BUILDING DURHAM

At the Monday, June 7th Planning and Development Committee meeting in Clarington, Mayor Adrian Foster put forward a motion, seconded by Councillor Zwart:

"That staff investigate and report back on the potential for implementation of 'Whitby Green Standard' within Clarington's existing green initiatives including options for more environmentally friendly roofing options."

Mayor Foster opened the discussion by saying that the motion was self-evident.

"I understand that..a lot of the work has already been done on this and it gives us an opportunity to make some potentially tangible steps forward," he said.  "Certainly we heard from the group of students earlier and Toronto has done some work as well."

Councillor Neal followed with his comments.

"I've raised this a number of times about Clarington trying to get developers to stop using asphalt shingles, which are 100% guaranteed to go in a landfill somewhere and I seem to always get met by silence and I'm not sure why," said Neal.   "I know Whitby is greatest place in the world but they have the same issue going on and every house that's being built has asphalt shingles and they are all going in the landfill, and so I'd like to hear something concrete about what we can do about that as a municipality, because I think we could probably do better as it gets right down to it.  Just my thoughts.  I'd like to hear something other than silence on that, that's all I'm saying."

Councillor Hooper weighed in with his thoughts.

"When I did a little bit of research on this, the Whitby Green Standards, it says at the bottom of the page, several already have green standards in place and we, meaning the municipality of Clarington, is already included, along with Toronto, Richmond Hill, Brampton, Vaughn, Mississauga, Halton Hills and Pickering," said Hooper.  "Can staff please provide our committee with what our green development standards are?  And are our developers aware of what they are at the present time?"

Faye Langmaid, manager of special projects, planning and development for Clarington, said "we do have green development standards that were done as part of Priority Green and we can send you the links on them and I believe that the report that the Mayor and Councillor Zwart are asking for here will fully cover what those green standards are.  As part of the secondary plans we were dealing with at the most recent meeting, some of those development standards were actually being implemented in the policy aspect so we could implement them as developers came in with them."

Mayor Foster closed the discussion by stating that the motion was designed to look at the Whitby Green Standards within Clarington's existing green initiatives.

"So the theory is to see what's being done and what we might be able to easily pick up and integrate with what we are already doing," said Foster.

The motion was carried unanimously.

DRHBA has reached out to staff to start a discussion on this matter and ensure that the voice and concerns of the building industry are heard.

DRHBA maintains that municipalities cannot mandate above the Ontario Building Code, and acquired a legal opinion on the Whitby Green Standards that supports this position.

Anyone with concerns is encouraged to contact Stacey.

The Ontario Home Builders' Association (OHBA) and EnerQuality are working together to deliver job-ready, unskilled labourers to qualified OHBA members in the GTA, including Durham Region.

Through this program, OHBA and EnerQuality will manage all aspects of employee recruitment, screening, interviewing and onboarding.  They will also provide ongoing weekly program support to participating employers and to employees to ensure success for all parties involved.

Please click here for more information.

The Region of Durham has completed their Schedule B Municipal Class Environmental Assessment for Water Street Sanitary Sewage Pumping Station Capacity Expansion in Port Perry in the Township of Scugog.

The Project File Report will be posted until July 15, 2021 at durham.ca/WaterStreetSSPS.

The Notice of Completion can be viewed here

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The Region of Durham's Planning & Economic Development Committee will be reviewing report 2021-P-17 (Planning Application Processing Fees and Charges) on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.  

The report's next stop will be at Regional Council, and if passed, the new fees will come into effect on July 1, 2021.

The new fees are as follows:

Area Municipal Official Plan Amendment (AMOPA)

Exempt Review Fee $3,500

Non-exempt Review Fee $5,000

Plan of Subdivision and Condominium

Delegated Municipalities (Ajax, Clarington, Oshawa, Pickering, Whitby)

Subdivision Review Fee $5,000

Subdivision Review Fee – additional phases $3,000

Condominium Conversion Review Fee  $2,000

Phased Condominium Review Fee $2,000

Vacant Lot Condominium Review Fee $2,000 

Non-delegated Municipalities (Brock, Scugog, Uxbridge)

Review Fee $6,000

Final Approval Fee $1,500

Major Revision $1,500

Review Fee – subdivision – additional phases $3,000

Consent (severance, lot line adjustment, etc.)

Application Fee $1,350

Stamping Fee $1,000

Site Plan

Minor Review Fee for applications made under the Aggregate Resources Act $1,000

Major Review Fee for applications made under the Aggregate Resources Act $5,000 

Other Fees

Costs to administer Peer Review study (per peer review round) $500

Minor Minister’s Zoning Order Amendment application review $1,500

Major Minister’s Zoning Order Amendment application review $5,000

LPAT Appeal processing fee $500

Interested members can view the livestream of the meeting here.

The Region of Durham began development of a 20-year Long-term Waste Management Plan in 2020.  Regional council approved guiding principles, a vision and five objectives for the new Waste Plan earlier this year and staff are now developing draft targets and actions to support meeting the objectives.  This fall, staff will launch a public consultation that will include an online open house with a survey and virtual town hall for live questions and answers.  Public consultation is expected to launch in mid-September and be completed in mid to late October.

Details of the approved guiding principles, vision and objectives along with background information on the work completed so far and the archived 2020 public consultation can be found on their website: www.durham.ca/WastePlan.  Details and links to the 2021 public consultation efforts will also be posted on this page when available.

The Region of Durham welcomes the input from members of the Durham Region Home Builders' Association.

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is hosting an engagement session on Ontario's proposed Land Use Compatibility Guide on Tuesday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  The accompanying ERO posting can be found here outlining the details of the proposed Land Use Compatibility Guidelines changes

Interested members should register for the session and please direct any feedback to Alex Piccini, Manager of Government Relations, OHBA, to assist OHBA in developing an association response.  The deadline to submit comments on the ERO posting is July 3, 2021.

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks have posted proposal details for draft Regulations to support recent amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act.  Posted to the Environmental Registry of Ontario for public consultation until June 27^th, the proposal can be accessed via the following link: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-2986 with additional detail found in the Consultation Guide accessible here.

On December 8, 2020, Bill 229, the Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (Budget Measures), 2020, which made changes to both the Conservation Authorities Act and the Planning Act, received Royal Assent.  Those changes aim to:

• Improve consistency and transparency of the programs and services that CAs deliver;         
• Provide additional oversight for municipalities and the province; and
• Streamline CA permitting and land use planning reviews to increase accountability, consistency and transparency. 

Where We Are Now:

The MECP is now moving forward with the first of two phases of regulatory proposals to implement the changes detailing the requirements for programs and services (bullet one above), and how they should be implemented.  New regulations are being proposed to focus CAs on their code mandate by prescribing mandatory programs and services that they must provide, give municipalities greater control over what CA programs and services they will fund, and to require Community Advisory Boards.
Specifically, the first phase of proposals for the proposed regulations are focused on the following:

• Mandatory programs and services conservation authorities would be required to provide, including core watershed-based resource management strategies.
• A requirement for agreements between conservation authorities and their participating municipalities for the use of municipal levies to fund non-mandatory programs and services an authority determines are advisable in its jurisdiction
• The transition period to establish those agreements including an inventory of the authority’s programs and services, the consultation process with participating municipalities on the inventory, and steps taken to enter into these agreement(s) with participating municipalities for the use of municipal levies for these non-mandatory programs and services
• The consolidation of the current individual conservation authority ‘Conservation Area’ regulations made under Section 29 of the Conservation Authorities Act into one Minister’s regulation.  This would set out, for example, prohibited activities and activities requiring permits on conservation authority owned lands.
• Requirements for each conservation authority to establish a community advisory board to include members of the public, and how they may be governed.

Next Phase:
 
The second phase of proposed regulations under the Conservation Authorities Act, which the MECP will consult on next will include:

• Municipal levies governing the apportionment of conservation authority capital and operating expenses for mandatory programs and services and for non-mandatory programs and services under municipal agreement.
• Provisions pertaining to municipal appeals of conservation authority municipal levy apportionments, including who would hear those appeals.

Your Input: 

We welcome members to review the regulatory proposals and the Consultation Guide and send any comments to OHBA Manager of Government Relations, Alex Piccini apiccini@ohba.ca no later than Friday, June 18^th to assist in forming an association response.  We will also keep you informed as additional material comes forward.

Is Home Ownership Still a Reality?  Register Now!

Ontario’s current housing market is challenging many to reconsider home ownership, but we can’t ignore the elephant in the room, that Ontario continues to be a destination for more people and that means we need to continue to plan new communities and build more homes.

At this time, municipal and regional governments across Ontario are making their plans for the future of housing in their communities, and the RBC polling data gives us some insights into how #homebelievers are feeling about today’s housing market, and what they need in the future.

OHBA welcomes all members, municipal and regional representatives and government and elected officials to join OHBA for this important webinar as we dive into the recent RBC Spring Housing Poll and discuss why almost 40% of Ontarians under 40 have given up on the dream of owning a home. 

Register Here

The Durham Region Home Builders' Association has been working with the Town of Whitby over the last several months to create a Building Industry Liaison Team that will allow members of the building industry and municipal staff to meet and discuss issues, upcoming programs, plans and bylaws.

The first meeting is scheduled to take place this Fall, and attendance will be limited.  If you are interested in being a part of the Building Industry Liaison Team, please contact Stacey as soon as possible to be added to the list.

The Town of Whitby passed their new development charge bylaw at last night's council meeting.

Report FS 28-21 was brought forward and passed unanimously by council. Council also passed the new development charge bylaw.

The new rates are as follows:

The new development charge bylaw comes into effect on June 1, 2021.

Through work done by the stakeholder group organized by DRHBA, the rate increase for a single/semi was reduced by $7,551.  The group also ensured that needed infrastructure projects were included in the DC.