Carleton Place development fees under review to support housing growth
At a short public committee of the whole meeting on September 9, members of Carleton Place council received a presentation from Nancy Neale, manager with Watson and Associates, regarding the town’s Carleton Place development fees and charges.
“Because you received funding from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) as part of the funding agreement, the town committed to undertake a comprehensive review of its Carleton Place development fees and charges,” said Neale.
This goal is to improve transparency, streamline processes, and better support housing development—especially affordable, non-profit, and “missing middle” housing.
There are two phases to this project. Phase one is complete, and Phase two, which starts this fall, will focus on calculating the revised and updated Carleton Place development fees and charges.
Phase 1 was about creating a clear and consistent administrative framework for all current Carleton Place development fees. This meant clarifying when fees are owed, what they fund, and ensuring that all charges comply with provincial legislation such as the Planning Act, Building Code Act, and Municipal Act. The review also explored opportunities to simplify fee structures, introduce targeted incentives, and consider penalties or disincentives for developments that don’t align with the community’s housing needs.
“When we looked at the development process, we really broke it down into nine different phases. That really takes someone from coming in with an interest to apply for an application or pre-application stage, right through to getting agreements executed, constructing those municipal infrastructures, pulling the building permits, constructing the homes and businesses, until we get people occupancy and what happens post-occupation,” said Neale.
The review found that the Town’s current Carleton Place development fees structure is generally sound, with no duplication and a strong alignment with cost recovery principles. Fees are updated regularly through by-laws, though some legacy bylaws—such as those related to capital or connection charges—need modernizing.
The Town already offers a number of financial and indirect incentives to encourage development. These include exemptions from Carleton Place development fees, building permit rebates, tax increment rebates (TIER), free pre-consultation meetings, early collection of parkland fees before land values increase, accessibility grants, and incentives under the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for affordable housing and brownfield redevelopment.
Building on this foundation, new incentives are being recommended to further support key housing types. For non-profit and affordable rental housing, Watson and Associates propose grants of up to $25,000 per unit, waivers for planning and engineering fees, extended property tax rebates from 10 to 15 years, and alignment with county-level incentive programs. For missing middle housing, including smaller semi-detached and townhouse units, reduced building permit fees are proposed. Mixed-use developments in walkable areas of town could have reduced parking requirements, and accessible seniors housing could receive grants of up to $5,000 per unit for barrier-free design—stacked on top of other incentives.
“And you would want to, through the application processes, have an intake period with a closing date for applications so staff could review those and then prioritize all of those to ensure your non-profits are the first types of units to get funding, the affordable rental housing, etc., as you move down the list until the funds are used up,” said Neale.
Staff will continue to coordinate with the County to introduce a new property tax subclass for affordable housing, which will need to be brought to council and passed by the end of September to come into effect in 2026.
The next steps recommended by Watson and Associates include allocating $500,000 of HAF funding toward housing incentives and reserving an additional $100,000 to complete Phase 2 of the review, which will evaluate individual Carleton Place development fees in more detail.
Members of council had no questions following the presentation and passed a motion to receive the report for information.
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You can watch the Sept. 9th council and CoW meeting on the Town of Carleton Place YouTube Channel.
