GENERAL COMMITTEE

 

 

 

 

 

TO:

Mayor and Members of Council

 

 

 

 

FROM:

Jim Baird, Commissioner of Development Services

Andy Taylor, Commissioner of Corporate Services

 

 

 

 

PREPARED BY:

Jamie Bosomworth, Manager of Strategy and Innovation

Veronica Siu, Senior Business Analyst

Development Services Commission

 

 

 

 

DATE OF MEETING:

2008-Oct-20

 

 

 

 

SUBJECT:

Amendments to Development Fee, Building Fee and Town Wide Fee By-laws

Development Services Commission

                       

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Report titled “Amendments to Development Fee, Building Fee and Town Wide Fee By-laws, Development Services Commission" dated October 20, 2008, be received:

 

And that the proposed amendments be referred to a public meeting of Development Services Committee, to be held on November 18, 2008.

 

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to propose amendments to Development Fee By-law 211-83 respecting development applications, Building Fee By-law 2007-16 for building permit applications and Fee By-law 2002-276 for general services and documents. The purpose of the by-laws and associated fees is to ensure that development processing related costs are covered by application fees and are not a burden on the property tax rate.  The proposed 2009 general rate increase for both Development (Planning/Urban Design and Engineering) and Building Fees is 4.0%.   Certain adjustments in the fee structure are also recommended, as outlined in this report as well as changes to printing costs of documents being sold to customers.  

 

BACKGROUND:

At the June 28, 2005 Council meeting, new fee by-laws for the Planning/Urban Design and Engineering Departments (Development Fee By-law) and the Building Department (Building Fee By-law) were passed in order to address Bill 124 requirements, which came into effect on July 1, 2005.    The Building Code Statute Law Amendment Act, 2002 (Bill 124) stipulates fees must not exceed the anticipated reasonable costs to administer and enforce the Act.   The Planning Act also gives municipalities authority to collect fees for various development control activities to cover "anticipated costs" with “respect to the processing of each type of application” or each service.   These new fees for both development applications and building activities were brought forward in 2005 to cover our direct and indirect costs associated with each application or service. 

 

The Development Fee by-law was further amended by Council on December 13, 2005, to better reflect the cost of each activity within the by-law and both by-laws were subsequently amended in January 2007 and January 2008 to reflect the overall increase in cost for providing services under each by-law.  

 

OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:

Calculation of costs recoverable from user fees

Increased fees are required in 2009 to cover the projected increase in costs over the 2008 base.   These increases are a result of projected 2009 salary and benefit increases, general inflation and capital investments increases.  The proposed 2009 general rate increase for Development (Planning/Urban Design and Engineering) and Building Fees is 4.0%.  

 

No change in fees for certain application types to the Development Fees

Within the Development Fee By-law, staff are proposing to maintain the fees for minor variances and heritage applications at current levels, as generally the applicants are local home owners and further increases may become a deterrent to filing of applications and in-turn result in illegal activity.     The urban design fee (5.1% of the cost of landscape works) for review and approval of site plans and subdivisions, the engineering fee (5.1% of the cost of public works) for review and approval of site plan drawings and subdivision drawings and the fee associated with residential service connection (16% of the cost of public works) will also remain the same.    Cost increases in construction with our current percentage fee amount will recover our additional costs.

 

Changes to Building Fees

The body of the new by-law remains substantively unchanged.  The fee schedules include the following changes:

 

1.      Except as noted below, staff recommends an increase of 4% to the fee multipliers and most of the flat fees contained in Table 1 of Schedule “A”.

2.      The minimum fee has been increased to $100 from $60 for any application.  At this level, the fee falls short of full cost recovery, but accounts for the price sensitivity among proponents of small construction projects.

3.      Fee refund provisions have been adjusted to eliminate refunds for amounts less than $500, and to make refunds for issued permits that do not proceed to inspections and permits that are “ready to issue” consistent.  These changes are intended to capture the costs associated with fee refunds and to discourage applicants from filing applications without the owner’s authorization.

4.      An additional fee of $200 payable when a Stop Work Order is issued.  This offsets the related inspection and administrative costs.

5.      Introduction of a $200 fee for information required by day nursery operators and operators of premises licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.  This fee is required to offset the related inspection and administrative costs.

6.      Maximum Conditional Permit fee increased from $1500 to $2000.  This fee is required to offset the related administrative costs of issuing conditional permits.

7.      Fee for inspection subsequent to a project being suspended or deemed incomplete increased from $150 to $200.  This increase is required to offset the related inspection and administrative costs of revisiting backfiles.

8.      Demolition fees for non-residential buildings changed from $0.09/m˛ to a flat rate of $500 and the demolition fee for residential buildings increased from $156 to $200.  This offsets the related inspection and administrative costs.

9.      Emergency power systems are rarely proposed independently of other construction, but the $222 fee for such installations does not recover the related inspection and administration costs.  Accordingly, the fee for independent emergency power systems is increased to $500.

10.  Consolidation and simplification of some mechanical fee classes set out in Table 1.  This is to rationalize and simplify the schedule by eliminating distinctions among occupancy classes that have no fee implications.

11.  The Building fee model warrants a fee increase in 2009 of 8.4% based on annual inflation, salary and benefit increases and prior 5-year average volume decline in Building revenue activities.  However, in light of the economic downturn, staff has decided to leave four positions vacant within the Building department, in effect reducing the rate increase to 4%.

 

Changes to Town Wide Fee By-law

Staff have reviewed fees associated with compliance letters, publication of maps and schedules and general photocopying identified in the Town Wide Fee By-law.   We have not increased these fees for some time now and after including in-direct costs into our overall costs for doing this work, Staff are proposing to increase the following fees:

 

Description

Original Fee

Proposed Fee

Swimming Pool Enclosure Permit

$50

$60

Engineering Compliance Letter

$110

$130

Geomatics Custom Mapping

$60/hr

$75/hr

Municipal Address Change

$500

$600

Photocopying

$1/first 3 pages & $1/each subsequent page

$1/each page

Street Map (colour)

$15

$25

Zoning Map

$15

$25

Municipal Address Map

$15

$25

Official Plan Schedules

$15

$25

Subdivision Status Chart

$30

$50

 

These revenue changes will be monitored as part of future fee bylaw updates to eliminate any redundancies in cost recovery.

 

Public Consultation

The Ontario Building Code Act Reg. 350/06 requires the Town to hold at least one public meeting at which any person who attends has an opportunity to make representations with respect to any changes in fees.  Notice must be given to the general public and interested parties 21 days prior to the meeting.  It is recommended that notice be placed in the Markham Economist and Sun and the Thornhill Liberal, and be mailed to the Urban Development Institute, Toronto Home Builders Association, and development industry representatives listed on the Town’s “Developers Round Table” distribution list. Staff are recommending that the public meeting be held on November 18, 2008, as part of the regular Development Services Committee Public Meeting scheduled for that date.      

 

 

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:  

The Finance Department has been working closely with Development Services Commission staff to ensure proper direct and indirect cost recovery and to incorporate the results into the proposed 2009 operating budget.

Increased fees are required in 2009 to cover the projected increase in costs over the 2008 base.   These increases are a result of projected 2009 salary and benefit increases, general inflation (CPI index was 3.5% for year ending August 2008) and capital investments.  The proposed 2009 general rate increase for Development (Planning/Urban Design and Engineering) and Building Fees is 4.0%.  

 

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

No other departments were consulted.

 

 

ATTACHMENTS:

Attachment “A”            Amendment to Fee By-law 211-83

Attachment “B”            By-law respecting Construction, Demolition and Change of Use Permits and Inspections

Attachment “C”            Amendment to Fee By-law 202-276

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.

Commissioner of Development Services

 

Andy Taylor

Commissioner of Corporate Services

 

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