New Tec residential building down by more than half

New Tecumseth Free Press Online October 7, 2010
Anyone following the municipal election campaign in New Tecumseth will have read and or heard, or will hear, mostly incumbents assure that future development will pay for the pending $36 million plus interest that will be debentured to bridge-finance the remediation and expansion of the regional wastewater treatment plant on the 14th Line.
Revenues to service the looming debt owed to TD Bank, are factored into the Town’s Development Charges fee, which in 2008 was hiked to $33,487 per single detached home with urban services, up from $21,711. That 50 per cent plus jump was directly tied to initial tender estimates for its construction which also rolled in 50 per cent more than anticipated.
Industrial DCs also climbed 40 per cent to $130.84 per sq m of gross floor space, while commercial was set at $218.07 per sq. m of gross floor space, both increases in relation to the sewage and water components.
The new DC rates were appealed by the development community, and the only public progress report since then was a June 7 in camera item listing ‘A memorandum of settlement’ presented to council. There has been no public pronouncements as to what the deal involves, and whether the Town had to scale back its rates, which would also impact the revenue from fees needed to pay off the debenture. Reportedly, the deal lessens the fees by $3,000.
And that would be a double whammy as the pace of residential development has slowed by more than 50 per cent over the same period last year. 
To Oct. 1, New Tecumseth issued 66 residential building permits, with three months remaining. That’s down from 126 in 2009. And that’s well below the record 510 taken out in 2008. There are more than 6,100 new housing units on the books, but in many instances a few years away from the building permit stage. Development in Beeton and Tottenham, both with approved secondary plans, is also at a standstill – mostly due to economic conditions.
Below is a snap shot of development activity between 2003 and 2008 – it’s the last such complete compilation that was presented to council.