Decision time on development fees: Sault considers implementing charges on new builds.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: Construction

The City of Sault Ste. Marie is considering implementing development charges for new building projects in the city.

Fees collected from developers go toward the cost of linking new residential, commercial and industrial buildings to amenities like roads, sewer, water, and hydro. The Sault is currently one of the few municipalities in Ontario without development charges, but that could change if city council approves them later this year.

Jerry Dolcetti, the city's commissioner of engineering and planning, said he's unsure why the city hasn't had development charges in place in the past, but suggested it was perhaps thought to be an advantage in attracting new business and development to the city. Yet history doesn't show that to be the case, he noted.

"That really hasn't happened to the extent where we could draw analogies like that," Dolcetti said.

Charging development fees--permitted under the province's Development Charges Act--is a mechanism designed to help municipalities raise money for community projects, such as a new recreational facility, or adding a lane of traffic to a road where traffic patterns have increased following the growth of a new subdivision, Dolcetti said.

If approved, the Sault would introduce the charges through a staged implementation process, similar to what Sudbury did when it adopted development fees, Dolcetti added. For example, if a developer is charged $7,000 for a single residential unit, instead of paying the $7,000 in one shot, the fees would be phased in over a three-year period to reduce the strain on the developer.

"There's no question that it adds to the cost of building a home, or for that matter, if you're an industrial site," Dolcetti said, "because there are also development charges that apply to industrial or commercial."

Charges are typically based on square footage for industrial and commercial properties, and for residential units, they're based on whether it's a single- or multi-unit dwelling and how many bedrooms are included.

The thought of adding financial burden to an already-depressed construction market is worrisome for Adam Pinder, manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association.

"There's concern that downloading this cost to the contractors up front is going to hurt the development that we're already struggling to get here in Sault Ste. Marie," Pinder said. "There's been a lot of concern expressed to me from a big section of my members, talking about what this could...