It was a foreshadowing of discussions coming soon by Belleville council on major increases to development charges in the city.
CEO of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce Jill Raycroft told the Economic and Destination Development Committee Thursday that a consultant’s recommendation to almost double development charges was too extreme.
” … and would impact that opportunity for economic development and also impact the housing market.”
Meanwhile Councillor Bill Sandison says current development charges aren’t close to covering new costs to the city created by new development and existing property owners unfairly end up paying them through higher taxes.
“Council’s decision last year to only raise development charges by I think it was about $1,000 cost the city $3 million.”
Consultants told council recently that development charges on a new house should go from almost $15,000 to over $28,000.
Raycroft and Sandison both shared a concern about a steep increase in development charges on commercial properties.
