Belleville proposes to eliminate fee to developers

By Aynslee Darmon

BELLEVILLE – The City of Belleville sent out a tweet Thursday morning informing the public about a proposed change to the city’s development charge bylaw.

Public Mtg.Mar. 23 to present & obtain public input on a proposed amendment to the City of Belleville Development Charge Bylaw No. 2014-140.

— City of Belleville (@BellevilleON) March 5, 2015

Development charges are fees that developers have to pay to the city when they are building or doing major renovations. The fees cover the cost of infrastructure that the city has to provide to the new development or renovation.

The original bylaw states that a development charge is mandatory but can be reduced by certain factors, such as the type of dwelling involved and the gross floor area of the development.

Rod Bovay, director of engineering and development services for the city, said the proposed change to the bylaw will allow for the development charges to be eliminated.

“The bylaw is proposed to be amended to eliminate that charge. So if an industrial building is at least five years old and someone wants to convert all of it or part of it to a commercial space they wouldn’t have to pay the development charge,” he said.

Development services will be proposing this possible change on March 23 at the Belleville city council meeting.