Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (“ERO”) posting 019-8371 and Ontario’s Regulatory Registry (“ORR”) posting 24-MMAH006 regarding the changes to the Development Charges Act, 1997 to Enhance Municipalities’ Ability to Invest in Housing-Enabling Infrastructure.

Please note that the following comments and recommendations are provided by City of Mississauga staff and have been endorsed by City Council at its meeting on May 1, 2024. The report to City Council is provided in the supporting link below.

The following contains a summary of the City of Mississauga's comments on ERO 019-8371 and ORR 24-MMAH006. In addition, detailed comments on the proposed changes are provided in the attached table (supporting document) below.

INTRODUCTION

Addressing Ontario’s housing challenges will require coordinated effort from all levels of government. The City of Mississauga is committed to doing its part to help address the housing crisis. This includes making sure there are no municipal barriers to develop 120,000 homes in Mississauga by 2031, and releasing an Action Plan for New Housing to help get us there.

Generally, the proposed amendments to the Development Charges Act, 1997 (the “DC Act”), are viewed as positive and roll back some of the discounts mandated in Bill 23. We support the Province’s efforts to address housing supply and suggest further recommendations noted below. Detailed comments are included in the attached table.

REPEAL MANDATORY FIVE-YEAR PHASE-IN OF DC RATES

The City is supportive of repealing the phase-in of DC rates.

Of the $12 million in DC revenue loss from the transition provision, $3.6 million relates to purely employment-related development. It is unclear how a discount in DCs to the non-residential sector would aid in the act of building more homes.

By implementing this transition provision, the Province of Ontario (Province) has effectively created a “window” where certain applications would receive a 15 to 20 percent discount in their DCs. It seems arbitrary that a planning application would not receive this discount if they applied one day before the passage of Bill 23, or one day after the royal assent of Bill 185. This creates inequity amongst the development community.

Key Recommendation:
• Fully repeal the phase-in discount such that no planning application will receive a

REINSTATE STUDIES AS AN ELIGIBLE DC CAPITAL COST

The City is supportive of reinstating studies as an eligible DC capital cost.

STREAMLINE PROCESS FOR EXTENDED DC BY-LAWS

The City is supportive of the streamlined process for extending DC By-laws. It provides clarity and direction about the permission to undertake administrative amendments to in-force DC By-laws.

REDUCE TIME LIMIT ON DC RATE FREEZE

DC rates are “frozen” at the time of site plan application (day the site plan is deemed complete). The two-year “clock” does not begin at the point in time, but rather at site plan approval.

Multiple years often elapse from submission of a site plan application to building permit issuance. However, this is not addressed by Bill 185. Therefore, the notion of incentivizing more housing development is not aided by this change to the DC Act.

Key Recommendation:
• Implement a time limit on the DC freeze that begins at the date a site plan application is deemed complete and not the approval date (e.g. – consistent with the freeze date). This may encourage fast-tracking of some developments.