{"id":32269,"date":"2022-12-02T10:59:21","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T15:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32269"},"modified":"2022-12-08T14:29:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T19:29:54","slug":"provinces-housing-plans-get-formal-thumbs-down-from-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/provinces-housing-plans-get-formal-thumbs-down-from-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Province\u2019s housing plans get formal thumbs-down from Council"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Province\u2019s new housing plans received a formal thumbs-down from local lawmakers at a Special Council Meeting last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Council got down to business for the first time last Tuesday in a meeting convened to discuss Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, which was approved at Queen\u2019s Park on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversial Bill, which has been the subject of scrutiny at Council tables across the Province, has raised concerns on a number of fronts since it was first introduced at the end of last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among its criticisms is a hit on the ability for towns and cities to collect development charges (DCs) from incoming developers to pay for growth, watering down the ability for Conservation Authorities to review planning proposals from an environmental perspective, and removing municipalities from having the final say in how they grow and address Provincial growth targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going into the meeting, staff reported to Council that the Bill would result in a loss of 20 to 30 per cent of DC revenues, which could mean a hit on municipal service levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite being responsible for some of the most important immediate services our residents need \u2013 roads, sewers, water, policing, EMT, fire, long-term care, housing, public health, and those are just to name a few \u2013 our ability to deliver these services are increasingly limited by the ever-changing scope of our authority,\u201d said Mayor Tom Mrakas, speaking to his motion calling on Council to reject the tenets of Bill 23. \u201cIn particular as it speaks to growth and development. Indeed, as I have said before, the biggest challenge we face as a Council and community is our limited authority to ensure community focused-growth and development. Bill 23 not only fails to give us the tools we need, it strips us of the ability to use the ones that we have. We have a housing crisis in this country and it affects every community large and small. But it does not affect each community in the same way. The diversity of housing needs are a function of a complex, often community. Specific set of factors that cannot simply be generalized in a one size fits all policy statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo we need more housing? Absolutely. But what kind of housing? How much and where? Macro planning objectives are the purview of the Province and are reflected in the Provincial policy statements and related legislation with the expectation that municipalities will create a community level plan that will affect those broader policy goals. The Province sets the targets: housing, population, density, and the municipalities create the plans to meet those targets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora, he continued, has \u201cconsistently met\u201d the Province\u2019s growth targets and housing objectives, with Aurora growing by 12 per cent between 2016 and 2021, more than double the Provincial average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been encouraging growth of the much-needed missing middle, the gentle density our community wants for years and we have seen an increase in these types of developments but not enough. We could do more if we have the authority to enforce our Official Plan. If Bill 23 is adopted as is, we will have even less authority to incentivise the development of much needed attainable housing. Even more concerning is we will have drastically-reduced ability to fund the services our residents need both now and in the future. The impact of this Bill on the municipal taxpayer is simply staggering. The proposed reduction in development charges is estimated to cost taxpayers collectively in the billions of dollars. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of infrastructure, he added, \u201cdoesn\u2019t simply disappear\u201d and deducing DC charges could either result in \u201chigher property taxes, drastically reduced services, or, quite frankly, both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is little evidence that any of the measures in this Bill will build the housing we need,\u201d he concluded. \u201cIt won\u2019t be built where we need it or at the price our residents can afford. Bill 23 effectively guts many of the legislative mechanisms we rely upon as a municipality to fund our infrastructure needs, plan future parks and amenities, protect our natural and built heritage, and plan for growth and development. I do agree with the Province that urgent action is needed to address the housing crisis in our communities but I strongly oppose to the proposed methods of achieving it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a view shared by Council and following Mayor Mrakas\u2019 introduction of his motion, discussions continued with Ward 4 Councillor Michael Thompson questioning how municipalities will be expected to make up for a loss in development charge revenue. The attitude from the Province of \u201cwe\u2019ll figure it out later\u201d doesn\u2019t cut it, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor decades, municipalities and AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) have been advocating to the Provincial government that there is an infrastructure deficit. Municipalities own 60 per cent of the infrastructure but get about 10 cents of every tax dollar,\u201d said Councillor Thompson. \u201cWe cannot maintain the infrastructure without the Province\u2019s help and DCs are critical to maintain that\u2026 for them to take pieces of that away so growth no longer pays for growth is irresponsible in my opinion and there has got to be a plan to allow for municipalities to make up for the loss and it needs to be detailed and explained to us long before this legislation is passed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward 2 Councillor Rachel Gilliland noted that she supported attainable housing but as far as Bill 23 goes the \u201cconsultation piece\u201d was missing. Also taking a hit through the Bill, she said, was the Town\u2019s efforts to have guidelines in place to protect the Town\u2019s so-called Stable Neighbourhoods from incompatible development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow they are completely irrelevant,\u201d she said. \u201cI say, \u2018what\u2019s really the point?\u2019 We have these protections in place for a reason. I am disappointed at development charges. At the end of the day, these DCs ebb and flow and we use the 10-year capital plan to ensure we\u2019re kind of in a positive space\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to buckle up our straps and it\u2019s going to end up coming down onto the tax base, which is something right now we just don\u2019t need. Another big alarming part for me is the Conservation Authorities. It is pretty much eliminating some of the reviewing and commenting on these development projects and putting a lot of that pressure on to the municipality. We don\u2019t have staff or the expertise to be handling these files. What\u2019s going to happen? We have the Conservation Authorities who are the experts. Should we not be using this body to handle these sensitive issues? We\u2019re lacking this collaborative approach and should be holding our Conservation Authorities near and dear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese agreed that Bill 23 will see costs fall to the taxpayers and requested a further breakdown on its impact in the coming weeks as the new Council begins the budget process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis government has decided they\u2019re going to increase the taxes of every human being who is a taxpayer in this Province and I don\u2019t know how they can do this without thinking about walking it back,\u201d he said. \u201cI think these submissions that we\u2019re making are vital to make sure that they understand the egregious violation that they have made, but we have to be clear: there has to be a shared responsibility here, not just lay it all down on the municipalities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner, \u201cHeritage preservation is going to take a hit in this Bill. It\u2019s going to be harder for us to protect our built heritage. There are so many problems with this Bill. If we don\u2019t have [the Conservation Authorities\u2019] help with long-term planning, how are we going to do the best we can in the context of the climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know we want to put our municipal reservations front and centre but I think as a municipality in the wider context it would be appropriate for us to mention these other things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding the discussion, Ward 6 Councillor Harold Kim said Bill 23 becomes \u201cmore far-reaching\u201d the more you read it. While he said the Bill would indeed reduce DCs, Community Benefit Charges and parkland dedication, he zeroed in on the overall financial implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven when people consider that growth paid for growth, which I always thought was untrue, some studies had calculated that to be about 80 per cent and with the current DC revenue reduction we\u2019re looking at probably the neighbourhood of 70 per cent,\u201d he said, before turning his attention to the Bill\u2019s heritage impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo essentially eliminate the option of listing a property on a heritage list\u2026 that is quite drastic and it is quite frankly offensive to a community. It\u2019s not just fiscal heritage, it\u2019s also natural resources. Now they are saying that you can\u2019t even list the natural heritage, water bodies, or anything else as heritage unless it is part of a development. That goes to how extreme this Bill is.\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 Province\u2019s new housing plans received a formal thumbs-down from local lawmakers at a Special Council Meeting last week. The new Council got down to business for the first time last Tuesday in a meeting convened to discuss Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, which was approved at Queen\u2019s Park on Monday. The […]<\/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-32269","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\/p3D2k4-8ot","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 12:08:31","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\/32269","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=32269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}