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Mono wants better development service from Dufferin County

January 9, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

In certain respects, very many details is too much detail.

And such may be the case with Mono council being inundated with details of every single residential and other land development in town.

Councillor Elaine Capes asked recently about the status of a report on the advisability of terminating the town’s agreement with Dufferin County’s building services. It’s an item that has been on town council’s list of Unfinished Business since January 2024.

Specifically, Capes asked what the financial implications of such a break would be.

Les Halucha, the town’s treasurer, said Mono doesn’t have the level of development activity to necessitate investing in its own municipal building department.

“We don’t have the development for our own building department,” he said.

And the proof of that is in a recent development charges study that estimated about 15 lots are developed per year. Put that small number against the costs of a building department with a chief building official and an administrative assistant.

“The cost of salary and benefits (would) far exceed any permit fees,” Halucha said.

Mono council discussed in July steps that would enable it to recover some of the costs incurred through growth and development.

The municipality has been in the process of putting a development charges bylaw on its books. Many Ontario municipalities have done so.

A development charge is a cost-recovery mechanism for municipalities by having developers pay for expenses associated with growth. Those costs for expanded service would normally be covered by tax dollars from the town’s coffers.

Permit fees are based on the square footage of a proposed development. On average, Mono hauls in about $2,000 to $3,000 per development from development charges.

The highest estimate of 15 builds only yields $45,000.

“That’s just a quick and dirty analysis,” Halucha said.

He said he planned to bring something more substantive in the new year after the 2025 municipal operating and capital budget was settled.

“It seems more financially feasible for us to stay with the county than to try to set up a whole new (department) because we’d need an inspector and everything,” Capes said.

“That’s my opinion, yes,” Halucha said.

“This was, I think, triggered by Amaranth having issues with the building department,” said Mike Dunmore, Mono’s CAO. “With the absence of the director of planning and me being heavily involved in the planning, I wonder if there was still a concern of council with respect to the county building services.”

Dunmore said the building code is what it is. He asked if town council would like staff to continue to pursue the possibility of a municipal building department.

“Or should we remove this from the Unfinished Business list?” he said.

Deputy Mayor Fred Nix said his understanding is that the crowd in Amaranth intend to hire a consultant rather than develop an autonomous building department.

“And my understanding is they think the cost will be less than what it costs to have the county do it,” Nix said. “I can’t confirm that. I think your report should look at the idea of using a consultant.”

Capes said she’s concerned that residents inquire about various developments and there are few details to give them. How can council get in the loop to information about developments of 10,000 square feet?

“I have no idea because we’ve never seen anything,” she said. “I keep mentioning that mega-home that’s being built right now. There’s been several of those and there’s been no conversation about them. So how do they come to us to understand what’s going on in our own municipality?”

“The right of an individual to build on their property is just that,” Dunmore said.

The town processes more than 400 applications a year and that level of detail asked by Capes would be cumbersome to staff, he said.

“Council has an Official Plan and a zoning bylaw that outlines what an applicant is allowed to do on their property,” Dunmore said. “Should they (deviate) from that, council has the Committee of Adjustment and the planning, environmental, natural heritage process which you would become notified on.”

Another topic on council’s Unfinished Business list is called Large Residential Homes Planning Report. It’s been on council’s radar since October 2022. Dunmore suggested a means to satisfy Cape’s query may come out of that avenue.

“I think that would probably be the recommended path that council would become informed should there be a variance or a zoning or planning amendment,” Dunmore said.

Mayor John Creelman said that, as part of the town’s development charges study, typical homes and the large “mega home” were differentiated by their respective number of bedrooms.

“These larger homes have a greater impact on the community than a conventional home does and the development charges should reflect that,” Creelman said.

Providing council with notice of every residential renovation, property shed construction, or housing alteration could be done at council’s request.

“We could flood your (email) inboxes,” Dunmore said. “It’s a pretty aggressive task for council to be involved in when it boils down to an individual’s right (to do) what they do on their property.”

Capes said she can appreciate that, but there’s still a need for involvement by the municipal planning department.

“Maybe we can consider some report that comes to council, not to know every detail on every shed, but to know that there have been 400 applications, 50 of them were for this, 100 were for this,” Capes said. “Just so I have some sense of what’s going on in the landscape.”

“Every lot in Mono right now could probably add a shed, a garage, a second storey,” Dunmore said. “Anybody can renovate their basement.”

He said a zoning bylaw outlines individual allowances according to residential property lot sizes.

“I’m not sure if you’re looking for a detailed analysis of the zoning bylaw,” he said.

“Not at all,” Capes said. “I’m just looking for the numbers.”

How many permit requests have gone through Dufferin County’s planning department about development in Mono, she said.

Creelman suggested an annual report detailing the year’s developments would suffice.

“Municipal approval is necessary to obtain a building permit,” Creelman said. “And (the report would include) what those municipal approvals were for in a very general sense.”

Coun. Ralph Manktelow said the annual reports would be compiled for information purposes only.

“It’s not to intervene in decision-making at all,” he said. “We all have a strong affection for our community here and we like to know what’s happening.”

Complaints brought to individual councillors by residents about specific developments are private conversations and are not a basis for breaking from Dufferin County’s building department, Dunmore said.

Creelman said the desire for the town to consider providing its own building department services stems from instances of lacklustre service by the county’s resources.

“There’s more than one, there’s more than two (instances),” Creelman said. “To the county’s credit, they have dealt with some of these to the satisfaction of the applicants. But I think it would be premature to take this off the (Unfinished Business) list while we’re investigating.

“We also want the county to be on notice that we want a higher level of service than some of our residents have been getting.”

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