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2 NEWS q s & g iy = z 9g HERB GARBUTT z hgarbutt@metroland.com 2 Halton Hills council has = taken issue with the prov- FE ince and its bill aimed at in- = creasing Ontario's supply & and affordability of hous- 20% ‘Town staff and council supported the goals of Bill 109, the More Homes for Ev- eryone Act, but questioned the province's meth« achieving them. In a presentation to council, Damian Szybalski, the town's director of eco- nomic development, inno- vation and culture, si 109 could “have potential fore reaching financial im- plications on the: municipal. ity." Among the most contro- versial elements was the province's requirement that municipalities refund ap- plication fees if a decision ona building applications is not made within 120 days. “If waived, there would be no bare funding sources," sun Kim, the town's rector of finan- planning and budgets. hy would be refunded by ex- isting taxpayer: Kim also confirmed that there is nothing in the bill that requires developers to pass along the saving of the refunded fees to home pur- chasers. "It's very good for devel- opers,” said Coun. Jane Fo- gal. "It's bad for municipal finances." ile the province's TOWN CRITICIZES PROVINCIAL HOUSING BILL Graham Paine/Metroland stated goal is to cut out red tape in the approval pro- _ Halton Hills council says Bill 109, meant to increase the province's housing supply, will hurt cess, several councillors municipalities and not make homes more affordable. pointed out that many of the delays in the process are to _ the 120-day timeline leaves most and meet provincial require- little time for public input. pretty fundamental to the _into the municipalities and ments such as environmen- She: said Bill 109 is is “guttinga planning processes that forcing situations that may tal rocess we've established over or may not actually im- Coun. Anne Lawlor said ANCA TA A ies) FIREWORKS NIGHTLY AT 10PM that i is pretty important to many, many years. Iseeitas prove and provide more housing. Jeff ” Markowiak, the town's director of develop- ment review, said it would require more staff resourc- es in order to complete ap- plication reviews in the province's timelines. He added those timelines may lead to municipalities turn- ing down more applications to avoid losing the fees. That could slow down the build- ing of houses. Mayor Rick Bonnette criticized the province for having no one representing municipalities on the task force that came up with the recommendations on which Bill 109 was based. Fogal said the only peo- ple who benefit are the de- velopers who get their fees ret . SI munici- palities would lose money making it even tougher to keep up in providing recre- ation facilities and services for residents. “There's nothing in it for the people who are strug- gling to put a roof over their heads," Fogal said. #EXPLORE INTENT NGY AN BOOK YOUR OVERNIGHT AT NIAGARAFALLSTOURISM.COM SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! PUT THIS REMINDER ON YOUR FRIDGE! SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! Come enjoy the15th Annual Milton Lifestyle Spring Home Show - May 27-29, 2022 at Milton Memorial Arena, 77 Thompson Road S. Friday 3pm-8pm ENTER TO WIN $1000 CASH! theifp.ca ENTER TO WIN YOUR VERY OWN FRIENDLY GARDEN GNOME! You will see: * hundreds of new products and services for your home * terrific, one-time home show specials * local, reliable companies ¢ lots of prizes & free draws * engaging & exciting presentations by the Canadian Raptor Conservancy Saturday 11am-5pm Sunday 11am-5pm Proudly produced by Jenkins Show Productions For exhibiting opportunities call 1-800-465-1073 today