Mayor arranges city hall summit on development fees

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This article was published 08/09/2016 (3352 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Monday morning meeting at city hall could be the start of a healing process between the mayor’s office and the development community or proof of the extent of the gulf between the two sides over the issue of growth fees.

Brian Bowman has invited some of Winnipeg’s development and business community leaders to meet with him and Coun. John Orlikow.

“The first thing I want to hear at that Monday meeting is what is the plan for consultation,” said Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

The Winnipeg Chamber is one of several groups that will meet with Bowman and Orlikow. The other groups include the Manitoba Home Builders Association, the Urban Development Institute, Winnipeg Realtors, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, the Manitoba Business Council and the Winnipeg Construction Association.

Remillard said his group is still determining a position on the need for growth fees but he wants to make sure the process isn’t being rushed.

“The critical thing shouldn’t be when this has to happen, but that we get the right plan for Winnipeg to implement and that takes time,” Remillard said. “The issue is too important to rush.”

The city’s development community has been in an uproar over the issue. City hall hired Hemson Consulting, a Toronto-based firm, at the end of May to study growth in Winnipeg and how it was impacting civic services.

While preliminary briefings with the development community suggested Hemson would recommend growth fees, the issue came to a head last week when Hemson released its final report, stating new developments are not covering the costs of required infrastructure. The report detailed a range of hefty fees recommended the city charge for residential and non-residential development.

The industry claimed the process was rushed and that Hemson ignored studies that it had commissioned showing new development more than paid for itself and benefited the city overall.

Bowman said the Hemson report confirmed what he had been saying for months and told reporters he expected an administration report on how to proceed as soon as possible — before council begins debating the 2017 budget.

Mike Moore, president of the Manitoba Home Builders Association, said the Hemson report lacked evidence to support the claim that growth isn’t paying for growth. Moore said city hall shouldn’t be dictating a new fee program.

“If the appropriate parties sit down and put together (a plan) for how Winnipeg can grow better, I think the costs and benefits associated with growth will become more evident to both parties,” he said.

A spokesman for Bowman said Thursday the mayor appreciates that large developers and others are keenly interested in this discussion, and he wants to listen to them and discuss Hemson’s report directly with them.

Remillard said the Hemson report should be the starting point for a thorough conversation with not only the development industry, but all Winnipeggers.

“We can either do this right or we can do this right now, but we can’t do both. Let’s take the time,” he said. “We recognize as a community we need to have a conversation around this. If the consensus is we need to move forward with (growth fees), let’s make sure we have a thorough conversation and hear the input of all stakeholders in crafting the right approach for Winnipeg.

“The critical thing shouldn’t be when this has to happen but that we get the right plan for Winnipeg to implement and that takes time.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca