Reduced environmental protections, reduced revenue flowing into city coffers and increased property tax rates are among the numerous impacts that could play out if Provincial Act 23 becomes law, local officials say. The proposed bill seeks to open up parts of Ontario’s Greenbelt to development, change municipalities’ ability to collect development fees to service local development and change how wetlands are assessed and protected. The More Homes Built Faster Act, part of the provincial government’s controversial plan to increase housing supply and affordable housing, has come under attack across the province from the public, environmental groups and elected officials. Orillia naturalist Bob Bowles argues the bill will negatively impact already sensitive ecosystems and endangered species. If the bill is passed, the province would transfer responsibility for wetland assessment to municipalities. In addition, it will change the wetland assessment system for identifying provincial wetlands. Bowles, who has been working on wetlands assessment for the province, said the proposed changes to the grading system for assessing wetlands would significantly reduce environmental protections for these ecosystems. “For wetland grading, (Premier Doug Ford) has taken away all the protection spots for species at risk, species that are endangered, and many of them live in wetlands,” Bowles told OrilliaMatters. “We’re losing homes for those endangered species, things like Jefferson salamanders or Blanding’s turtles, wood turtles. all these species will lose their home and we will lose biodiversity by not protecting the habitat for these species,” Bowles explained. Bowles noted that it can take up to “three seasons” for a wetland to be fully assessed and is concerned that the proposed new rating system will make it harder for Ontario’s many unrated wetlands to be protected moving forward. “We have wetlands that are out there that could be provincially significant wetlands, but they’ve never been assessed,” he said. Aside from the environmental damage, Bowles said development on such lands is inappropriate, as they are vulnerable to flooding and other adverse weather effects. “You can’t build houses on unstable ground like a wetland, so you have to remove all that peat and all that unstable soil and then put gravel in there … to build the wetland, which was never intended for building. the first place, suitable to host houses,” he said. “It’s the worst place ever, even if we forget the ecological damage.” He recalled Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and the devastating effects the storm had on the GTA, which ultimately led to the creation of current policies and the development of conservation authorities. “For a nine-year-old, it was quite an impact,” Bowles recalled of Hurricane Hazel. “I saw houses completely covered in water, built on flood plains, and I even saw houses floating on the river in some cases. “Toronto was destroyed for several years,” he said. “They started building back, and what they said at the time is we can’t let that happen again. we can’t build in these natural important areas, these floodplains and wetlands, because if we get hit by major climate events, we will be destroyed.” Locally, Bowles is concerned about the development taking place at the Orillia Filtration Wetlands, the Inch Farm property, the Victoria Point Wetlands and more. “They’re already nibbling on growth now. you see places that sneak in where they shouldn’t. This (bill) will open up all these wetlands now for development,” he warned. Bowles argues that Bill 23 will do little to create affordable housing in Ontario. “(Premier Ford is) for more houses being built at any cost right now, but these are not low-rent housing … these are large, single dwellings that are going to be built,” he said. City staff said they are currently reviewing the full potential impact of Bill 23 on the supply of affordable housing. Should the responsibility for wetland assessment be shifted to municipalities, city staff say Orillia does not currently have the required staff to carry out the work. “The City of Orillia does not have the expertise on staff to review these requests,” said Ian Sugden, the city’s general manager of development and engineering services. “If this responsibility is transferred to the municipality, either the city will need to retain the services of a qualified consultant, hire more staff to fill the role that the province provided, or the developers will have to pay the full cost of the peer review by the city’s independent, third-party qualified judge,” he told OrilliaMatters. Sugden said wetlands within the city are currently protected by the city’s official plan. “The city limits currently include two provincially significant wetlands and other unassessed wetlands,” he said. “Based on the city’s existing official plan policies, development on or adjacent to these wetlands is currently protected and requires thorough evaluation.” However, the bill proposes to remove third-party appeal rights for proposed developments. “A major change proposed in Bill 23 is the removal of third-party appeal rights. If a development is proposed, when council makes a decision on the planning application, such as a zoning change or official plan change, no one, other than the applicant, will be able to appeal that decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Sugden said. The city could also lose millions of dollars in revenue over the next decade with Bill 23’s proposed changes to how development charges (DC) are collected, city staff said, although they are still in the process of assessing the full financial impact. Development charges are designed to recover the capital costs associated with residential and non-residential (commercial, industrial, institutional) development within a municipality from developers so that existing residents do not have to foot the bill. The bill proposes DC exemptions for various types of developments, as well as the removal of eligible DC services such as development studies, land costs and social housing. “Decreased DC revenues will make it more difficult to fund growth-related infrastructure improvements, and this challenge will likely shift more of the growth-related infrastructure improvements from developers and new buyers to existing ratepayers,” said John Henry, city CFO/treasurer, in a statement to OrilliaMatters. Henry said the changes will put additional pressure on other funding sources, such as property taxes, and could lead to “erosion of the level of service” if funding is not available to “build to current community standards.” The city requires $55 million from DC to fund its eligible capital projects over the next decade, Henry explained. “The taxpayer would shoulder the burden of paying for studies related to the development, as the studies would no longer be eligible for funding from the development fee reserve,” Henry explained. “This is a significant shift from ‘growth pays for growth.’ rather the taxpayer should shoulder the burden of long-term planning to accommodate future growth, which is not right if the province requires the city to grow to accommodate an additional 16,000 people by the year 2051 (at least). In addition to the DC changes, the bill proposes to cut park dedication payments by 50 percent and park dedication requirements will be reduced. As of late September, the city of Orillia had already collected $37,515 in park dedication fees through 2022 to create new housing units. “The proposed restrictions on the ability to collect park cash will result in taxpayers shouldering the burden of funding new park infrastructure as a result of new development in the city,” Henry said. “For example, currently every new residential unit created in the city is required to pay a park dedication fee (eg in 2022 the fee for a non-waterfront lot was $915 per unit).” The comment period for the legislative changes proposed in Bill 23 closes on November 24. –With files from Bob Bruton
