Brian Bowman, developers hold 'respectful' meeting on growth fees

Mayor Brian Bowman and more than a dozen members of Winnipeg's development and business community spent 90 minutes discussing proposed growth fees on Monday morning, agreeing on little more than the need to continue talking.

In what both sides described as a respectful meeting, the mayor said he reiterated his contention Winnipeg must institute new fees to ensure new developments in the city finance all the infrastructure that must be built to serve them.

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Developers, in turn, said they reiterated their contention proposed fees of $18,300 for a new 1,800-square-foot home would curb construction within the city and devastate their industry.

Bowman told reporters he did not expect everyone in the room to agree. He said he wants to bring in growth fees as soon as possible, but would not commit to the 2017 budget year as a target.

"We are certainly doing our best to expedite (the) decision so that there'sgreater certainty in the marketplace, the timing of which, we'll let you know once those decisions have been made," Bowman told reporters outside his temporary office on the second floor of city hall's administration building.

The mayor dismissed the notion it would be politically expedient to have new fees in place before 2018, an election year in Winnipeg. Bowmansaid the funding issues facing the city transcend any individual mayor's time in office.

Mike Moore of the Manitoba Home Builders' Association, who stood alongside the mayor following the meeting,said it would take many months and years to hold meaningful discussions with his industry about growth fees, given the complexity of the issues.

"Expedite, to me, doesn't mean Wednesday's EPC meeting. It doesn't to the mayor either," Moore said. "I think we're expediting the discussions. The imposition of a fee, obviously I don't support at this time, but I support talking about it at a much greater manner."

He noted parallel talks between the city and developers about new development parameters, which are far less contentious, have taken months to yield modest results. He also said Calgary and its developers held 44 meetings before agreeing to new charges, while Ontario discussions took two years.

LorenRemillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, said it was more important to have both sides listening to each other than see any appreciable movement in their respective positions.

"We felt that this was a productive meeting. Hopefully this will help further the conversation and get it right for Winnipeg," he told reporters in the lobby of city hall's administration building.

Qualico vice president Eric Vogan, whose firm has suspended work on luxury plots in Sage Creek due to the prospect of development fees, said he is not very optimistic about future talks.

"Our major concern is there in an attempt to couch a tax on new development as a growth charge when in fact it is a source of money that's to be used to balance the existing fiscal problem in Winnipeg and for the '17 budget," Vogan told reporters following the meeting.

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An internal report that's supposed to lay out how Winnipeg couldbring in growth fees without requiring the province to change legislation is expected this fall. Bowman said does not yet know when that report will come to council.