulate architectural details and aspects of landscape designs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backlash against Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, continued at the Regional table last week with Regional Council passing a motion from Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti requesting that Queen\u2019s Park \u201chalt\u201d the Bill and consult the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team to \u201censure municipalities can work in partnership with the Province to address the housing affordability crisis in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRegional Council and The Regional Municipality of York remain aligned with the provincial goal of building more homes and increasing the speed of approvals, but we do have concerns with the proposed legislation,\u201d said York Region Chairman and CEO Wayne Emmerson. \u201cAs proposed, Bill 23 will have considerable and complex economic, social and environmental impacts and will significantly impact how municipal governments recover the costs associated with growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill puts forward many changes, including modifications to the Development Charges Act and Planning Act which would put limits on how municipalities can finance infrastructure needed due to growth from new developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, says the Region, contradicts \u201cthe goal of building more affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe concept that growth should pay for growth is a long-held practice of governments around the world,\u201d said Mayor Scarpitti in a statement. \u201cIn bringing forward this motion and asking the province to take a pause on Bill 23, Regional Council is asking the province to collaborate and work with its municipal partners to address the affordable housing crisis while ensuring the financial burden of growth-related infrastructure does not sit with our existing property taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ontario Government\u2019s plan to create more housing across the Province continues to draw concerns from municipal leaders at both the Town and Regional level. Following the inauguration of Aurora\u2019s 2022-2026 Council on Tuesday evening, one of the first orders of business lawmakers will be set to tackle will be to formally oppose Bill 23. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8nG","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 02:05:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}