Development charges in the Town of LaSalle are under review.
Council recently held a public meeting on the development charges bylaw, where an information report was presented.
The town first approved development charges in Dec. 2020. Under the Development Charges Act, the bylaw must be reviewed every five years.
Development charges allow municipalities to levy fees on new projects to recover capital costs required to service growth such as roads, water and sewers - reducing the financial impact on existing taxpayers.
Several changes to the Development Charges Act have been made since the bylaw was passed in LaSalle, including Bill 23 which exempts non-profit housing, affordable and attainable housing, Bill 17 which exempts long-term care homes, Bill 213 which exempts universities, among others.
The current development charge for single detached dwelling units is $24,747 , while non-residential charges per square-foot are $10.03. The proposed recalculation to the charges include $34,036 for a single detached unit charge, while the non-residential charges per square-foot will see a slight drop to $9.03. These numbers reflect that residential builds are more common in LaSalle.
LaSalle mayor Crystal Meloche says it's time to review the bylaw.
"We've seen a lot of changes from the provincial level on what you can collect DC charges for, and what things you can't to be able to also offer affordable housing, and that's all part of that mix as well, so that's why we've seen this report come forward."
She says the current charges reflect construction costs from over five years ago.
"The charges we're collecting now really aren't covering the cost to build that new infrastructure for the growth that we're seeing, and that we're going to see in the future. So that's usually a good reason of why you see an increase in DC charges is because the cost to build, and the costs for infrastructure, and construction, has all continued to rise with it."
Meloche says the development charges are mainly from residential and commercial properties.
"That's majority of what you'll see, especially in the Town of LaSalle, obviously we're more of a residential community, so most of those DC charges will come in from new residential builds, and that's single homes, multi-family homes."
Work started in March 2025 to update the current charges and the bylaw.
Council will consider the bylaw on March 10, and will look to approve new rates.