“Tremendous” costs and “long” processing times for developments could soon be a thing of the past in Bradford.
Based on a report from Jennifer Best, director of growth services, committee of the whole recommended May 6 that council endorse the town creating a concierge pilot program to expedite planning applications for certain developments in town.
“Our concierge program is just one more tool to improve our planning process,” Best said.
She explained it’s intended to provide guaranteed timelines for planning and development to reduce uncertainty for developers and investors while also seeing projects built faster, so the town can begin collecting more property tax and development charge revenue sooner.
Officially titled PropelGrowthBWG Concierge Program, the initiative is intended to help handle applications made under Ontario’s Planning Act, and be available as of July 7 this year, with progress reports back to council after six and 12 months.
Mayor James Leduc said he was “absolutely 100 per cent” in favour of the project and looking forward to seeing it roll out.
“When businesses need to move, they need to move fast,” he said.
The proposal comes as part of staff’s efforts to improve service delivery in light of the town’s growth and density targets. In a presentation to council, Best explained Bradford has “long processing times” for developments and has “not done well,” when compared to other municipalities, as an excerpt from an annual benchmarking study for the Canadian Home Builders Association showed Bradford ranked 21 out of 23.
Based on data from the association, Best explained the indirect costs of delays in development can add between about $23,000 and $1.4 million to the price of a house.
“This is a tremendous cost,” she said. “Bradford West Gwillimbury has gotten better in the last year, but we can do even better.”
That was emphasized by Deputy Mayor and committee chair Raj Sandhu, who recalled a “big company” approached council under past mayor Rob Keffer as they were interested in relocating to Bradford from York Region. When they found out it could take two years to get the project approved and built, they moved to Ohio instead, where Sandhu said they had a facility opened within six months.
“We are losing out on opportunity,” he said. “We have to do better.”
In response to concerns from councillors, Best explained the program won’t circumvent the requirements of the Planning Act (such as public meetings) but will expedite the process by bringing together proponents with town staff and external agencies (like conservation authorities) to collaborate from the beginning and work on different aspects of developments simultaneously. Ideally, that will allow any potential issues to be identified and dealt with early in the process, rather than after time and money has already been spent on studies or designs which could then need to be reworked.
“I see a huge benefit,” Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano said based on his professional experience in the development industry. “I actually think that this concierge program should be our standard process.”
The program is expected to have two streams for project applications: employment projects and council priority projects identified as providing “significant” benefits to the community. The latter could include complex projects facing urgent timelines, major institutional proposals or affordable housing, as long as the proponent agrees to keep the units affordable for at least 21 years.
The program was also proposed to have a third stream for medium- and high-density residential projects and developments in the planned major transit station area; however, an amendment from Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine saw that included in the council priority section.
In response to questions from Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott about the potential impacts of strong mayor powers, Best explained the council priority projects will need to be approved by council.
For all qualifying projects, the program is intended to handle zoning bylaw amendments, draft plans of subdivision/condominium, site plans and related minor variances, and none can include official plan amendments. Employment projects need to be within the urban settlement boundary (including Bond Head), but the Highway 400 Employment Lands can be included in council priority projects.
Best recommended only one application be processed at any given time per stream on a first-come-first-served basis, with a member from community planning assigned to each application to liaise between various town departments and each proponent’s team.
A program agreement would be created and signed by both the town and proponent to outline expectations, deadlines, processes, milestones and approvals for both sides.
Proponents would be required to pull their building permits within six months of successfully approved projects or else risk losing their allocations for water and sewer services.
If the proponent misses milestones, the concierge portion of the application would be terminated and the application would instead be moved to the regular planning process; whereas, if town staff do not fulfil their requirements, the concierge fee will be returned to the proponent.
That fee is expected to be an additional 50 per cent of the relevant Planning Act fees, but is recommended to be waived for projects considered a council priority or those that provide affordable housing.
Recommendations from committee of the whole are considered for approval at the next regular council meeting.
