What is council left to think if a public meeting is held and no one attends it?
Such was the issue of Minto’s development charges bylaw, for which a meeting was held on June 9, but nobody came to see what was proposed.
The powerpoint presentation, drafted by Watson & Associates, noted the meeting is a statutory requirement under the Development Charges Act and that prior to consideration, a background study must be made available to the public at least two weeks prior to the public meeting.
The intent of the meeting was to review the proposal and to get public comment on proposed policies and charges.
What that would do is an 11.5% increase to development charges (the local portion) on a single detached home, roughly $370 – anticipating no changes to the upper tier or education portions of the development charge.
The meeting included a review of Minto’s potential amount, type and location of growth and what would be needed to accommodate it.
There will also be increases to commercial and industrial development charges as well, based on the number of square feet of new buildings.
New development charges were put in place for wind turbine projects and solar farms.
Treasurer Gord Duff later said council has approved the new charges, but existing charges are in effect until Aug. 17 as a transition measure.
Based on the area of a tower base of 500 square feet, the cost would be $443 per turbine, with a phase in of $416.
That does not include charging for services such as stormwater and wastewater because those development would not be using them.
He added Minto’s charges “are very low in comparison to mid and southern Wellington County, but Minto has to compete with Perth, Huron and Grey County, which are that high.”
