On Tuesday evening, November…

On Tuesday evening, November 15, 2022, the new Council of the Town of Perth for the 2022-2026 term was sworn in. As part of the agenda that evening, our staff reviewed with Council the policies proposed in Bill 23. Council was concerned about the unprecedented changes to planning policies in the province. I will highlight several of Council’s many concerns:

• Increased ability to build on wetlands, when we are increasingly dealing with the effects of climate change at the local level.

• Elimination of development charges on certain projects. As you are aware, inflation has had a large impact on the cost of renewing and upgrading infrastructure and equipment. Municipalities rely on development charges to help fund these critical assets. Eliminating development charges on these developments passes the costs on to existing residents and taxpayers; and places an even greater burden on municipalities struggling to fund their asset management plans.

• Decrease in the percentage of affordable/attainable housing required in new developments compared to our current Official Plan. It would appear that those less fortunate are shut out of the increased housing units that you are seeking.

• Removing the municipality’s ability to request a site plan for new housing less than ten (10) units. This hinders the ability of the municipality to have any oversight over proper stormwater management, landscaping, green space, etc. .

The Town of Perth fully supports the Province’s goals of creating more housing, and more affordable housing. However, we are concerned that the proposed legislation does more harm than good, removes local decision making, places additional financial burdens on small, rural municipalities, has a deleterious effect on climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and in the case of Perth, effectively serves to reduce affordable housing targets. We strongly urge your government to carry out further consultation on this legislation before implementation.