City of Ottawa settles with developers over 'excessive' $1.8M fees
Settlement sees developers pay about one-sixth of what city originally charged
Kate Porter · CBC News
Posted: Jul 03, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
It appears the City of Ottawa set its fees too high when it decided to charge $1.8 million to property owners wanting to apply for a one-off expansion of the urban boundary.
A hearing was set for June 2 at the Ontario Land Tribunal for an appeal by five home builders that want to convert rural land along March Road north of Kanata for urban development. CBC News has learned the city instead agreed to a settlement that sees the developers pay just one-sixth of the application fees the city had originally charged.
At least one other appeal over application fees was resolved at the same time. It had been filed by developers wanting to expand the Findlay Creek neighbourhood eastward.
Claridge Homes is involved in both cases. The company confirmed they were settled so the builders would pay $209,581 in fees to the city for a planning review, and another $106,000 to assess servicing lands with water and sewer pipes.
That's a fraction of the fees council approved last fall when it created the new type of application. It originally set fees that totalled $1.8 million, including a planning review fee at a hefty $1.4 million.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/land-tribunal-urban-expansion-fees-ottawa-1.7564991
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