During its Council meeting on July 14th, the Municipality of Bluewater officially passed By-Law 78-2025, reducing development charges (DCs) by 45% across the municipality. This decision means developers will now pay just 55% of the usual fees when starting new building projects.
The idea to lower DCs came from a request made by council earlier this year. Staff first presented a report at a council meeting in May, recommending the cut. At that time, council chose to wait for changes from the province through Bill 17, the “Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act.” Once Bill 17 passed and council had a chance to review consultant reports in June, the by-law was brought forward again for final approval in July.
Bill 17 included several changes that affected how municipalities collect DCs. Under the new rules, municipalities are no longer required to hold public meetings or update background studies for certain changes, like removing annual indexing or lowering DC rates. It also introduced rules that freeze DC rates at the lowest amount between planning and building stages and allows payment to be delayed until a building is occupied.
These updates gave council the option to proceed with the 45% reduction without needing to go through a longer review process. However, staff warned that the new system may create more work for the finance team. If builders delay payment until occupancy but don’t contact the building department for inspection, unpaid fees could be harder to collect.
Based on past years, staff estimate the municipality could lose about $230,000 in revenue if similar development levels continue. That money would have to be made up in other ways, like through property taxes or user fees.
Despite this, the list of upcoming municipal projects that rely on DC funding, such as the expansion of the Public Works Shop.
The by-law officially takes effect on August 1, 2025. Council still has the option in the future to apply different rates to different areas of Bluewater if needed.