Quote:
Originally Posted by MoreTrains
Yeah, I am new, and poorly versed.
So provincial mandates require municipal expansions to go along with the official plan updates? Seems like a stupid thing to do. Why expand prior to critical mass? I mean, Toronto that might makes sense, but in Ottawa, there is so much land there is no way we reach a critical mass in 5-10 years. Seems to me there should be a minimum density rating prior to the expansions.
And there might be development fees that come from greenfield development, but if there is low density those fees only go so far. It is pretty shortsighted, to me at least, to rely on a one time development fee instead of municipal tax collection, that is better in denser areas. Plus, density decreases infrastructure, and less infrastructure means people pay less taxes, because the requirements are spaced out better.
Ill have too read into the OPA 76 process. Perhaps I will answer my own questions. But it still seems to me, that all of the population in Ottawa that lives outside the Greenbelt, could easily live within the Greenbelt, creating a better city perhaps, but I am quite into fantasy evidently...
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Not sure what you mean by critical mass but its a supply and demand thing. It takes a while to bring a subdivision on-line. If there is scarcity then prices go up. That in a nutshell is why there has to be adequate greenfield supply.
Development charges do not replace property taxes. In a nutshell greenfield development pays near the full costs for brining infrastructure to them. The development charges are capitalized by the builders back into the home price. The home owner then pays property taxes as per normal. BUT for intensification, the new residents of a new intensification project pay less of a proportion of the costs to upgrade infrastructure to service that project. The difference is covered by other municipal revenue (or grants during the stimulus era) effectively subsidiizing the costs of the new infrastructure. They then pay property taxes as per normal.
Its not about population outside greenbelt living inside the greenbelt. Its about housing type. Municipalities HAVE to provide enough supply per housing type or demand. So there has to be enough supply of singles and inside the greenbelt cannot accommodate that demand, hence suburbs and expansion.
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