That the Rules of Procedure be suspended to consider the following motion in order to provide Council’s request to the Province of Ontario as soon as possible
WHEREAS Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 proposes extensive changes to several Acts and regulations including the Development Charges Act, Planning Act, Municipal Act; and
WHEREAS in combination with Bill 109 these changes will have significant impacts on municipal financing, processes, and operational matters; and
WHEREAS the City supports the overarching objective of Bill 23, which is to address the need for housing and to provide the housing capacity and planning framework necessary to stimulate home-building across the province; and,
WHEREAS several of the proposed amendments represent a positive step toward achieving this goal, and complement bold actions already taken by Ottawa’s City Council to increase housing supply; and
WHEREAS Bill 23 will compromise our efforts to improve the quality of buildings and the public realm, compromise the work of the Urban Design Review Panel, and limit staff’s ability to implement good urbanism across all building types; and
WHEREAS Council is concerned about the reduction in environmental oversight that will result in the loss of diverse and mature ecosystems, which will have immediate and long-term environmental and climate change impacts, including increased flooding risk; and
WHEREAS there are concerns regarding the changes to parkland and Development Charge (DC) collection for supporting infrastructure and transportation; and
WHEREAS DCs are critical to build the infrastructure needed to support development and if the city doesn’t get this funding, then residents may not receive the infrastructure they reasonably expect, or property taxes will need to be raised in an inequitable manner; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that City Council request that the Province delay implementation of Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 to allow for more fulsome analysis and meaningful consultation and collaboration with municipalities and other stakeholders; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that City Council request the Province to consider further amendments to Bill 23 to preserve the City’s High Performance Development Standard, parkland provisions, community benefits charges and Development Charges to facilitate responsible growth; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED City Council request that the Province allow a review of the reduction in environmental oversight that will have immediate and long-term environmental impacts, such as increased flooding risk; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED City Council request the Province commit to considering amendments to the Planning Act to enable the implementation of Inclusionary Zoning across the City and incorporate definitions of affordable housing that respond to low and moderate household income; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED City Council direct the City Manager and the City Treasurer make public the financial impacts of Bill 23 and outline the impact on specific capital projects that will need to be deferred or delayed in each ward; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED City Council request the Province enact a regulation to permit the use of conditional zoning, paragraph 70.1(1) 24 and subsection 34(16) of the Planning Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED City Council request the Province delay the implementation of refunds for development applications pursuant to Bill 109 in light of the significant changes to the Planning regulations and internal City processes regarding development; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Province expedite ongoing consultation with municipalities to determine a Province-wide framework to protect renters who have low household income and existing affordable rental stock; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED City Council request that the Provincial government provide additional funding and funding tools to the City matching the amount of revenue lost through development charges, community benefits charges, and Section 42 of the Planning Act in Bill 23 to ensure the services needed to facilitate growth continue to be delivered; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Province reconsider proposed changes to the Ontario Heritage Act and its regulations and convene a working group with municipalities to review this issue.