Huron County Council Approves Adjustment In Planning Fees

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County council has approved an increase in planning fees for the county.

Planning application fees have historically been reviewed every five years. The fees were last reviewed in 2021 and a coordinated fee schedule was passed which set the standardized fees across the county for 2022 to 2026. At that time, all councils across the county approved the fees with a 2% increase each year over this five-year period, with the increase occurring on January 1st of each year. There has been an average of 250 planning applications processed per year over the past 5 years.

Planning Manager Denise Van Amersfoort says the goal of planning fees in Huron County has always been to try and achieve a balance. “Fees do not represent full cost recovery, but at the same time we don't want to place the full burden of development on the tax base. So, it's a matter of finding that balance between development paying for itself, but wanting the county to continue being an attractive place for development to occur.”

It's also important for Huron County to stay in line with its neighbouring municipalities and that was a factor in considering the review. Van Amersvoort says generally the complexity of planning applications means more staff time in reviewing them, so that means more people involved in the process and technical studies also translate into more people and more cost. She says they're increasing their fees to help them recover some of their costs for the time spent.

The increase has been 2% a year since 2021, but Van Amersvoort says that doesn't cover the increase in costs the county has been facing in the last few years. Council agreed that rather than continue with the current 2% annual increase, on January 1st each year starting on January 1st of 2025, the fees will be increased on a percentage basis rounded up or down to the nearest ten-dollar increment consistent with the Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index for Ontario for the previous calendar year, if the Index shows an increase.