Council wants change to laws
The Halifax Herald Limited
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER / City Hall Reporter
Regional council wants to have control over extra charges for subdivision developers.
In an almost unanimous vote, council agreed to ask the province to change the legislation that governs service charges for developers on extras like bus service and bike lanes.
The motion made some councillors a little nervous, including Coun. David Hendsbee (Preston-Porters Lake), who was the only one to vote against it.
"I'm concerned that all this is going to do is put a higher development cost on residential lots out in (suburban) areas," he said.
He also expressed concern that the services would not be ready when the new homeowners, who ultimately paid for them, move in.
"If we are going to be paying these lot charges for transit, would (bus service) be there the day they move in? Or do they have to wait for a certain amount of density before the buses start rolling?"
Likewise, Coun. John Cunningham (Dartmouth Centre) said that at first blush, he was perplexed by the recommendation for developers to shoulder the cost of buses.
"I'm wondering if there has been any sort of analysis done as to what impact this would have on the price of a lot?"
Peter Duncan, with the municipality's regional planning project, said that developers may not end up paying that much more because the price of expanding bus service could be less than other services they pay for, like building wider roads to accommodate more cars.
"It's a lot cheaper to put someone on a transit bus than it is to put them on a street in a single-occupant vehicle."
Making arrangements to recoup the costs of servicing new areas is important, said Coun. Reg Rankin (Hammonds Plains-Timberlea).
"We are forecasting a population growth of something in the order of 100,000 over 20 years, and fully 40 per cent of that is beyond the urban core in the suburban area.
"If we do not have this provision . . . those services could be delayed in servicing the future growth."
The motion is very much in keeping with regional planning, he said.
"It is to have the province grant those powers . . . to give us the ability at a future date to apply these type of charges that we don't have the provision for today."
The motion will move on to become a resolution to be discussed at the annual general meeting of the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, to be held in Truro this September.
Opportunities for public input will be plenty, city solicitor Wayne Anstey said.
"All this is doing is just the initial framework that will allow council to do that. It doesn't set out any of the rules."