MORRISBURG – With a draft development charges document in hand, South Dundas council decided that the next step before implementing any such charges should be public consultation.
The study recommended charges of well over $10,000 be applied to new homes being constructed in South Dundas.
Staff are working towards hosting both a developer/stakeholder meeting and a public meeting May 20.
“Staff intend to offer local developers the opportunity to meet with Watson and Associates and the Municipal Team in a formal setting to allow for focused questions and discussions around the proposed development charges,” said Stephanie Morin, Municipal Planning Consultant, in her April 23 report to council. “Staff will reach out to developers to invite them to participate – it is envisioned that this meeting will take place in advance of the official public meeting. Comments received during the developer stakeholder meeting will be summarized and provided to Council for their information.”
The official public meeting will take place at 6 p.m.
Council will then discuss the input from those meetings at a June committee of the whole meeting where they will decide how to proceed.
If through those discussions development charges remain on track, the bylaw and implementation of the new charges could be as soon as July 2025.
“I’m glad we’re moving forward with this,” said South Dundas deputy mayor Marc St. Pierre. “I do want to make sure we’re not collecting these charges just to sit in a coffer,” he added. “I want to make sure that we have a reason and that we’re collecting to spend for growth.”
South Dundas councillor Tom Smyth suggested that rural and village infrastructure should be charged differently because rural construction requires less infrastructure-wise.
But, councillor Danielle Ward quickly disagreed. “I won’t agree with that,” she said. “We’re community building. We need to look at South Dundas as a whole.”
Ward also added that the water and sewer charges are definitely in need of review because they haven’t changed in years.
Water and sewer connections to South Dundas water and sewer infrastructure are currently subject to a connection fee of $5,000 for water and $5,000 for sewer.
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