Development Charges are a tool municipalities utilize to pay for growth. The parameters are set out by the province under the DC Act. Daryl Keleher reviewed the current practices and prepared recommendations for BiLD & OHBA to help boost home building in Ontario.
1. Eliminate ‘Up-Front” DCs for Water/Sewer works - move to monthly rate surcharge to payback debt financed capital program
2. Move land out of DC ‘level of service’ calculations – have service levels reflect tangible service levels, and have DCs increase at pace of building inflation, rather than land value escalation
3. Limit inclusion of land in DC capital programs to ‘actual’ costs only – allow continued use of DCs for land, but acknowledging other sources of land acquisition, only allow ‘incurred’ costs with DCs to be recovered with DCs.
4. Standardize inputs and approaches used to form DC rate calculations:
a) Codify BTE where possible (likely for certain project types);
b) Codify and standardize Local Service Policies (with some flexibility to account for differences in municipal service standards);
5. Allow for Pooling of Costs for DC Credit Purposes - Merge Roads and Transit, and merge certain soft services for purposes of determining DC credit room
6. Mandate Provincial oversight for proposed DC by-laws – require DC by-laws and
Read the full report https://www.ohba.ca/the-state-of-dcs-in-ontario-2025/
Read a summary from The Missing Middle Initiative https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/the-state-of-development-charges