Development Charges Background Study & By-law

Municipal governments in Ontario are responsible for the delivery of public services that ensure the health and safety of their citizens and a standard of living expected by all Canadians. The Province of Ontario is responsible for introducing, enacting and enforcing legislation that ensures local governments comply with provincial standards in the maintenance and delivery of those services, which include an adequate supply of safe, clean water, effective wastewater treatment, an efficient system of roads and public transportation, reliable emergency response services such as fire and ambulance, cultural amenities such as libraries and recreation facilities and sustainable land use planning, growth and development through a comprehensive growth management strategy.

Good land use planning at the local level must be economically viable, environmentally sound and visionary; it requires an understanding of the past and a foreknowledge of future needs to accommodate growth. Good land use planning is both art and science requiring the application of best practices in engineering, development and community building. Good land use planning must also have regard to matters of provincial interest. All these elements are brought together in a municipality's official plan.

Planning a sustainable community: What's involved

Planning a sustainable community is the responsibility of local government and therefore must be open to public scrutiny. Good land use planning is achieved when municipal officials, both elected and administrative, private sector developers and the public work cooperatively to determine how the community will grow within the regulated environment legislated by the province.

Economically viable and environmentally sound growth and development should benefit the entire community. Mutual benefit derives from mutual obligation. Growth pays for growth, which means that developers pay the lion's share of capital costs associated with new growth and development while taxpayers fund the portion of the costs of capital infrastructure that benefit the existing population.

Estimating future costs of growth and determining how these costs are adjusted and allocated to produce development charge rates are the fundamental issues to be addressed in London's 2009 Development Charge Background Study which was initiated in March 2007.

On March 26, 2007 London City Council gave its approval for the launch of the 2009 Development Charges Background Study and approved terms of reference for the Urban Works Reserve Fund (UWRF)/Development Charges (DC) Implementation Team.

The Implementation Team team consists of senior City staff, leaders in London's development community and representatives of the community at large.

Implementation Team Mandate

The Implementation Team will review London's development charges policy, rates and By-law and will address possible changes to its growth financing policy, as recommended by the Blue Ribbon Panel that was appointed by Council in June 2006 to review the City's Urban Works Reserve Fund.

Background Information

The Urban Works Reserve Fund - Funding Challenges page provides helpful context to the Implementation Team's study. Other www.london.ca reference resources include London's Official Plan Review , the overview of London's historical and planned growth trends and Ontario Municipal Board: City Council Community Notices.

You may also want to refer to the following documents - they can be viewed or downloaded as pdf files.

Blue Ribbon Panel Report - Findings and Recommendations - Review of London's Urban Works Reserve Fund
Council resolutions
Consolidated Development Charges By-law (as it existed in August 2008)
2009 Development Charges Background Study - Initiation Report (March 25, 2007)
Urban Works Reserve Fund/Development Charges Implementation Team - Terms of Reference

Completed 2009 Development Charges Background Study & Draft By-law

The DC study was initiated in March 2007. Please use the links below to access key documents concerning the work to date:

2009 Development Charge Background Study (8.4 MB) - This pdf document describes the process undertaken to calculate development charges and fulfills the requirements of the Development Charges Act, 1997.:

2009 Development Charges Covering Report (3.5MB) - This report provides a summary level review of changes to the City's DC policy and includes the proposed Development Charge by-law, also as required under the Act (Appendix D).

The above documents were reviewed at a public meeting held May 13, 2009.

Response to Public Comment on the 2009 Development Charge By-Law presented to Board Of Control on June 24, 2009.

Engineered Services Master Planning Studies

To complete the above Development Charges Background Study the services of AECOM were engaged by the City of London to prepare engineering master plans for four major service areas (Roads, Sanitary Services, Stormwater Management & Water ) These studies are available as pdf documents using the following links:

2009 Complete Sanitary Servicing Master Plan Executive Summary
2009 Complete Sanitary Servicing Master Plan Final Report (8.4MB)
2009 Complete Sanitary Servicing Master Plan Appendix size (2.8MB)

2009 Complete Transportation Master Plan Executive Summary (6.9MB)
2009 Complete Transportation Master Plan Final Report (7.8MB)
2009 Complete Transportation Master Plan Appendix (2.8MB)

2009 Complete Storm Servicing Master Plan Executive Summary (3.7MB)
2009 Complete Storm Servicing Master Plan Final Report (12.9MB)
2009 Complete Storm Servicing Master Plan Appendix (2.8MB)

2009 Complete Water Servicing Master Plan Executive Summary (3.0MB)
2009 Complete Water Servicing Master Plan Final Report (7.9MB)
2009 Complete Water Servicing Master Plan Appendix (4.3MB)