Staff memo.
At its meeting of February 10, 2014 City of Guelph Council approved adoption of the 2014 DC By-Law as based on the 2013 Background Study approved at Council’s meeting of January 27, 2014. Per legislative requirements opportunity existed post February 10, 2014 for any member of the public including the development community to appeal the new 2014 DC By-Law within 40 (forty) calendar days of its passage. For the current 2014 DC By-Law, this meant appeals needed to land prior to end of day Monday, March 24, 2014.
The DC Steering Committee is pleased to report that Clerks advised early Tuesday morning, March 25, 2014 that NO appeals have been registered. As confirmed by provincial officials and the City’s consultants Watson & Associates as well as the development community’s Peer Review Team receiving no appeals is a rare circumstance for any Ontario municipality. Receiving no appeals is therefore a tremendous testament to the comprehensive work not to mention consultation efforts undertaken over the last year to land a fair, transparent and competitive development charge rate for which the community will benefit greatly.
Executive Team including the CAO would like to express its deep appreciation to the members of the DC Steering Committee listed below for their efforts in achieving this great success. Staff would also like to express thanks to the development community as well as other community stakeholders for their active participation throughout the consultation process. Particularly, the Guelph and District Home Builder’s Association, Guelph Wellington Development Association and various partners in the Industrial and Commercial development community. While these stakeholders and staff at times agreed to disagree on certain items, the development community’s participation was incredibly open, professional and respectful and staff look forward to this dialogue continuing to improve throughout 2014-2018 and into the next cycle.