Chatham-Kent Council has passed a new bylaw to ensure local taxpayers do not have to foot the bill for future infrastructure development.
During Monday night’s meeting, council voted to move forward with a new development charges bylaw, which will have developers pay a fee before moving ahead with future projects.
The intent of development charges is to make sure that growth-related infrastructure costs are funded by new development and not by existing residents and businesses.
In the past, the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission has had development charges in place to help fund water and wastewater-related infrastructure. However, the municipality has never collected development charges on a number of other eligible services.
CK Mayor Darrin Canniff said these charges are commonplace in the majority of other municipalities across the province.
“When a new house goes in or a new subdivision, it drives up additional costs for the municipality… existing taxpayers [have been] paying for that incremental infrastructure to deal with it,” said Canniff.
According to a report delivered to council on Monday, a newly constructed single and semi-detached residential unit will be charged $17,316 when the building permit is issued. Commercial/Institutional developments will be charged $7.34 per square foot.
These development charges will be used by the municipality to offset the costs associated with the development such as road-related infrastructure, fire protection, policing, ambulance, libraries, parks and recreation, and waste diversion.
The report to council added that development charges ensure that “growth pays for growth” in Chatham-Kent.
