North Perth to reevaluate planning fees at request from local contractor

NORTH PERTH – A letter addressed to council, seeking a fee adjustment, was the subject of a lengthy discussion on April 8.

“O’Malley Homes (Waterloo) Inc formally requests a renewal fee or at very least a reduction in fees be applied,” Jon O’Malley wrote.

The letter states he is required to pay a $700/lot fee resulting in a total fee of $11,200 for the renewal of a Part Lot Control Exemption application that has expired.

“The reason for this request is that we are simply renewing a previous part lot control exemption application that was issued on April 19, 2021, prior to me owning the parcels of land, and expired on April 19, 2023 before I had the chance to sell any of the part blocks,” O’Malley wrote. “The application fees were paid in full on the initial application and I feel these fees would be redundant and an unnecessary cost but I am more than willing to pay a renewal fee.”

O’Malley further explained that he can not sell the affected lots without the renewal of this application.

“Your consideration of the request would be greatly appreciated and help keep the cost of the future homes in this development in check,” he wrote.

Perth County Planner, Nathan Garland explained that North Perth does not have a renewal fee. He suggested implementing a renewal fee in the future as part of a review of all planning fees.

“Right now this is a requirement still, even if the severance does lapse,” Garland said.

CAO Kriss Snell said this is a new issue for North Perth.

“We have never had expiring part lot controls but it seems like now all of a sudden we are dealing with them more and more,” he said. “We have done a little bit of an environmental scan, some municipalities do have a reduced fee for expired (application), so it is something we could look at.”

Coun. Allan Rothwell did not agree with charging the full fee, again.

“Most of the work has been done on this two years ago, and I have no qualms on suggesting that the minimum amount should be that the renewal costs should cover any costs North Perth should have in terms of registration and staff time to put this matter forward,” He said. “Frankly, I don’t think it is $700/lot, but that is my opinion.”

Mayor Todd Kasenberg agreed with Rothwell.

“I find myself mildly uncomfortable with charging the full amount again when I assume most of the work has already been done,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like it is in the interest of building homes and conveying homes, and to me, that is a concern here. We are essentially tacking on another price to the sale of these homes which I find myself uncomfortable with.”

Rothwell suggested council consider requiring the current fee to be paid with the understanding that when a fee review occurs, a reimbursement of the difference between the fees paid and the new fee, be given back to the contractor.

“This is a hefty price to pay on a per lot basis because I am confident that there is also a fee at the county level, and if we are truly trying to deal with the affordability piece, I am certainly aware that staff time is involved here but I don’t think that it is a $700/lot basis,” he said.

Kasenberg questioned whether the increased fee would still be stacked on top of the home’s price if the home is sold before the new fee is established.

“If we don’t make a decision on this until January or February of next year, and we say pay the whole amount … in the interim, the proponent might have sold the home and tacked on that extra price, which to me doesn’t seem like a good idea,” he said.

Snell suggested bringing back a report to council in May or June, regarding reimbursement of part lot control exemption application fees.

The mayor suggested a resolution that council receive the correspondence from the proponent for information and direct the payment of the usual fee with a commitment to address any refunds on the adoption of a fulsome policy on this subject matter. Council agreed unanimously.

“I understand that staff has a lot on their plate right now but I would hope that the fee review could be done in a relatively short period of time, hopefully before the summer so that this matter can get before council before substantial sales happen,” Rothwell said in closing.

Kelsey Bent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Listowel Banner