Development Charges Review

The Municipality of Leamington has engaged a consultant to prepare a background study to reintroduce its Development Charges By-law.

What are development charges and why are they collected?

Development charges are fees collected from developers when a building permit is issued to help pay for the infrastructure required to provide municipal services for new development, such as roads, public works, transit, water and waste water infrastructure, community centres and fire and police facilities.

The principle behind Development Charges is that growth should pay for growth. Development Charges ease the financial burden on existing taxpayers to fund new services as a result of growth. Without development charges, the costs for additional infrastructure would be at the expense of existing property owners in the form of higher property taxes and user fees. Development charges are used by most municipalities in Ontario.

Background

In 2014, the Municipality of Leamington completed a comprehensive background study and through the legislated process, passed a by-law to discount development charges by 100% for all types of developments, except for the greenhouse water development charge which was discounted by 46.66%.

In 2019, the Municipality engaged Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. to undertake a development charges background study and by-law.

Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. has prepared a 2022 Development Charges Background Study and proposed By-law, and the Municipality is currently undertaking a Development Charges public engagement process.

Leamington has experienced unprecedented growth over the past five years, with the number of building permits and planning applications increasing every year. The emplacement of development charges will help the Municipality mitigate the additional growth-related costs from being passed on to the taxpayer.

The 2022 Development Charges Background Study is now available for review.

The 2024 Development Charge rates have been approved by the Council of the Municipality of Leamington.

For project updates, please refer to the news feed section below.