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The O akville Beaver, Friday F e b ru a ry 17, 2 0 0 6 - 5 Town hits developers with hefty development application fee increase By A ngela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Fees paid by developers for processing devel opment applications at the Town of Oakville are going up an average 183 per cent later this month. Love it or hate it, no one representing the development community was at Monday's Planning and Development Council meeting to object. An e-mail from Metrus Development -- the development management firm that handled development of Bronte's Lakeshore Woods sub division for New Province Homes, the company related to the proposed Palm Place development of condos on the former Shell House property, did ask for a deferral. Mayor Ann Mulvale said she was translating the absence of people objecting at Monday's meeting to mean it's acceptance of a cost of doing business and recognition that Oakville is simply conforming with other municipalities. The massive hike aims to achieve full cost recovery for staff time on processing develop ment applications. "If we find it's not enough, how soon could we revisit this?" asked Ward 4 Councillor Allan Elgar. Town finance director Patti Elliott-Spencer said the fees will be reviewed annually. Council was assured the hike reflected "real costs" and that the Town was careful in its assess ment as such fees can be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (0MB). Town planning director Peter Cheatley did inform council that a flurry of development applications are expected to be filed prior to the new fees kicking into effect next week. Ward 1 Councillor Mike Lansdown asked about discussions he's heard that such fees miti gate against affordable housing. Mulvale said the fees are "legitimate costs of doing business" and said property taxpayers should not be expected to subsidize the provision of affordable housing, which is the mandate of provincial and federal governments. In response to the Metrus e-mail, ElliottSpencer noted "one of the main reasons for the fee increase is that the town's fees have not changed since 1999." According to the report to council Monday, the fees have been based on a policy of recover ing only 75 per cent of direct staff costs, "result ing in significant costs being subsidized through the Town's tax levy." The total costs of processing various types of development applications from 2002 to 2004 was $2.9 million. The town recovered only $1.02 mil lion or 35 per cent. Total costs ranged from an estimated $1.3 million for subdivision, zoning, official plan or condominium applications, to $120,000 for land division applications. The new increase irufees ranges from 150 per cent to 295 per cent in order to break even. Council approved the 183 per cent hike -- with a staff-report noting the high end of costs are incurred more on minor variances primarily charged to residential properties for variances required to permit construction of decks and garden sheds and full cost recovery there is feared to lead to non-compliance. . What it translates to is that the existing $2,000 fee for a subdivision, zoning, Official Plan or condominium application will rise to $5,040. A site plan application will jump from $1,000 to $3,200. In addition to the base fee, per unit charges are also assessed for subdivision, zoning, official plan, condominium and site plan applications -- and these will increase by the same rates. Council also heard that even with the increased fees, Oakville is at the lower end of the range for such fees compared to other GTAs. communities. 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