The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury is proposing changes to its Building permit fees, and plans to hold a Public Meeting on Nov. 19, to receive feedback on the recommended increases.
In Tuesday night's meeting of Town Council, councillors were told that there have been no changes to the fees for BWG since 2005, at which time the population was only 24,000. The population now sits closer to 38,000.
Council was also told that BWG has been hit by a slowdown in the housing industry, but that construction should pick up again within the next 12-24 months, which is why Engineering and Development Services feels it is a good time to review the fees, and make changes.
The slowdown impacted revenues in the Building department, forcing the Town to draw on Reserves, in order to cover costs. The increases in the fees are expected to make the process more sustainable.
Currently the existing building fee for a single residential dwelling in Bradford is $11.10 per square metre. Staff recommended raising the fee to $14.40/sq.m., which is comparable to York Region’s $14.83/sq.m. The average in Simcoe County is $15.62 per sq. m..
Building fees for I.C.I. (Industrial/Commercial/Institutional) construction would increase to $10 per sq. m. for Industrial, $11 per sq.m. for Business/personal services/Retail, up from $5.60 per sq. m. - compared to $14.52 per sq. m. in York Region, and an average of $13.89 across Simcoe County.
The highest rate proposed is $13.50 per sq. m., for Assembly and Institutional - still well below the averages in York Region and Simcoe County.
“I think these are reasonable rates. We aren’t the highest,” said Coun. Raj Sandhu.
Coun. Peter Dykie said he was curious to see what is to come in terms of housing for Bradford. “I would like to see how much possibly is going to come down the pipeline, and see the cost analysis,” he said.
“We should do this right. I just hope that the fees are proper to cover the expenses for the engineering department. I just hope that these numbers are strong enough as we go through the transition,” the Councillor concluded.
There were some concerns that the higher fees would lead to higher housing prices, at a time when the industry is already struggling, but an analysis showed the impact of the higher fees would add between 0.2 and 0.5 percent to the costs.
The public meeting on the proposed building permit fee changes will be held during the Nov. 19 Council meeting, in the Zima Room at the BWG Public Library.
