Halifax regional council wasted no time yesterday, getting through a laundry list of items in under two hours.
Many of the items on the afternoon agenda had already been discussed by council, requiring only council’s final approval.
The most contentious of these was a bylaw amendment implementing new fees and fee increases proposed in this year’s budget process. The fee changes include a 10 per cent increase in heritage and planning applications, processing fees to the tune of $770 per downtown development plan applications, and processing fees for development applications.
Variance applications also saw a substantial increase, from $100 to $500 per application.
According to the staff report, variance applications require a significant amount of time to process, and the current $100 fee does not reflect that.
But Coun. Bob Harvey questioned the quintuple increase.
“I think going five times the amount is too much,” said Harvey.
“The Northwest Community Council deals with three, four, five (variance applications) a year, maybe. A fee of $500 would be more than the actual cost of what people want to construct, in some cases.”
Despite Harvey’s hesitations, the amendment passed unanimously. Municipal staff estimate an influx of approximately $150,000 to municipal coffers thanks to the new fees.
