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THE OAKVILLE BEAVERA4 Wednesday August 25, 1999 If? D evelop m ent charges for new sch o o ls se t 9 By Dennis Smith SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Development charges used to fund new school sites have been approved at lower rates than originally proposed. Halton's public and Catholic boards approved new Education Development Charges (EDC) bylaws Wednesday. The new bylaws will replace the previous ones on Aug. 31st. The new bylaws will be in effect for 15 years, with a rate structure set for five years. The lawyer reporting to school boards on the matter described the final agree­ ment as a reasonable compromise. "This addresses many, but not all, of the issues and there was a certain give and take," said Brad Teichman. "The lion's share of sectors are satisfied." He noted the Urban Development Institute of Halton and the Greater Toronto Homebuilders Association had agreed not to appeal the bylaw. And since the bylaw changes were favourable to parties who expressed con­ cerns earlier, Teichman suggested no fur­ ther public meetings would be necessary. The EDCs approved are $874 per res­ idential unit for the Halton District School Board and 15 cents per square foot of gross floor area for non-residen- tial developments. For the Catholic board the charges are $689 per residential unit and 19 cents per square foot for non-res­ idential developments. Board members were told education­ al development charges were reduced because school capacity numbers did not match actual inventories and because larger schools are being built on new land sites. Overall EDC rates were reduced $113 per unit for the public school board and $225 per unit for the Catholic school board. Residential developers will bear 85% of EDCs, while non-residential develop­ ers will assume 15%. The previous ratio was 75-25. The ratio does not affect the dollars school boards will have to purchase properties, but it is an issue for develop­ ers, said Lynda Townsend, lawyer for UDI Halton and Greater Toronto Homebuilders. She said the 10-15% range is the compromise area. Townsend said attach­ ing the charge to residential units is a good approach because if construction slumps, there will be less need for schools. The lawyer said there were intense negotiations and parties involved wanted to meet the provincial government's Aug. 31 st deadline for the bylaw, without resorting to appeals. "It's better to compromise than fight," said Townsend. 'The development com­ munity is very supportive of schools being built. A community is not complete unless there are schools." Concern over credit provided for redevelopment of burnt or demolished buildings was expressed by Karl Gonnsen, of the Hamilton-Halton Home Builders Association. He said more than the two-year time limit is needed for the redevelopment credit. Teichman noted the limits are two years for residential redevelopment, but five years for non-residential redevelop­ ment. The public school board made one amendment to its bylaw -- it will no longer exempt non-profit alternative schools from Education Development Charges. Burlington trustee David Bird said he proposed the amendment because of the provincial funding formula, which pro­ vides grants on a per pupil basis. "Should parents pay taxes and have students in other forms of education, that's fine," said Bird. "But looking at it as a business, by pulling students out, that's costing us money." Oakville trustee Marianne Hawthorne said it would be mean-spirited to remove the exemption. "We've benefited in the past from these schools through taxes paid (by par­ ents)," she said. "I don't feel it's the right thing to do. They're providing alterna­ tives in education." The board voted in favour of the amendment, with Hawthorne being the lone dissenter. * Number o f bears indicates need for spring hunt The chairman of the Canadian Outdoor Heritage Alliance (COHA) has openly questioned why the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources released a revised estimate of the black bear population after banning the spring hunt. Oakville businessman Thomas Pigeon says the initial esti­ mate of the black bear population from the MNR was between 75,000-100,000 but that number was revised upwards to between 127,000-152,000 bears. That report was released less than a month after the Jan. 15th cancellation of the hunt. "In terms of developing public policy and making regula­ tory change, keeping in mind that governments are first and foremost stewards of the public's physical safety, this is a gross negligence as far as I am concerned," said Pigeon. 'The post-cancellation report was compiled between 1994 and 1997 but only released in February of this year. Why release it after the cancellation of the spring hunt? Why not before?" Pigeon noted that Sault Ste. Marie has reported a ten-fold increase in nuisance bear activity and northern Ontario resi­ dents want the spring hunt brought back for the safety of their children. According to Pigeon, rumours had been swirling through­ out the outdoor community for months that the MNR had updated research on the black bear population which showed the herd, acknowledged to be one of the largest in North America, was under-estimated by a large margin in the pre­ cancellation numbers. "It's beyond me how MNR could shut down the spring bear hunt in Ontario, having done everything they could to cause the public and the media to believe our black bear pop­ ulation was substantially smaller than what the government's actual research proved to be the case," said Marty Quinn, vice-chairman of COHA. 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