Development Charges Initiative

The County of Essex is considering the adoption of development charges to pay for growth-related expansion of the services it provides. It has hired Hemson Consulting Ltd. to conduct a study to forecast future growth, assess current service levels and determine the eligible growth-related costs of County services. The study is the first step in a process required for the County of Essex to adopt a Development Charges By-law.

The Background

The Development Charges Act, 1997, governs the collection of development charges. The intent of development charges is to ensure that infrastructure costs arising from increasing population and employment are fully funded by development that benefits from the introduction of new services (user-pays approach). Development charges have been established by municipalities to ensure that these costs are not borne by existing residents and businesses through property taxes or water/sewer rates.

A 2009 background for the County of Essex Official Plan recommended the County consider development charges as a method to ensure that developers bore the costs of growth-related needs in the region, rather than burdening residents with the expense.

One of the goals of the County of Essex Strategic Plan 2024-2027 is to help create the conditions to make the region a powerhouse in public and private investment attraction by providing reliable infrastructure for partners. To achieve this, the County will, among other things: “Explore sustainable funding and financing options for long-term infrastructure planning including the introduction of development charges to fund growth infrastructure.”

To date, the County has not had a Development Charges By-law and due to the amount of growth anticipated, it would be appropriate to have the ability to fund growth related services and infrastructure through the levy of fees to the benefitting new development.

For more background, read these reports:

May 15, 2024: Advancement of a County Development Charges Study and By-law

Nov. 6, 2024: Update on the County Development Charges Study and By-law

The Process

The initial phase of this endeavour involves commencing a Development Charges Background Study to establish a strategic road map for further action.

The Development Charges Background Study is required under the Development Charges Act to include:

• A forecast of the amount, type and location of future development;
• The average services levels provided by the County over the 15-year period immediately preceding the preparation of the background study;
• Capital cost calculations for each of the eligible development charge related services;
• An examination of the long-term capital and operating costs for infrastructure required to service the forecasted development; and
• The asset management plan to demonstrate that all assets included in the study are financially sustainable over the full life cycle.

The County must complete a Development Charges Background Study process to adopt a by-law to collect development charges. The Development Charges Background Study will need to be prepared in concert with local development charges by-laws regarding land needs and growth areas as well as attributable services.

The County Development Charges Study will assess County-wide services, including library, land ambulance, long-term care, roads and waste diversion. The study will need to determine if there are any components to any of these costs that are covered by the local municipality. For example, it will consider how much of the costs for libraries are covered by the local municipalities and how much by the county. The majority of the costs will be County-wide services; however, it may be appropriate to consider area specific services attributable to certain municipalities or large-scale greenfield areas where growth related road improvements will be necessary. The County will be relying on the consultant tasked with undertaking the Development Charges Study to make recommendations in this regard.

See the Nov. 6, 2024, presentation to Essex County Council by Hemson Consulting Ltd.

The Timeline

To ensure a structured approach to the Development Charges Study and By-law process, a timeline for completing tasks has been established and is shown below.

How to Stay in Touch

Join our project notification list by contacting County of Essex Development Charges Study Project Manager, Rebecca Belanger, Manager, Planning Services at rbelanger@countyofessex.ca.