Editorial – Is South Dundas truly open for business?

There is a growing concern about the direction that South Dundas is headed. While large scale projects and developments are beginning to take hold, which will propel some residential and commercial growth, there is a perception also developing – a perception that doing business in South Dundas is not for everyone and that the municipality is forming a culture of being not open for businesses.

South Dundas council is late to the game of development charges, only beginning to look at these tools after other municipalities have already adopted and benefited. Despite opposition from residents and developers, council continues down the road towards implementing development charges. The Ontario government wants municipalities to lower development charges to increase housing starts, and South Dundas has already met that goal. The municipality is already seeing progress from various housing developments on the books. Momentum is on our side. Continuing down the road towards development charges will cut that momentum at its most precarious time.

Commercial development has not grown much in recent years in South Dundas. The economy is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the current trade/tariff economic climate has muddied the situation with uncertainty. Still, South Dundas’s business community is holding its own and businesses are continuing. Council and municipal staff are now planning to add a whole new economic surcharge on existing businesses in the Morrisburg and Iroquois village plazas – our downtowns if you will – all to save for future improvements and pay for existing services. In addition to commercial property taxes being collected, the new surcharge will take more from these businesses’ bottom lines once approved. For small businesses here, those fees may mean the difference between staying open or closing for good. That is not economic growth, nor does it support business in those plazas.

Municipal governments exist to support their residents and property owners, primarily through service delivery. Council and staff’s recent actions run contrary to being open to business. Throwing up barriers to residential growth through development charges, making new homes thousands of dollars more expensive, will hamper growth. Adding new surcharges to plaza-based businesses, in communities with few options for commercial locations except those plazas, will force small businesses to close. Those surcharges will drive away business from our downtowns.

Before it is too late, municipal leadership must review and reflect on what actions will reinforce the impression that South Dundas is not open for business – and take steps to ensure that impression fades fast.