This project supports the Region of Waterloo's strategic focus area(s):
Project update:
Thanks for telling us what you think about how we should pay for new infrastructure needed to accommodate new residents and businesses. Servicing a growing community, such as Waterloo Region, costs money. We asked you who should pay for it? Taxpayers? Businesses? Developers? Here's what council decided.
Council approved a new Development Charges By-law based on a background study and considerable public and stakeholder input regarding rates and policies. Highlights of the new By-law include:
- a 60 per cent development charge discount for industrial development
- a 50Continue reading
This project supports the Region of Waterloo's strategic focus area(s):
Project update:
Thanks for telling us what you think about how we should pay for new infrastructure needed to accommodate new residents and businesses. Servicing a growing community, such as Waterloo Region, costs money. We asked you who should pay for it? Taxpayers? Businesses? Developers? Here's what council decided.
Council approved a new Development Charges By-law based on a background study and considerable public and stakeholder input regarding rates and policies. Highlights of the new By-law include:
- a 60 per cent development charge discount for industrial development
- a 50 per cent development charge discount on certain office development in urban growth areas
- a full development charge exemption for development occurring in the Downtown Core areas in the City of Cambridge
The By-law also addresses redevelopment allowances for various types of demolished sites and amends the Brownfield Financial Incentive Program. The Region’s new development charge rates come into effect on August 1, 2019.
Introduction:
How should we pay for new infrastructure (roads, buses, water treatment plants, ambulance service among others) needed to accommodate new residents and businesses?
Should the existing residents pay in the form of user rates and property taxes? Or should the new development, benefitting from the new infrastructure, pay in the form of development charges or some combination of both?
Why are we asking for public input now?
The development charge by-law must be updated every five years. Our update is due in July 2019. We need to decide who and what amount we charge for development by then.
Before you provide input, please review the information below to help you understand Development Charges. Or watch the short video on this page.
What is the Regional Development Charge?
The purpose of the Regional Development Charge is to recover a portion of the cost for infrastructure that will be used by new houses and non-residential buildings. Municipalities are allowed to collect development charges under the Development Charges Act (DCA). Development Charges (DCs) are effectively taxes on new residential and non-residential development and are paid by Developers. Developers may choose to absorb the charges themselves or pass on some of the costs to new home buyers.
Development Charges are collected to fund new Regional infrastructure relating to water and wastewater, roads and bridges, transit and emergency services. The cities and townships also collect development charges to fund a portion of the growth-related cost of their locally provided services.
The calculated total Regional Development Charges for a single family house in one of the tri-cities could range from approximately $40,000 - $55,000 for both local and Regional services (pending the outcome of the by-law updates). This is higher than Woodstock, Brantford, Guelph and London. It's lower than DCs charged in Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area whose DCs range from just under $55,000 to almost $120,000.
video of Understanding development charges
