Mayor says city must do more to explain its growth fees

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman says the city must do more to explain its new growth fees but rejects accusations the plan has been rushed through city hall.

City council voted on Oct. 26 to begin applying fees of about $500 for every 100 square feet of new residential space on May 1 in selected areas of the city.

One week later, the final map of those areas — amended the morning of the council vote — is still not available in an easy-to-read format on the city's website. There's also no explanation on winnipeg.ca as to how the fees will affect prospective homebuyers.

This has led to confusion among some homebuyers and a promise by South Winnipeg-St. Norbert Coun. Janice Lukes, who voted against the fees, to hold an open house about growth fees.

Bowman said Wednesday the city has not yet done enough to explain the new fees. He also noted it's only been a week since the council vote.

"Council just provided the direction last week, so there is work to do and we want to see as broad public communication for everybody involved: those considering moving into new areas that are affected by impact fees, as well as the broader public and industry," Bowman said.

City public relations staff did not plan a communications strategy earlier because they could not presume the will of council, the mayor added.

"Obviously that information wasn't broadcast and made available or even developed before council provided that direction," Bowman said.

He declined to say why the city was unable to prepare a communications plan in anticipation of the council vote, given that he also said "this is something that has been discussed for decades."

The mayor also rejected the suggestion council rushed to approve growth fees before the plan was ready. He described the last-minute changes to the growth-fee map last week as amendments.

"We want to see as much information made available to the public as possible, and I do know corporate communications is working [toward that], now that council has provided that direction."

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Winnipeg corporate communications manager Felicia Wiltshire said the city is in the process of working on a growth-fee primer.

"We are putting together easy-to-understand information for the public explaining where the fees will be applied, how they will be applied and when — along with a host of other questions. We hope to have something available very soon, as we know the public has a lot of questions now that this has been passed by council," Wiltshire said in a statement.

Bowman said if a home-building permit is taken out before May 1 in a growth-fee area, the project in question will not be subject to the fee.

The mayor said the city's permits office plans to beef up its staffing to accommodate an expected influx of applications before May 1.

Growth-fee revenue for the latter eight months of 2017 is expected to be $7 million to $10 million, property committee chair Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) has estimated.

The mayor said revenue will be factored into the 2017 budget and will be dedicated toward growth-related infrastructure funding.

He would not commit to ensuring the city does not use growth-fee revenue to reduce the 2017 allotment of "cash to capital," which is money set aside in the operating budget to fund infrastructure spending in the capital budget.

"We'll let you know when we table the budget," the mayor said.