Constructive minds

Looking for a thaw in relations between builders and the County.

What does ‘open for business’ in the County mean?

Council will form a committee of builders and developers, along with staff and councillors, to grapple with the challenges in building homes in the County. It will identify the sticking points and develop proposals that work both for builders and the County. But not all councillors are convinced the problem requires a committee to fix. After all, Council is a committee— some feel they understand the problems and know the solutions.

The initiative springs out of a meeting with developers last fall in which Mayor Robert Quaiff pledged to the frustrated group that the County was open for business and would work to remove the obstacles slowing down development.

The County Community and Economic Development (CEDC) department was tasked with forming a committee that would look at specific regulations, costs and procedures to determine which are untouchable and which are negotiable. But rather than a one-off ad hoc process, this committee will look at the entire process to streamline and facilitate investment.

“We don’t need more input,” said Ameliasburgh’s Dianne O’Brien. “Anything to do with planning should come through council.”

Neil Carbone, head of the CEDC, assured the councillor that the committee was only making recommendations and that a full report would come to council for review and full debate.

Councillor Janice Maynard suggested that the committee would just “reinvent the wheel.”

“We are well on our way to rectifying the problems,” said Maynard.

Robert McAuley heads the County’s works, engineering and planning department. He cautioned council not to look at the challenges too narrowly. He said there are philosophical choices and trade offs that should be considered. For example the County requires developers to put up 100-per-cent security years in advance of site plan approval. That ties up capital and costs developers money.

Other municipalities assume the risk that a developer might default midway through the regulatory approval process, seeing it as a reasonable trade off.

Some communities approach development much more aggressively. In Alberta, the village of Delia, northeast of Calgary, is selling serviced lots for $10 if the purchaser agrees to build within one year. Other towns are following Delia’s lead.

While some communities are aggressive in luring residential development, the County has historically been quite conservative. McAuley suggests that if this philosophical viewpoint is changing, it should benefit from a fulsome discussion.

Most councillors agreed.

“Let’s get going,” said South Marysburgh’s Steve Ferguson. “Doing nothing hurts us all.”

Gord Fox, councillor for Hallowell, reminded his colleagues of the commitment they made to developers last November.

“We told them to put some faith in this council,” said Fox.

But Councillor O’Brien sensed she was losing control of the file.

“I was elected to represent the people. The CEDC is good at tourism but what do they know about developers? I was elected to do this.”

Then, there is the persistent problem of lack of trust around the council table—that decisions will be made by some and not by others.

“I’m worried about not hearing everything,” complained Athol’s Jamie Forrester. “I want to hear the developers and set the priorities.”

But most of their colleagues were already on board.

“I don’t understand the resistance,” said Lenny Epstein, councillor for Picton. “This appears to be a continuation of the process we started in November. It seems like a good way to keep the conversation g

And so it will.