BUILDING DURHAM

At May's Ajax Council meeting, members of council voted to approve the Development Charge Interest Policy developed by staff.

The full policy can be viewed here.

The policy has been created in response to Bill 108: More Homes More Choice Act - Status Update.  This policy addresses two parts of Bill 108: the provision that changes the date at which the development charge is calculated; and the provisions that require municipalities to defer collection of development charges over a period of 5 to 20 years for rental housing, institutional development and non-profit housing developments.

The Town has concerns that these provisions will result in a shortfall in the DC collected as compared to the cost of the capital infrastructure required.

The proposed solution to recover that revenue is to implement an interest charge.  This charge will be the Bank of Canada Rate plus 2%.

In the Fall of 2019, the Oshawa Accessibility Advisory Committee provided the following recommendation to council:

"Whereas the O.A.A.C. Built Environment Subcommittee is finding numerous site plans with only inaccessible townhomes and stacked townhouses; 

Therefore the City require that all residential projects be designed with 15% accessible units with visitable features, including no stairs to entrances doors as well as entrance door and washroom door widths sufficient for mobility devices."

Council referred the recommendation back to staff to have the matter discussed with Oshawa's Building Industry Liaison Team (BILT).

DRHBA was present at the October 29, 2019 meeting where representatives voiced concerns over mandating accessibility, which was followed up by a letter.  It was pointed out that many builders offer this option to purchasers already.

As a result, staff presented Report CNCL-20-67 to council on May 25, 2020.

In the report, the following recommendations were made:

• Implement conditions in planning agreements to promote consumer awareness of developers' accessible construction programs but maintain status quo pursuant to Ontario Building Code Requirements.
• Staff to encourage builders to construct model homes with accessible features to further increase consumers' awareness.

It should also be highlighted that the staff report noted that "municipalities are not permitted to require houses, triplexes, and boarding or rooming houses with fewer  than eight boarders, to exceed the minimum standards established by the OBC for barrier-free design or otherwise."

At the council meeting, Councillor Rosemary McConkey moved "That the Report CNCL-20-67 be amended to add the following as Parts 2 and 3:

2. That the Province of Ontario be requested to implement changes to the Ontario Building Code to require a portion of all new single-detached dwellings, semi-detached dwellings, row townhouse dwellings proposed in developments in excess of 6 new dwelling units to contain an accessible front entrance, an accessible width front door and an accessible washroom on the ground floor; and,

3. That all Durham Region municipalities be notified of the recommendation directly above and their respective councils encouraged to support this resolution."

Councillor Brian Nicholson moved "That Parts 2 and 3 to Report CNCL-20-67 be referred to staff for a report back to the next meeting of City Council."  This recommendation was carried.

Councillor McConkey then moved "That Part 1 of the recommendation contained in Report CNCL-20-67 be referred back to staff."  This motion lost.

The vote to adopt the recommendation contained in Report CNCL-20-67 carried.

At the May 25th Oshawa council meeting, council carried a recommendation to temporarily defer payment of development charges until occupancy.

The recommendation contained in Report CNCL-20-62 was before council sitting in Committee of the whole.  The following recommendation was carried:

"Therefore, that Council direct staff to work with the Region of Durham and the School Boards to advance changes to all our respective development charges by-laws/policies to delay the payment of residential and non-residential development charges to the time of occupancy of a building is provided rather than at the time the building permit is issued for a limited time in order to help economic recovery in the Region and report back to the Finance Committee."

TORONTO — The Ontario government announced today that it intends to take action to protect commercial tenants from being locked out or having their assets seized by their landlords due to the negative impacts of COVID-19. 

The proposed changes to the Commercial Tenancies Act would, if passed, temporarily halt evictions of businesses that are eligible for federal/provincial rent assistance. If passed, the legislation would reverse evictions that occurred on or after June 3, 2020. The government intends to bring this legislation forward as soon as possible.

In partnership with the federal government, Ontario is committing $241 million to the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses which is providing more than $900 million in support. CECRA for small businesses provides forgivable loans to eligible commercial landlords to help cover 50 per cent of commercial rent for tenants for the months of April, May and June 2020.

The tenant will be responsible for covering up to 25 per cent of rent, so that up to 75 per cent of the rent is covered. Tenants and landlords can learn how much they may be eligible for by visiting Ontario.ca/rentassistance.

"We need everyone working together to overcome COVID-19," said Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. "Commercial tenants who can pay their rent, must do so. Landlords should work with their tenants to come to an agreement and use this joint program. Ontario's small businesses are the backbone of our economy and we need them to flourish."

If passed, the proposed legislation would make it illegal to evict a commercial tenant until August 31, 2020.  

"Working with the federal government, we are providing more than $900 million in relief to tenants and landlords," said Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance. "We've been clear we would support small businesses and today's action does just that."

"Ensuring the immediate future of our small businesses is critical to helping our economy recover and rebound," said Prabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. "A moratorium on commercial evictions will bring stability to our small businesses and the employees and families they support. Their success is Ontario's success."

The Region of Durham has decided not to waive indexing on the development charges on July 1, 2020 as previously recommended by staff. This means that development charge rates will be indexed by 2.9% on July 1, 2020.

On June 9 the Finance & Administration Committee voted to carry Report #2020-F-14, Final Recommendations Regarding Amendments to Regional Residential and Non-Residential Development Charges By-law No. 28-2018.  This report recommended that the Regional Development Charge Bylaw No. 28-2018 to waive the annual indexing not be adopted.  Council vote unanimously in favour of not waiving indexing.

Starting the end of day Wednesday, July 1 and concluding start of day Monday, July 6, the Enbridge system will be undergoing planned maintenance.  This maintenance will occur in former Enbridge Gas service area and will not impact builds in the former Union Gas service area.  Some functionality, including access to online gas attachment service requests and final inspections will be impacted during those six days.  They are advising builders to request services sufficiently ahead of the July 1 date to ensure their request is in the system.

Call to Action:

• Request services prior to Tuesday, June 30.  Booking of service appointments and final inspections will resume July 6.  All appointments scheduled for completion will take place as scheduled.  Crews will continue to work in the field and attachments and inspections that have been scheduled for completion between July 1 and July 5 will continue throughout the planned system maintenance.
• Inform new homeowners with closings between July 1 and July 6 that their gas accounts must be set up prior to June 30 to enable occupancy and title transfer.

Safety

Will emergency services be provided during this time?

Yes.  Emergency and high priority services will continue to be provided as usual by calling 1-866-763-5427.  Safety information is also provided at enbridgegas.com/safety.

Builder Attachment Centers

Can I contact the builder attachment centres for support?

Yes.  However, we encourage builders to get in touch with Enbridge before the end of June, as customer attachment representatives will also be limited in the services that they can provide during the planned system maintenance.

Booking Service Appointments

Can I schedule a service appointment or final inspection?

Booking of service appointments will continue until June 30.  Booking future service appointments will resume July 6.  To request inspections prior to occupancy go to www.buildwithgas.com and click on the Activate Meter Tab.

Will my previously scheduled service appointment between July 1 and July 6 still be completed?

Yes.  All appointments scheduled for completion will take place as scheduled.  Crews will continue to work in the field and attachments and inspections that have been scheduled for completion between July 1 and July 6 will continue throughout the planned system maintenance.

My New Homeowners - Setting Up "My Account"

Why won't my new home buyer be able to sign-in or access MyAccount?

We will be be experiencing planned system maintenance starting the end of day Wednesday, July 1 and concluding start of day Monday, July 6.  As a result, your new homeowners will not be able to access their account information.  We ask that you encourage your new homeowners to process their gas account move online at enbridgegas.com/moving prior to June 30.

When will normal service resume?

We look forward to resuming regular services on July 6.  Please be aware, our call centre may experience longer than usual wait times once we resume full service.  You may wish to take advantage of our online self-service option.  For more information, please contract your residential new construction analyst.

On Friday, May 29, 2020, the Ontario Government enacted Regulation 228/20 under the Employment Standards Act, 2000.  This regulation made several significant changes to employment laws in Ontario, particularly relating to layoffs.

Law firm Mason Bennett Johncox has prepared a memo summarizing some key provisions in the Regulation.

View/Download the Memo

Under the COVID-19 Ontario Regulation 82/20, that model home/inventory home is a part of the builder's supply chain and therefore can generally be sold and open to the public but operating as a retail operation for the builder, and therefore should adhere to the requirements of businesses that engage in retail sale of items to the public within the regulation.

OHBA has prepared a guidance document which may be useful in the development of your protocols for operating a model home.

View/Download Document

OHBA has a working group of renovator members, led by Jamie Adams, that have been working on a package to assist renovators in adapting their Health & Safety policy and procedures during COVID-19.  

View/Download the Document

Oshawa's Municipal Law Enforcement and Licensing Services requested feedback on the City's Noise bylaw 112-82 and specifically the exemption process relating to construction noise.

The Durham Region Home Builders' Association submitted a letter to the City of Oshawa with feedback.

Presently, the Noise By-law establishes a blanket exemption for Construction Noise occurring:

• between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday on any day that is not a Holiday; and,
• on Sunday between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Individuals may currently apply for exemptions to the By-law in order to undertake construction work outside of these permitted times by submitting a request to City Clerk Services for consideration and approval by the Corporate Services Committee (“Committee”) and City Council (“Council”).

In May 2019, Council directed staff to examine the following in relation to noise exemption requests:

“That in future, when the City of Oshawa receives an application for extension of hours for noise generation that the City circulate a notice to area residents prior to the application being heard at Committee.”

Accordingly, staff are working on a proposed process to be presented to Committee and Council for approval.

The proposed process is as follows:

a)    Applicants will be required to submit an application and pay a $250 application fee at least sixty (60) days in advance of the activity. The sixty (60) day timeline is required to allow sufficient time for staff to undertake public notice activities and to allow for public feedback to be received.

b)   City staff will send a letter to all property owners within one-hundred and twenty (120) metres of the site, via regular mail, advising of details of the request, the date of the Committee meeting when the request will be considered, and methods of submitting feedback to City Clerk Services.

c)    The Noise Exemption Request application and any public feedback will appear on the next Committee meeting agenda for consideration.

d)   If approved at Committee, Council approval would then be required.

e)    If the request is approved by Council, staff will provide notice of the approved exemption on the City’s website, to the applicant, and to those who provided comments.

If members have questions or concerns, please contact Stacey at s.hawkins@drhba.com.