Mayor opposes appealing court ruling on impact fee

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This article was published 14/07/2020 (1626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG’S mayor says he wouldn’t support the city appealing the recent court ruling that determined its impact fee was invalid and ordered the city to refund $32 million in revenue it has collected.

Mayor Brian Bowman said he’d prefer to work with the development community to ensure new builds pay for their demands on city services and infrastructure.

“The city does, in fact, have the legal authority to impose an impact fee… Let’s move forward. And I’d rather do that around the boardroom table and in the council chambers than in a courtroom,” said Bowman.

The city introduced the impact fee in May 2017, levying it on new homes in some new neighbourhoods. As of Jan. 1, it added $5,249.96 per 1,000 square feet to the price of those homes.

Supporters argue that charge, also known as a growth fee, is needed to ensure new builds pay for the costs they create for city services and infrastructure. But developers argue growth already paid for those costs. They launched their successful legal challenge to get the money refunded.

The mayor said he would be required to sign off on any appeal of that court decision, so an appeal won’t take place at this time.

Since the court ruling took issue with the way the city implemented its growth fee, and not the city’s ability to actually add one, the mayor said he’s interested in exploring how such a levy could be added.

“I’d like to see us have some dialogue with the industry and I’d like to see council revisit… the (impact fee) bylaw to try to address the concerns the court has raised,” said Bowman. “It’s a matter of timing, of following the court’s direction and providing the refunds that were contemplated.”

The city’s apparent acceptance of the court ruling should clear the way for homeowners to begin receiving refunds, as long as the developers who raised the legal challenge against the city don’t appeal the ruling themselves.

At this point, that group says they are still assessing their legal options.

“Until we’ve had that discussion with (our) legal counsel, it’s not something we can really comment on,” said Lanny McInnes, president of the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association.

McInnes said he is “encouraged” by the fact the city isn’t currently pursuing an appeal.

“Certainly, we want to move forward and work with the city on coming up with a different solution, in terms of how to identify and implement cost-sharing mechanisms that work for both industry and the City of Winnipeg,” said McInnes.

He said builders are concerned that the city hasn’t ruled out an impact fee in the future.

“Our concern is that we (might) end up right back where we were, which is with (an) … invalid, indirect tax,” said McInnes.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga