The Municipality of Clarington Building Division will be hosting a Builder/Developers Workshop May 26th, 9:30 am, at The Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex. 2440 Highway 2, Bowmanville, ON L1C 0K6 Map this Location
Agenda Includes a Discussion On:
· The New Planning & Infrastructure Department
· OBC Amendments
· Permit Fee Review Update
· Housing Pledge
· More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022
· Ontario Regulation 73/23 - Municipal Planning Data Reporting
· Update on Secondary Plans
· Active Transportation and Wayfinding Master Plan
· Road Needs Study
· Economic Development
A Continental Breakfast Will Be Provided Please RSVP by May 5th to
buildingpermits@clarington.net
At the April 3, 2023 Oshawa Council meeting, Council voted in favour of Report – CF-23-18- Community Benefit Charge Strategy Feedback (All Wards). By passing this report, Oshawa has approved their Community Benefit Charge (CBA) with an effective date of May 1, 2023.
The City of Oshawa’s Community Benefit Charge Strategy was outlined in Report CF-23-02 Community Benefit Charge Strategy.
The CBC Strategy, prepared by Watson & Associates, showed that Oshawa anticipates collecting approximately $392,000 over the next 10-year period. The charge will be applied as follows:
The Regional Municipality of Durham has scheduled a Special Meeting of Durham Regional Council to consider adoption of the recommended final draft of the Regional Official Plan (ROP). The new ROP is the culmination of work completed through Envision Durham, the Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) of Durham's existing ROP.
Materials to be considered at the Special Meeting, including the recommended final draft ROP, will be available to the public no later than May 3 at durham.ca/EnvisionDurham.
This special meeting is open to the public and is being held to discuss the final revisions addressed through Envision Durham. The ROP addresses a wide variety of strategic land use planning and development matters. It also represents the Region's provincially mandated exercise to ensure that the ROP conforms with Provincial Plans or does not conflict with them; has regard to matters of provincial interest; and is consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement. This special meeting is a follow-up to the Public Open House and Public Meeting held in March 2023 for the draft new ROP. The draft new ROP was released on February 10 with a consultation period that concluded on April 3.
It is anticipated that a decision on the recommended final draft ROP will take place at this Special Meeting of Council. Once adopted by Regional Council, the adopted ROP will be submitted to the Minister of Municipal Affairs for approval under Sections 17 and 26 of the Planning Act, RSO 1990.
The meeting will be held on May 17, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. in Council Chambers at Durham Region Headquarters (605 Rossland Road East in Whitby). Participants may also view the meeting remotely at durham.ca/live.
If you wish to make a delegation before Council, please submit your request in writing to delegations@durham.ca by noon on Monday, May 15, 2023.
In accordance with a Council resolution in May 2022, the City of Pickering is updating its Tree Protection Bylaw to provide greater protection to more trees in Pickering. At this time, the City’s Tree Protection By-law only covers trees within “Environmentally Sensitive Areas,” identified as the Tree Protection Area in Schedule A of By-law 6108/03.
As a result, trees within Shorelines and Stream Corridors, Wetlands Oak Ridges Moraine Area and Environmentally Significant Areas measuring 25 millimetres (approximately 1 inch) or greater are regulated. The City’s current Tree Protection By-law Screening Areas cover approximately 38% of the total land area of the City. This leaves approximately 62% of the City’s land area outside of the Tree Protection By-law Screening Areas that are not protected.
The tree canopy and urban forest improve air quality by intercepting and absorbing airborne pollutants. Trees also reduce local air temperature due to the shading effects and in turn lower temperatures within the City and reduce the urban heat island effect. A few other benefits associated with protecting trees are to decrease the volume of storm water run-off and soil erosion, and they contribute to the visual appearance and character of a place.
As part of this project, the City would like to engage with a wide range of stakeholders to better understand how well the current Tree Protection By-law is working, what their experiences have been in applying the current by-law, and to receive feedback on how to improve the by-law. This is an important opportunity for communities, organizations, businesses and professionals to discuss protecting the City’s tree canopy and urban forest.
You are invited to join their Virtual Meeting on Thursday April 13th from 6:00 pm to 7:30pm.
For more information on the City’s Tree Protection By-law and a number of upcoming engagement opportunities provided during Earth Month, please visit the project website at: letstalkpickering.ca/trees.
An on-line survey is also active on the project website from April 3rd – 30th, 2023 to garner more feedback.
On Thursday, April 6, 2023, the provincial government introduced Bill 97: Helping Homebuyers and Protecting Tenants Act.
A portion of the Act focuses on helping tenants and landlords. Here are some highlights of the Helping Tenants and Landlords section of the Act:
Clearing the Landlord and Tenant Backlog
Access to Air Conditioning
The provincial government is proposing to clarify and enhance tenants' rights to install window or portable air conditioning in their units. Included in this proposal is:
Reinforcing Rules Against Evictions
The provincial government is proposing to tighten the rules surrounding evicting a tenant in order to perform renovations. Under the Act, landlords would be required to provide:
The province is also extending the period of time that tenants can apply to the LTB for a remedy if the landlord doesn't allow the tenant to move back in at the same rent once renovations are complete to two years after moving out or six months after renovations are complete - whichever is longer.
Eviction Protections
The Act is also proposing to further strengthen protections for tenants who may be facing eviction because the landlord or their family member wants to move in. When evicting a tenant to use the unit themselves or for their family, landlords or their family members would be required to move into the unit by a specific deadline, to be defined in a future regulation.
Doubling Fines Under the RTA
The government is also proposing to double the maximum fines for offences under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), such as bad faith evictions.
Ontario's fines for residential tenancy offences are the highest in Canada.
Rent Arrears Repayment Agreement
Tenants may enter into a repayment agreement with their landlord to pay the rent they owe and avoid eviction when they are in arrears of rent. To make it easier for both tenants and landlords, the Act is proposing to require the use of the LTB's plain language repayment agreement form. This form helps landlords and tenants understand their rights and responsibilities and the rental rules that apply should the agreement be breached.
On Thursday, April 6, 2023, Steve Clark, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, introduced Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers and Protecting Tenants Act.
Key highlights from the legislation include:
Streamlining Provincial Land Use Policy
Freezing Provincial Housing Development Fees
Municipal Changes and Exemptions
Creating More Opportunities for Building Officials
Landlord & Tenant Board (LTB)
Building More Rental Housing
Rental Replacement
Consulting on a Cooling-Off Period for Purchases of Newly Built Freehold Homes
Modular Construction for Attainable Housing
Read OHBA's press release on Bill 97.
Following the Region of Durham’s release of their Development Charge Background Study, representatives from DRHBA and BILD met with the Region on April 6.
Regional staff prepared a presentation, which was followed by Q&A.
Highlights from the meeting include:
Important Dates:
General Information About the New DC Bylaw
Proposed Policy Changes
Why is the increase so much?
Population and Employment Forecast
DRHBA, along with BILD, has retained Altus Group to review the background study.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact Stacey.
Last week, Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, delivered the 2023 Provincial Budget entitled, Building a Strong Ontario. The Minister’s Budget speech is here.
In the months leading up to the budget OHBA actively participated in the pre-budget consultation process from late 2022 into 2023 and provided a comprehensive submission to government on key industry priorities that will enable our sector to build the housing choice and supply that Ontarians are counting on. This budget builds upon the provincial government’s latest Housing Supply Action Plan the More Homes Built Faster Act and advances important priorities called for by industry to support new home buyers.
Further to last week’s OHBA news release on the budget, attached you will find the full budget document and below you will find key highlights from the budget which members should be aware of,
Housing and Development
Skilled Trades & Apprenticeships
Transportation and Infrastructure
The Region of Durham has released its Development Charge Background Study.
The Region is proposing to increase the development charge fee for a single detached from $40,529 (as of January 1, 2023) to $79,033, an increase of $38,504 or 95%.
As Bill 23 requires that new Development Charge fees be phased in, the proposed rate for a single detached unit for July 1, 2023 is $65,896.
The Proposed Residential Development Charges Full Calculated Rate is here:
For comparison, the table below shows the rate per unit type in 2018 and in 2023:
Important dates:
In addition, the new proposed DC bylaw seeks to reduce the redevelopment credit time frame from 10 years to 5 years.
DRHBA and BILD have partnered to hire Altus Group to review the background study and provide feedback.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact Stacey.
Now that the finalists for DRHBA's 2023 Awards of Excellence have been released, it's time to vote for this year's People's Choice Award winner! The nominees are the finalists from DRHBA's "Outstanding Achievement Awards" categories, including Builder of the Year (Large & Small Volume), Renovator of the Year, Supplier or Manufacturer of the Year, and Trade of the Year.
This year's nominees are:
DRHBA asks that each person only vote once.
Voting closes on April 21, 2023!
Click here to vote!
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Phone: 905-579-8080
Email: info@drhba.com
Address:
1-1255 Terwillegar Avenue
Oshawa, Ontario
L1J 7A4
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