Growth to Pay For Growth in Meaford
Posted by John Malloy on 07/09/2009
By Stephen Vance -
Meaford’s new Director of Planning, Rob Armstrong, has been hard at work in his first month on the job establishing priorities, and preparing for change.
Prior to joining the Municipality of Meaford, Armstrong was employed by the Town of the Blue Mountains for more than 16 years, and before that he worked for the County of Grey East planning office for 4 years.
Among his top priorities now that he has settled in to his new post in Meaford, are the approval of a new Zoning Bylaw, commencing the Official Plan Review, and identifying opportunities for, and implementing efficiencies in the Planning Department.
Another change that is on the way will be a revision of development charges levied against new development within the municipality. At present, the Municipality of Meaford has significantly lower development charges than all other municipalities in our area.
The municipal portion of the development charge rates in Meaford for single detached and semi detached residential units currently are approximately $3,100 (slightly more than $5,000 when the County portion is included). When compared to the $20,000 municipal development charge in neighbouring Thornbury, and $25,000 charged in Clarksburg, Meaford is clearly missing out on some much needed revenue.
According to Armstrong, the Municipality of Meaford needs to assess the impact that future growth will have on existing infrastructure, and what the costs will be in order to maintain the current level of services as development occurs. Those anticipated costs need to be factored in to the development charge rates.
Armstrong cited the sewage treatment plant as a prime example. The current facility is operating close to its capacity, and the cost to upgrade and expand would run into the tens of millions of dollars. That money needs to come from somewhere.
“The purpose of development charges is to ensure that current local tax payers don’t have to pay for the costs of new development.” Said Armstrong. “Growth must pay for growth.”
Continued at … mr-writer-sdrv.blogspot.com
Posted by
John Malloy on 07/09/2009. Filed under
Meaford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the
RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
