Leamington Council is being asked to approve a by-law to reintroduce development charges in the municipality.
Leamington has experienced unprecedented growth over the past five years, with the number of building permits and planning applications increasing, with the development charges expected to mitigate the additional growth-related costs from being passed on to the taxpayer.
Deputy Mayor Larry Verbeke says development is supposed to pay for development.
"We're now having to dip into our reserves to pay for roads and sewers, stuff like that," he says. "It was there before, it's going to be, some people are not going to like it. The taxpayers have to pay for these developments and they don't like it, so it's due."
As part of the proposed by-law, a newly constructed single family residential unit will be charged $9,823 at the time of issuing the building permit and a greenhouse will be charged $20,909 per acre plus the on-farm bunk charge per capita.
A report to council says this level of contribution from developers is required to pay for future infrastructure projects in the study based on estimated growth assumptions.
A study launched in 2014 resulted in the municipality passing a by-law to discount development charges by 100 per cent for all types of developments, with the exception of the greenhouse water development charge which was discounted by 46.66 per cent.
Verbeke says it's about time to reintroduce development charges after no charges for around five years.
"We had it there for awhile, like I say, it kicked started our economy in Leamington," he says. "But now it's time to see if we can some money back to pay for the roads, development pays for development."
According to a 2019 study by Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. for the town, the population in Leamington is anticipated to reach approximately 36,900 by early-2032 and approximately 42,400 by early-2042, resulting in an increase of approximately 6,490 and 12,010 persons.
With files from Rob Hindi