By Cecilia Nasmith
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's plan to provide more housing by speeding up the planning and approval processes will mean some new costs for the taxpayers of Northumberland County.
Even before the details of this were explored Wednesday at Northumberland County council's Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use Planning standing committee meeting, the committee had voted to recommend county council support calls from three municipalities – Port Hope among them – to urge the province to revisit Bill 109 due to what committee head Bob Sanderson termed the “punitive element for municipalities” that is part of its provisions.
Specifically, in a bid to speed up the construction of homes, the bill (known as the More Homes For Everyone Act) sets out deadlines for planning and approvals processes that, if not met, would result in municipalities having to refund these fees to developers.
While the county does operate within the time frame just now, Land Use Planning and Inspection Services Manager Dwayne Campbell told the committee, it may not be possible to continue to work within these deadlines without added staff – especially in light of the growth the county is experiencing.
And looking ahead to the 2023 budget process, he and department head Dan Borowec presented three issue papers that called for three new staffers (and one new vehicle).
The vehicle – estimated at $80,000 in the 2023 budget – is for the new inspector who will join a staff consisting of one senior inspector, one full-time inspector and one seasonal part-time inspector who do the work behind the issuing of plumbing and sewage permits that are in increasing demand.
Plumbing permits issued grew from 631 in 2019, to 715 in 2021, to 325 in the first six months of 2022. The growth in sewage permits is more dramatic – 179 in 2019, to 276 in 2021, to 159 in the first six months of 2022.
While construction used to adhere more to a seasonal schedule, Campbell said, “what we are finding is, there is no downtime throughout the year. We see sewage applications coming in in the middle of January and February.”
Campbell expects this staff addition to be revenue-neutral, funded entirely from permit fees – which, he stressed, will be possible as long as they have another staffer to keep approvals flowing at a rate that does not require refunds under the new legislation.
Campbell anticipates the hiring to take place mid-way through 2023 at a cost of $39,000 for that year, and $78,000 in 2024.
Funding for the Land Planning Analyst they want to add to their current staff of one planning manager and one senior planner will come from several sources. While he anticipates 30% of this $90,000 annual cost can come from development fees and 10% from service agreements, 60% will have to come from the tax levy.
“It's more than just Planning Act legislation that we are dealing with – that, coupled with a population increase they say is growing to 122,000 people and 44,000 jobs within the next 30 years,” Campbell said.
This hiring too would take place mid-way through 2023, meaning a cost of just $35,000 for the first year.
The third prospective hire would have a less direct impact on planning and approvals process except in the sense that it makes the department's workforce more efficient.
At present, Borowec said, the administrative clerk is a one-day-per-week position. With full-time administrative support for all the department's portfolios (including land-use planning), less time from other staffers will be required for administrative functions and more can be devoted to providing the services they are there for.
The cost for this third new staffer, according to his report, is an additional $26,000 on the annual tax levy.
