SOUTH DUNDAS – Municipal officials are ready to move towards the final steps of implementing plaza user fees on the 62 businesses located in Morrisburg and Iroquois Shopping Plazas, but that forward momentum slowed at the February 18 council meeting.
That slowed momentum was not by design but by chance.
While staff had the key information report, complete with detailed costing for affected business owners and open house public consultations scheduled, council could discuss the report because of lack of quorum.
With South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad and Councillor Cole Veinotte both declaring conflict of interest in matters concerning the plazas because of family members owning businesses in those plazas, all three remaining members of council must be in attendance to have quorum for those discussion. The absence of Councillor Tom Smyth at the Feb. 18 meeting meant that report will not be entertained by council until the March 4 meeting.
While council did not discuss the matter, the report remains available on the council agenda.
“Through this term, Council members have made it a priority to address the physical condition of the plaza infrastructure in both Morrisburg and Iroquois and make a final determination with respect to business cost-sharing of plaza infrastructure once the said improvements were complete,” reads the report.
The report background points out that: “Currently, businesses within the plaza do not directly contribute to any capital or maintenance costs associated with the plaza. In the absence of government funding programs, the cost for this work is borne by the tax base.”
With the 2025 renewal of the Iroquois Plaza infrastructure and the planned 2026 renewal of the Morrisburg Plaza Infrastructure, municipal staff have spent the last nine months working to develop a framework for defining, establishing and administering plaza business owners’ cost-sharing responsibilities.
“The goal of this cost-sharing exercise is to improve equity between plaza businesses and non-plaza businesses in South Dundas,” reads the report.
If council approves the report in March, open house meetings will follow.
In advance of those meetings, the Iroquois and District Business Group continues to make its stance on the matter known. “The IDBG stands firm on NOT agreeing to any of these proposals as the plaza parking lot and sidewalks are properties owned by the Municipality of South Dundas and not the property of the plaza business owners,” reads a statement in the agenda for that group’s next meeting.
The Municipality is working towards collection of the new fees for the Iroquois Plaza in 2027 and
collection of the new fees for the Morrisburg Plaza in 2028.
The fees proposed in the report reflect calculations based on average operational costs and are determined based on square footage and the percentage of parking requirements for the businesses.
The math shows that the lowest fee in the Iroquois Plaza will be just over $133 for a 405 square foot office and the highest will be just over $3,934 for a retail store just under 12,000 square feet in size. A 4,000 square foot restaurant in the Iroquois Plaza sees a fee calculation of just over $1,765.
The math shows that in the Morrisburg Plaza fees range from a low of about $153 for a 403 square foot office to a high of $8,379 for a 22,000 square foot retail space. A 3,600 square foot restaurant in the Morrisburg Plaza could see a new fee of just about $5,400 if council approves the report as presented.
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