oh we're not rolling and they just went out good morning we'll call this meeting to order for Wednesday September 4th uh and first we will start with Council announcements Mayor West uh well first of all welcome back everybody it's uh good to see everybody live and in person it was uh a busy summer but in a different kind of way I guess uh I just wanted to let members of council know um this is my fault I missed the deadline to get in a member motion for this meeting so I'm going to uh ask that staff bring it to the council meeting on uh next Wednesday but it's a I'm going to send it to everybody um uh right after this meeting but it's basically um a member motion to ask staff to explore the possibility of putting a signage up to ackowledge our first Nations names of some of the rivers uh that run through our our community that the dawn the pumber and the uh Rouge River um I I talked to Chief salt when we met here the other day when she came for the uh the opening at our historic um uh War of 1812 uh exhibit that they put on and she seemed felt that that was would be a really appropriate and good idea and I think it's kind of consist with what our um our efforts in Truth and Reconciliation are working towards so uh look for that in your inbox in the next little while and again my apologies that I didn't get that in um early enough that's my fault and I guess I should also um make a point of um acknowledging celebrities who have joined us today and and we have chair Wayne Emerson uh sitting in the audience so welcome to Richmond Hill chair Emerson thank you and counselor tweet good morning so um I'll say uh through 2023 to 2024 uh finally we finish up our world for our neighborhood watch program so uh we spend six months almost every weekend during the summer uh visiting the three blocks in world four so we visit around 9,000 families and last uh weekend we finally finish all of them so so far uh there are around 180 streets so there are 16 of them qualified for this program if any res has interesting uh to promote this program please let me know so we're going to walk with you and with my volunteers make a do door visiting for the res on the street also thank you so much for all my volunteers through the summer you know 34 35 sometimes hot and they all walk with me so thank you appreciate for the support from volunteers also the family members as well thanks thank you uh anyone else I don't see any I I just want to say uh thank you um to Mr clerk Stephen hike and his team for running a wonderful election efficient in July for a new trustee here in uh Richmond Hill and I feel like every time I go to vote it gives me such a sense of Pride and a belief that our electoral system and our way of voting is completely um controlled and has it people can trust and U you maintain the Integrity every time you run one so thank you very much and your team moving on uh introduction of emergency time sensitive matters seeing none adoption of the agenda thank you counselor svitz thank you counselor Shu all all those in favor yeah well that was yeah I've already forgotten the rules it's only been two months thank you okay disclosures of pecuniary interests and general nature thereof seeing none are there any identification of items requiring separate discussion I I have a question about development charges so I'm going to pull 11.3 anybody else no so oh yes sir I I wouldn't mind asking a question about the um the Heritage Richmond Hill committee so 11.2 yes okay anybody else all right then so shall we uh can we adopt the remainder of agenda items do I have a mover councelor tree all those all those in favor thank you those pass we have no public hearings no presentations no delegations so moving on to 11.2 Mr Mayor uh thank you just thank you very much to staff for that uh for the report and I I completely agree with the recommendation so I'm happy to move that um just a question I I think it's maybe the time has come based on our um on our uh uh experience with the education representative on that committee to just not have an education uh representative on that committee I I don't really think uh there's it's bringing a lot of value and and given the amount of work that we're doing to you know constantly fill that seat I'm just not sure that it's worth it so um are we are there plans for us in the in the new term of council after we pass this motion to to take that part out of the terms of reference and not have an education representative thank you uh through the chair to the mayor uh certainly that um is one of the issues that my office is looking at we're actually reviewing the entire citizen appointment process right now and we'll be coming back to council with recommendations related to that and and one of the things that we are doing as part of that review uh is looking at the terms of reference and seeing where we've had challenges such as this so it is quite possible that the recommendation will come back to update the terms of reference to remove that permanently at council's discretion okay well that's fine let's leave it at that then and I and as I suspected we already have that well in hand so thank you Mr clerk but I I would just like to be on record uh as I I I honestly don't see what the value of that uh particular appointment is and frankly if we were going to have an additional person instead of an education representative I think it would be better off coming from the community at large than than uh from from the education sector so that would be my two cents worth um but uh when when that report comes back I'll be reiterating that position at that time thanks very much thank you you do have oh I was going to say anyone El have any more oh Karen oh jeez thank you counselor silvet you madam chair um totally supported uh Mr Mayor thank you very much for bringing that forward um uh you've been on Heritage richmal committee with myself and we have uh councelor Davidson is now on as well and I can I can safely report that for this entire term up till now the that that public repres that a school representative has not been present and and in previous ter in previous terms we've had a very very similar situation and um it's very important in Heritage richond Hill that we do have everyone attend because of Quorum and we're small but we got to have Quorum so um thank you for bringing that forward I definitely support it thank you madam chair thank you anyone else we have a motion on the floor all those uh all those in oh we need a firster or oh okay all those in favor that passes unanimously thank you uh moving on I'll start with 11.3 um I just would like to ask staff in a nutshell what how are DC charges administered now what's the process does if I have a development are the develop are DC charges still going to be for some developments sort of um eased into Till There are 100% of what they should be or there still discounts I'm just interested to know what is if I apply for something for a a large condo tomorrow what will my DC charges be expected for the city what am I expecting in terms of DC charges um I'd be pleased to answer that Madam chair Mr Mayor members of council it's a pleasure so the changes to Bill 185 basically have removed the phas in so and we can upon adoption we don't have to go through a whole public process to remove the phasin so upon adoption of the amending bylaws the 100% charge will be an effect upon adoption unless you choose to add some other type of uh phas in thank you and um that are the are the ones that maybe did have a phasing GR fathered yes um if you had um if you recall if um uh I make an application for a site plan or a zoning bylaw that there's um you're basically Frozen at the rates until the point in time two years after the adoption uh of the um of that uh approval um the phas in still applies to them but anybody else as of the date of uh unless You' got some other type of agreement as of adoption of the by the amending bylaws the rates will be in effect the 100% rates thank you and just to confirm does this go for all of York Region the region to they won't be giving graduated DC charge break that will be at the pleasure of each individual Council but they have the exact same uh opportunity to put the 100% rates in effect and does that help us re sort of fill fill in the gaps financially what what kind of struggles we were going to have with building infrastructure fixing infrastructure without 100% DC charges is going to help mitigate that yes it will uh yeah that that was a big problem was the uh the phasing in uh you lose considerable amount of money uh as well they've added back in your ability to collect for um studies so that will also you know to do Master plans uh your um different evaluation for water needs sewer needs Etc all of that can be put back into the DC and that's included in our report as well okay thank you does anyone else have any other questions thank you so much oh Mayor West thank you very much and good to see you Gary thank you for being here um that was an interesting report and I must admit when I read it if I read it correctly and that's kind of what what I'm asking is um this will help us to move uh it'll help us to make up ground based on what was going to happen under the original Bill 23 and I'm I'm happy about that so that is that's correct okay and it's a significant difference right and especially with the um the definition of affordability um that's much more clarified in this than it has been in the past yeah my recollection is the this should add back in somewhere in the range of $185 million uh by removing that phasin so it's a significant amount of money uh for the municipality okay do we have uh A A Renewed calculation uh we we had initially said you know what Bill 23 was going to cost municipalities based on a lot of unknowns at the time there's been a number of changes and and and and walk backs I mean significant walk backs on this legislation do we have an idea on how much this is costing us now versus preu 23 like do we have a new calculation on I'll um ask G to comment Madam chair to W so initially when we reported on Bill 23 the DC impact was roughly $80 million um then with the other changes that did increase to above 200 and that's the number we reported during the DC bylaw so now with some of the the roll backs that we're seeing through the phase in as well as being able to add back to studies we're roughly at about 185 so so we are in a better position than we were before um but but there is still a sizable Gap and that's due to the other exemptions as well as the the reductions related to affordable housing affordable rental Etc okay so sorry maybe I missed that so do we have a number now like that we can point to to say this legislation is still costing us this amount of money in Lost DCS based on like once the dust settles with all of these changes we're considering today what is our shortfall today it's a very rough estimate we're still doing that number right now we're still doing the those calculations um sorry through you madam chair um so we're still doing that right now but we're still looking at approximately 100 the higher range of the 100 180 or so o over what timeline the 10year period that we had initially reported okay all right um that's fine I mean I have to say that's I suppose that's kind of good news I mean it is good news but it but we're still short and that's that's problematic as uh councelor Davidson had alluded to that you know we are still going to be significantly short to fund the growth that we need to fund that this um you know this infrastructure and so on that this growth requires um what what is um okay so once this passes then there's the um is there are there I'm not sure how to phrase this what is we will be getting a a more fullsome report then once we get the changes in place like so we have an a more precise number through Madam chair to Mayor West yes so we do have a second phase as youve not in the report it is a two-phase approach right now we're looking at implementing the changes through the streamlined process so we're able to adopt them in the bylaw so there is that phase two that's going to be coming to Council in November we do have a public meeting so through that process we will report back with the updates on the numbers and so that's going to be October November when we do the second phase okay all right I'll just leave it at one more question so so the other um thing that I'm I remain concerned about and I don't see this being um uh addressed in Bill 185 when the discount is given for affordable rental or affordable purchase is there anything in the legislation that ties the uh the company that gets like the Builder that gets that those discounts to an obligation to keep that affordable for uh an extended period of time or is the money just given and then it's they I mean it may be affordable when it's first purchased but then after that you know on the second purchase it's on the resale then it goes back to being not affordable it's the agreement it's the agreement so um through the chair um the way the ACT is set up is that you have to remain in that affordable category for 25 years and and it allows the municipality to enter into an agreement and then put that agreement on title now the agreement is not quite clear whether it's with the developer or the owner and I think that a lot of municipalities are considering that it'll fly with the owner of the of the property it's very difficult to to have Bob's uh Building Company uh have that obligation for 25 years so my discussions with municipalities say it will lay with the individual property okay so has has have we seen a situation where this has happened yet in Ontario the sorry through the chair the agreement yeah uh that the it is unfolding now unfolding yes so a lot of municipalities uh through associations like the municipal Finance officers are working to everybody's excuse me taking there uh cut at the definitions and such the preparation of it and they're funneling it through the uh the municipal Finance officers and sharing it they've got a uh a dialogue group set up uh to kind of communicate to everybody I find it very difficult to understand and I I hope I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I'm not that uh the when it's a a it's a purchase uh situation that the affordability can be extracted out of whatever the increase would be just due to Market forces and I I just don't think that's possible that's like trying to take the sugar out of uh you know a a a pancake recipe or something it just doesn't happen once it's in the mix it's in the mix it is a through the chair a very um unique uh situation we have um there's a single family home issue and then there's what do we do if we have a um you know a 200 unit building and upon the sale of one of the units now you've crossed over that threshold do we just charge the one unit or do we go back and hit everybody I mean there's a lot of uh areas that have to be explored uh a little bit more detail so we're moving ahead we're we're trying to sort it out it's but unfortunately it's it's a very unique type of situation the province has placed Us in right okay well I I spent quite a bit of time at Amo recently on the general theme of if we're going to provide you know public money to to make incentives then the incentives actually have to incentivize behavior that wasn't going to happen anyway so I I hope that we can work on that I mean I realize that that's slightly outside of the scope of this particular uh staff report but anyway thank you for the work on that um I wish you luck trying to uh unravel all the threads that are involved in this uh particular legislation and how it's been convoluted and walked back and all the work frankly that we've put into this coming up with the new plan and all the staff time and the money and the expense of doing that and then ask then you know having it all walk back and going back to some sort of semblance of status quo before that all happened but anyway thank you very much and uh more than happy to uh support the motion uh is there anyone else who' like to speak no we have a motion on the floor all those oh thank you all those in favor thank you motion passes is there any other business no and emergency time sensitive matters no and do I have a motion to adjourn thank you councelor tree all those in favor passes thank you so much