Development Charges By-law

1.  In this by-law,

a)  “Act” means the Development Charges Act, 1997, S.O. 1997, c. 27, as amended, or any successor thereto;

b)  “agricultural land” means land which is zoned for agricultural or farming uses in the Zoning By-Laws of The Corporation of Haldimand County;

c)  “apartment unit” means any dwelling unit in an apartment building and will include a garden suite or granny flat;

d)  “apartment building” means a building consisting of more than one dwelling unit with a private bathroom and kitchen facilities in each unit and which is not a single detached dwelling, a semi-detached dwelling, a farm help house, a multiple unit dwelling, a mobile home, a temporary residential structure, or a special care/special dwelling unit;

e)  “accessory apartment” means a residential dwelling unit within a single or semi-detached dwelling not exempted within Section 7 of this by-law and in the case of a mixed-use development, a residential dwelling unit which is secondary to the main use of the building. An accessory apartment, as defined, shall be considered an apartment unit;

f)  “assisted living facility” means a building consisting of more than one dwelling unit which includes a bedroom to accommodate one or more people and provides nursing assistance (but not 24-hour nursing care), laundry, and food/dietary services as well as various common areas for residences, visitors and staff but is not a long-term care/nursing facility;

g)  “bedroom” includes any room which can be used as sleeping quarters but does not include a kitchen, bathroom, living room or dining room;

h)  “benefiting area” means an area defined by a map, plan or legal description in a front-ending agreement as an area that will receive a benefit from the construction of a service;

i)  “capital costs” includes the capital costs defined in Section 5(3) of the Act;

j)  “commercial” means any non-residential development not defined under “institutional” or “industrial”;

k)  “Council” means the Council of The Corporation of Haldimand County;

l)  “County” means the body corporate continued as a Municipality under the name “The Corporation of Haldimand County;

m)  “development” means the construction, erection or placing of one or more buildings or structures on land or the making of an addition or alteration to a building or structure that has the effect of increasing the size or usability thereof, and includes redevelopment;

n)  “development charge” or “development charges” means charges imposed with respect to this by-law;

o)  “dwelling unit” means any part of a building or structure used, designed or intended to be used as a domestic establishment in which one or more persons may sleep and are provided with bathroom and kitchen facilities for their exclusive use, and shall exclude suites contained within a motel or hotel;

p)  “farm building” means that part of a bona fide farm operation encompassing barns, silos, and other ancillary development to an agricultural use that will be assessed in the Farmland Realty Tax Class by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation:

1. 1. including (but not limited to):
      1. cultivation of crops, whether on open land or in greenhouses, including (but not limited to) fruit, vegetables, herbs, grains, field crops, cannabis, sod, trees, shrubs, flowers, and ornamental plants; and
   2. but excluding:
      1. a residential, commercial, or an industrial use, including (but not limited to) cannabis retail, processing, or production facilities, and retail-related greenhouses;

q)  “farm help house” means a residential building constructed on a farm and not attached to any other building or structure, with sleeping, cooking, living and sanitary facilities, and used for seasonal, interim or occasional residential uses by farm labourers;

r)  “garden suite” or “granny flat” means a building containing one (1) dwelling unit where the unit is detached from and ancillary to an existing single detached dwelling or semi-detached dwelling on the lands and such building may be designed to be portable;

s)  “grade” means the average level of proposed or finished ground adjoining, at all exterior walls, a building containing one or more dwelling units, a non-residential building or structure or a building or structure with both residential and non-residential uses;

t)  “gross floor area” means the total area of all floors above grade of a building containing one or more dwelling units or non-residential building or structure of a building, or structure with both residential and non-residential uses measured between the outside surfaces of exterior walls, or between the outside surfaces of exterior walls and the center line of party walls dividing the dwelling unit, or non-residential building or structure or other portion of a building;

u)  “growth-related net capital costs” means the portion of the net capital costs of services that is reasonably attributable to the need of such net capital costs that results, or will result from development, in all or a defined part of the Corporation of Haldimand County;

v)  “hotel” (and “motel”) means a commercial establishment offering lodging to travellers and sometimes to permanent residents, and may include other services such as restaurants, meeting rooms and stores that are available to the general public;

w)  “industrial” means lands, buildings or structures used or designed or intended for use for manufacturing, processing, fabricating or assembly of raw goods, warehousing or bulk storage of goods, and includes office uses and the sale of commodities to the general public where such uses are accessory to an industrial use, but does not include the sale of commodities to the general public through a warehouse club or public storage facilities;

x)  “institutional” means a building used for, or in connection with religious, charitable, cultural, educational, governmental, health or welfare purposes and shall include but not be limited to:

1. 1. public and private non-commercial schools, nursery schools, or daycare facilities; and
   2. Long-term care facilities/Nursing homes.

And shall exclude facilities containing special care/special dwelling units, including assisted living facilities.

y)  “local board” means a school board, public utility commission, transportation commission, public library board, board of park management, local board of health, board of commissioners of police, planning board, or any other board, commission, committee, or local authority established or exercising any power of authority under any general or special Act with respect to any of the affairs or purposes, including school purposes, of The Corporation of Haldimand County;

z)  “long-term care facility/nursing home” means a building consisting of more than one dwelling unit which includes a bedroom to accommodate one or more people and has full time staff to provide 24-hour nursing and palliative care, laundry and food/dietary services as well as various common areas for residences, visitors and staff;

aa)  “manufactured home” means a manufactured home as referenced within the Ontario Building Code;

bb)  “mixed-use development” means a building or structure in which there are or will be both residential and non-residential uses, but does not include a hotel, motel, resort development, guest house, boarding house, nursing home, retirement living multiple unit dwelling or home for the aged;

cc)  “mobile home” means a mobile home as  referenced in the Ontario Building Code;

dd)  “multiple unit dwelling” means all dwellings other than single detached dwelling units, semi-detached dwelling units, apartments, and special care/special dwelling units;

ee)  “net capital cost” means the capital cost less capital grants, subsidies and other contributions made to Haldimand County or that the Council of The Corporation of Haldimand County anticipates will be made, including conveyances or payments under Sections 41, 42, 51 and 53 of the Planning Act, as amended; and any successor thereto in respect of the capital cost;

ff)  “non-residential” means a building, other than for residential use, and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes commercial, industrial, institutional and retail buildings;

gg)  “place of worship” means a building or structure that is used for worship and religious practices and purposes, including related administrative, religious teaching, assembly and associated spaces, but does not include portions of such building or structure used for any commercial use, including but not limited to daycare facilities;

hh)  “Residential” means lands, buildings or structures of any kind whatsoever used, designed or intended to be used as living accommodations for one or more individuals, and shall include, but is not limited to;

1. 1. single detached dwelling unit,
   2. semi-detached dwelling unit,
   3. an apartment dwelling unit,
   4. a multiple-dwelling unit,
   5. special care/special dwelling unit,
   6. accessory apartment,
   7. farm help houses,
   8. individual mobile homes,
   9. individual manufactured homes,
   10. temporary residential structures,
   11. individual dwelling units in semi-detached dwellings, multiple dwellings, and apartment units,
   12. semi-detached dwellings, multiple-unit dwellings, apartments, and special care/special dwelling units in buildings or structures which are not exclusively used for residential purposes.

ii)  “retail” means a building used for, or in connection with the offering or sale of goods, wares, merchandise, substances, articles or things directly to the consumer;

jj)  “semi-detached dwelling” means a residential building consisting of two dwelling units attached by a vertical wall or walls;

kk)  “services” means services designated in Schedule “A” of this by-law or designated in front-ending agreement;

ll)  “single detached dwelling” means a residential building containing one dwelling   unit  and not attached to another building or structure, whether or not the sole single detached dwelling is situated on a single lot, and includes manufactured homes; and

mm)  “special care/special dwelling unit/room” means a residence in an assisted living facility:

1. 1. Containing two or more dwelling rooms, which rooms have common entrance from street level; and
   2. where the occupants have the right to use in common with other occupants, halls, stairs, yards, common room and accessory buildings; and
   3. that is designed to accommodate persons with specific needs, including but not limited to, independent permanent living arrangements; and where support services, such as meal preparation, grocery shopping, laundry, housing, nursing, respite care and attending services are provided at various levels; but
   4. excludes long-term care facilities/nursing homes.

7.  As provided for in Section 2(3) of the Act and Ontario Regulation 82/98, the following are not subject to development charges under the Act and this by-law if the only effect of an action referred to in Section 4 of this by-law is to:

a)  permit the enlargement of an existing dwelling unit; or

b)  permit the creation of up to two additional dwelling units, as prescribed, subject to the prescribed restrictions, in prescribed classes of existing residential buildings. The said prescribed matters from Ontario Regulation 82/98 are attached as Schedule “D” to this by-law.

12.  As authorized in paragraph ten of Section 5(1) of the Act, the development charges provided for in this by-law shall be adjusted annually by the percentage change during the preceding year, as recorded in the Statistics Canada Quarterly, Non-Residential Building Construction Price Index in the Toronto area. This adjustment shall take place as follows:

a)  the initial adjustment shall be one year from the date of passage of this by-law, and