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3 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, July 17, 2009 LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER CONCERNED ABOUT THE FUTURE: Observing Wednesday's regional council meeting were (l-r) Jose Dai, Ging Loxi and Go Yant, of Geoscape. Lawyer questions legality of additional development Continued from page 1 allowed for developers to come back to the Region with their own suggested solution -- one that won't have an impact on the property tax base. However, Carr said he would be surprised if the development community could achieve a consensus on splitting up the costs, as Regional staff have already looked for such a solution over the past six months. Two local environmental groups, Oakvillegreen and BurlingtonGreen, voiced that same opinion and urged council to push through the charges and not postpone a decision. Gilgan wouldn't speculate on the likelihood that the developers would reach an agreement. Immediate history would suggest, however, getting developers to split up the costs in what could be seen as a fairer manner will be difficult to achieve. Halton's two school boards recently passed their own development charges bylaws, upping the charge to homebuilders to $2,600 per unit -- the highest in Ontario. Recognizing that it might not be fair for a small 400-square-foot seniors apartment unit to be charged the same rate as a four-bedroom home that could house multiple children, the development industry had been asked if they would prefer to be charged based on estimated pupils per household. They couldn't reach consensus, so the standard perunit price was kept in place, said Cynthia Clarke, of consultant C.N. Watson, which prepared the development charges background studies for the school boards. After the council vote, Milton developer York Gruehl, whose company is eager to start building some high density development in the town, said he isn't as concerned about the $8,000 charge as he is the timing of when the Region wants some of that money to be paid. The council-approved financial plan demands developers pay up front an interest free loan of $1,061 for every sewer connection they request, something Gruehl said is difficult for condominium developers to finance. Banks don't generally lend money to apartment developers until they have received approval for the developments and have sold at least 75 per cent of the units, industry sources say. Gruehl is hopeful Regional staff will be more open over the next 30 days to exploring the possibility of debt financing on behalf of the condo developers, with the money to be paid back with interest after they get their bank financing. However, council's decision Wednesday didn't provide an allowance for staff to go above the Regional standard debt ratio of 14 per cent. Halton Treasurer Jane MacCaskill told council that waiving the loan request for high rise builders would double the loan required from the single-family homebuilders, something she didn't believe would be accepted by those developers. The developer loans, totalling $3,300, to Halton Region are to pay for $29.5 million in immediate and necessary roads and water and wastewater infrastructure, according to Regional staff. The other portion of the $7,888 charge endorsed by council is a $4,590 per sewer pipe contribution charge that won't be paid back to developers. The money will be used to cover development charge exemptions given to nonresidential builders such as expanding industrial operations, churches, school boards, farms and conservation authorities. About 60 per cent of that money, totalling $138 million over the next 12 years, stems from mandatory exemptions included in the Province's Development Charges Act of 1997. However, regional council itself approved the other 40 per cent of the exemptions last May when it approved the Region's current development charges bylaw, confirmed staff. A letter from Mattamy's lawyer to council questioned the validity of the charges: "There is good reason to believe that the additional charges contemplated (now approved) are beyond the jurisdiction of the Region, and are essentially an attempt to unlawfully circumvent the Ontario Development Charges Act, 1997." Renovation Sale All Summer Stock Must Go 200 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville ON L6J 1H6 RETAIL & WHOLESALE LIGHTING Ask about our FREE Installation LIGHTING QUALIFIES FOR HOME RENOVATION TAX CREDIT Featuring lighting from Trump Home · Troy · Hudson Valley · Stonegate Design · Heidle and much more Oakville's Finest Lighting Store in the Oakville Home Improvement District ELEGANT www.conceptlighting.ca DISTINCTIVE 905.849.LITE (5483) OPEN SUNDAYS See Carr page 4 243 Speers Road · Between Kerr & Dorval · Oakville, ON