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Report To: Planning and Development Committee
Date of Meeting: March 18, 2024 Report Number: PDS-012-24
Submitted By:
Reviewed By:
Authored by:
File Number:
Report Subject:
Carlos Salazar, Deputy CAO, Planning and Infrastructure Services
Mary-Anne Dempster, CAO Resolution #: PD-017-24
Toni Rubino, Senior Planner, Planning and Infrastructure Services PLN
1.1.27 By-law #:
Planning Application Fee Refund Waivers
Recommendation:
1.That Report PDS-012-24, and any related delegations or communication items, be
received for information.
2.That the action items contained in Report PDS-012-24, be endorsed.
3.That all interested parties listed in Report PDS-012-24 and any related delegations be
advised of Council’s decision.
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Report PDS-012-24
Report Overview
As of July 1, 2023, the Planning Act now requires municipalities to refund planning
application fees when decisions are not made within the prescribed timeframe.
The purpose of this report is to (i) summarize the Province’s changes to the Planning Act as
it relates to fee refunds and (ii) present a Planning Fee Refund Waiver to allow the Deputy
CAO of Planning and Infrastructure to execute planning application fee refund waivers with
applicants in certain situations (Attachment 1).
The waiver is intended to be used when an applicant and Municipal staff are working
together in good faith, but additional time is needed to advance an application. The waiver
would not bind the Municipality in any way to approve an application. The waiver would not
remove the right of an applicant to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
1. Background
1.1 As of July 1, 2023, the Planning Act now requires municipalities to refund planning
application fees when decisions are not made within the prescribed timeframes. This is
resulting from Bill 109, More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022, S.O. 2022, c. 12 which
received Royal Assent on April 14, 2022, and Bill 97, Helping Homebuyers, Protecting
Tenants Act, 2023 which received Royal Assent on June 8, 2023.
1.2 Fee refund waivers would be used in certain situations, as discussed in the analysis of
this report, with willing applicants for applications to amend Zoning By-law 84-63, as
amended, and site plan control (SPA) applications. Implementing a fee refund waiver
process provides Staff with an avenue to continue to work diligently with applicants to
advance ZBA and SPA applications while avoiding application fee refunds or writing a
denial recommendation report to the Planning and Development Committee if decisions
are not made within the prescribed timelines.
Bill 109, More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022 (Bill 109)
1.3 On April 22, 2022, Bill 109 received Royal Assent from the Ontario Legislature. The
purpose of Bill 109 is to have homes builder faster by expediting development
application approvals and providing updated development application timelines and
costs.
1.4 Based on the amendments from Bill 109, as of July 1, 2023, the Planning Act requires
municipalities to refund certain planning application fees when decisions are not made
within the prescribed timeframes. Initially Bill 109 set provisions for fee refunds to take
effect on January 1, 2023. Bill 97 was subsequently passed to revise this date to July 1,
2023. The type of planning application and the refund amount based on the timeline
given are listed Table 1.
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Report PDS-012-24
Fee Refund Planning Application Type
Combined
OPA/ZBA
ZBA SPA
No refund Decision made within
120 days
Decision made within
90 days
Plans approved
within 60 days
50% Decision made
between 121 days
and 179 days
Decision made
between 91 and 149
days
Plans approved
between 61 and 89
days
75% Decision made
between 180 days
and 239 days
Decision made
between 150 and
209 days
Plans approved
between 90 and 119
days
100% Decision made 240
days or later
Decision made 210
days and later
Plans approved 120
days and later
Table 1 – Development Application Fee Refund Schedule
1.5 In addition to the refund entitlement outlined in Table 1, the applicant also has the right
to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) if the Municipality fails to make a decision
on an OPA/ZBA application within 120 days of a complete application submission or
within 90 days of a complete application submission for a ZBA application.
1.6 In the case of an SPA application, the applicant has the right to appeal to the OLT if the
Municipality fails to approve the plans and drawings of a complete SPC application
within 60 days. There is no mechanism to formally deny a SPC application.
1.7 The Planning Act states that the municipality ‘shall’ refund fees. This means that t he
refund policy created by Bill 109 requires municipalities to refund application fees in
accordance with the prescribed timelines outlined in Table 1, regardless of if the
applicant wants a refund or not.
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Report PDS-012-24
Bill 97, Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023
1.8 On June 8, 2023, Bill 97 received Royal Assent from the Ontario Legislature. Bill 97
amended the Planning Act to delay the date of the fee refund rules from the initial date
of January 1, 2023, to the date that it took effect, July 1, 2023.
1.9 Bill 97 allows the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to exempt municipalities
from the fee refund provisions in the future, however no exemptions have been made at
this time.
2. Discussion
2.1 The application refund rules do not take into account various scenarios that can make it
difficult to adhere to the prescribed timelines. The waiver is intended to be used in
situations where the Municipality and the applicant are working together in good faith
toward advancing an application, but additional time is needed to have meaningful
discussion or to resolve outstanding comments. There is currently no mechanism in
place to ‘stop the clock’ when a submission is with the applicant to provide a response
to Municipal and agency comments. The Municipality has no control over how much
time elapses while the application comments are with the applicant. By using the fee
refund waiver, Staff can continue to work toward a favourable resolution with th e
applicant rather than prematurely recommending the denial of an application to avoid
the return of fees because the prescribed timeframe.
2.2 Prior to the implementation of the fee refund legislation, applicants could concurrently
submit ZBA and SPA applications. This allowed for the review process to be
streamlined. Applicants would receive technical feedback which would assist applicants
in providing a resubmission to the Municipality. This process would typically take more
than 90 days which would not meet the prescribed timeline. With a waiver process in
place, a concurrent submission would continue to be possible.
2.3 Given the current application refund rules, municipalities are forced into a position
where they must either refund fees or deny applications t hat may need more time to
provide further information or revisions to write a positive report.
2.4 There are circumstances where an approval cannot be made in the required timeframe
due to the current meeting schedule of Committee and Council. For example, a ZBA
application submitted on June 10, 2024, must be approved or denied by September 7,
2024. The typical Committee and Council meeting schedule currently would not allow
Staff to meet this timeline given Clarington’s Council recesses over the summer months.
2.5 The fee refund waiver would not in any way bind the Municipality to approve an
application and would not limit the Municipality’s discretion in ultimately approving or
denying an application.
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Report PDS-012-24
2.6 The fee refund waiver would not take away an applicant’s rights to appeal to the O.L.T.
Consultation with the Development Community
2.7 Since the introduction of Bill 109 and Bill 97 Staff have had informal discussions with
applicants regarding the timeframe and fee refunds. Many applicants do not wish to
collect a fee refund or have the Municipality move forward with a premature denial
recommendation report. Applicants would prefer to work together with the Municipality
in a timely and efficient manner to advance the application.
Precedents Set
2.8 The City of Brampton, City of Oshawa, Town of New Tecumseth and Town of Niagara-
on-the-Lake have implemented a planning application fee refund waiver.
3. Financial Considerations
3.1 The Municipality is financially impacted by fee refunds when the prescribed timelines
are not met. Development application fees are intended to help recover costs related to
processing and reviewing development applications, including staffing. The cost to
refund applicants is borne entirely by the Municipality and its taxpayers. If an applicant
is refunded application fees, the cost to the Municipality is exorbitant.
3.2 Table 2 provides information on the revenue collected by the Municipality for ZBA
applications and SPA applications in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Planning Application
Type
Year
2021 2022 2023 3 Year
Averages
Zoning By-law
Amendment
$170,040 $177,445 $87,930 $145,138
Site Plan Control $35,000 $58,133 $33,462 $42,198
Table 2 - Fees Collected by Application Type and Year
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Report PDS-012-24
3.3 It is important to note that in 2023, the new 2 -stage pre-consultation process was in
place which explains the decrease in revenue collected as a number of applications had
been going through the pre-consultation process. Staff expect a higher volume of
development applications in 2024 and 2025 as over 100 pre-consultation meetings were
held in 2023. The 2-stage pre-consultation process requires all studies and plans be
completed in order to make a complete submission.
3.4 Based on the averages from Table 2, there is a potential for the Municipality to have to
refund $187,336 annually to developers if timelines are not met. As mentioned in
section 3.1 of this report, the cost to refund applicants is b orne entirely by the
Municipality and its taxpayers.
4. Strategic Plan
The implementation of the fee waiver is consistent with priorities and actions within
Section L.2 of the 2024-2027 Clarington Strategic Plan. The expected result is that
finances and operations are efficiently and responsibly managed. Priority L.2.2 calls for
the use of process improvements to optimize services.
5. Concurrence
This report has been reviewed by the Deputy CAO, Finance and Technology/Treasurer
who concurs with the recommendation.
6. Conclusion
The purpose of this report is to summarize the changes to the Planning Act
implemented by Bill 109 and Bill 97 as they relate to fee refunds and present an option
that would allow staff to continue to work with applicants in a timely and efficient manner
on ZBA and SPA applications. The fee refund waiver is an option that can be used while
not negatively impacting the Municipality financially or recommending the denial of an
application based on needing to meet the prescribed timeline.
It is respectfully recommended that Council (i) endorse staffs recommendation to allow
the Deputy CAO of Planning and Infrastructure to execute fee refund waiver
agreements with applicants of Combined Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law
Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment applications and Site Plan Control applications
in situations that are deemed necessary.
Staff Contact: Toni Rubino, Senior Planner, 905-623-3379 x 2431 or trubino@clarington.net.
Attachments:
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Report PDS-012-24
Attachment 1 – Fee Refund Waiver
Interested Parties:
There are no interested parties to be notified of Council's decision.
Refund of Development Application Fees
Acknowledgement and Agreement
I, the undersigned, am aware of requirements under the Planning Act for the
Municipality of Clarington, in certain circumstances based on the prescribed timeframes
outlined in the Planning Act, refund fees submitted to the Municipality of Clarington as
part of Zoning By-law Amendment and/or Site Plan Control applications. Should I
become entitled to a refund of development application fees, I hereby direct the
Municipality of Clarington not to refund the development application fees.
I further agree that by relinquishing my right to these fees the Municipality of Clarington
is in no way bound to approve my application(s) and it does not in any way limit the
Municipality’s discretion in approving or denying said application(s).
By signing this agreement, I understand that this does not remove my right per the
Planning Act to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
Municipal File No:
Municipal Address:
*Applicant Name(s) (print): __________________________ Date: _______________
*Applicant Signature: ______________________________
*Owner Name(s) (print): ____________________________ Date: _______________
*Owner Signature: ________________________________
*Payee Name(s) (print): ____________________________ Date: _______________
*Payee Signature: _________________________________
Deputy CAO Name (print): ___________________________ Date: _______________
Deputy CAO Signature: ___________________________________
*If the applicant or owner is a corporation, the signing officer must have authority to bind
the corporation.
*If the payee is different from the applicant or owner, please identify the individual or
organization that submitted the payment.
Attachment 1 to
PDS-012-24