1) Third Party Appeals •…

1) Third Party Appeals
• Bill 23 proposes amendments to appeal rights under subsections 17 (24), 17 (36), 34 (19), 45 (12) and 53 (19) and (27) of the Planning Act. The intent of these changes is to limit third party appeals to specified organizations and agencies only.
• These changes will take away the ability for landowners and their representatives, including organizations such as the KHBA, to appeal municipally-initiated official plan and zoning by-law amendments.
• Request that third party appeal rights remain for official plan and zoning by-law amendment applications, including new official plans and zoning by-laws, where the applicant is a municipality.

2) Zoning restrictions on 3 units per lot
• Bill 23 will amend sections 16(3) and 35.1(1) of the Planning Act to permit up to 3 units per lot in a detached, semi-detached or rowhouse dwelling. KHBA supports this change.
• Such units will be subject to municipal zoning, though Bill 23 prevents municipalities from imposing minimum dwelling unit sizes or requiring more than 1 parking space per unit in such cases.
• Some municipalities currently restrict the maximum number of bedrooms in low density housing, which interferes with the financial viability of achieving the intended 3 units per property.
• Request that Bill 23 be amended to explicitly prohibit municipalities from limiting the maximum number of bedrooms for detached, semi-detached or rowhouse dwellings through official plans or zoning by-laws.

3) Development Charge increases
• The DC Act allows municipalities to index DC increases based on Statistics Canada’s construction price statistics.
• The DC Act does not specify a cap or limit on increases based on indexing, nor does Bill 23.
• During the pandemic, construction costs have increased significantly in a short time. Home builders are already having to contend with increased construction costs, which ultimately must be passed on to home buyers or renters, increasing the cost of housing.
• Substantial increases to DCs further contribute to increases in the cost of housing.
• Request that Bill 23 specify a cap on the amount by which DCs can be increased due to indexing.