The Town of Ajax hosted a General Government Committee meeting on December 12, 2022, which was followed immediately after by their council meeting.

The Committee, then Council, passed Report 2022-PDS-29: Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 Town of Ajax Comments. 

Key comments from the report include:

• The Town does not support amendments that remove a funding source for land acquisition and studies for DC projects.  Based on the current DC Background Study, this would impact $14.7 million in planned growth-related studies and land costs.
• The Town does not support discounting new DCs.  After examining the previous 5 years of DC collections, the discounting of DCs would have resulted in $4.6 million less DC collections.
• The known impact to the Town would be approximately $1.9M annually, which equates to an annual tax levy increase of 2.5%.  This figure does not include anticipated funding loss from the exclusions for attainable/affordable housing, the extension of historical service level from 10 years to 15 years, the discount on purpose-built rentals, and amendments to Parkland Dedication and CBC calculation and exemptions.
• The Town does not support the exemption for ‘attainable’ housing units from paying DCs, Parkland Dedication and CBCs as the province has not identified what an ‘attainable’ unit is.
• The Town does not support extending the timeframe for calculating the historical service level from 10 to 15 years, as the historical level of surface would decrease the calculated cap, thereby further reducing the charge, and would not be reflective of the needs of the community.
• The Town does not support amendments to Section 42 of the Planning Act related to Parkland Dedication, as it will have consequential impacts on parkland within communities across Ontario, especially in high density communities.
• The Province recently required municipalities to update parkland dedication by-laws by September 18, 2022, many of which have already been appealed by the development industry.  Poor coordination of legislative changes is unnecessarily costing municipalities significant financial resources.
• The Town does not support the amendment that prevents Conservation Authorities from providing non-mandatory programs and services related to development application review.  Conservation Authorities provide informative and cost-effective services related to environmental management, ecology, habitat restoration, species at risk, and water quality, watershed planning, among many other matters.  This will require lower-tier municipalities to take on this function and will substantially increase development application costs.  The ability for municipalities to enter into service agreements should be implemented.
• The Town does not support the amendment to the definition of Headwater Drainage Feature (HDF) as HDFs are integral to watershed health and play a critical role in flood control, source water conveyance, infiltration, water quality, and improved habitat quality.
• The Town has concerns with the Region’s OP being transferred to the Town as servicing and transportation infrastructure planning is inherently tied to growth management and could result in construction delays and higher costs for infrastructure.
• Amendments to Section 41 (Site Plan Control) should be repealed.
• The Town does not support limiting Inclusionary Zoning units to 5%.