News bulletin for growers: Niagara maintains exemption on development charges

At the Niagara Regional development charges task force committee meeting last night, the committee members voted to amend the proposed development charges by-law to maintain the exemption for agricultural buildings. The entire committee was very receptive to the concerns raised by several agricultural sectors, and also committed to reviewing the development charges for farm help houses that were introduced in the 2017 by-law. Regional Council still needs to approve the recommendations, but we’re confident that the exemption will be maintained.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture will continue work on their request for a mandate by the Province of Ontario to exempt agricultural buildings (including farm help houses). This mandate would protect farmers across Ontario from the burden of development charges on bona fide farming and create a supportive environment for continued expansion and investment in agriculture.

Special thanks are extended to the staff and members from Ontario Tender Fruit Growers, Grape Growers of Ontario, Ontario and Niagara Federations of Agriculture, Flowers Canada (ON) and Landscape Ontario for all the background work, presentations, and conversations with local councillors that effectively raised the awareness and devastating nature of the proposed charges. The Town of Lincoln was very supportive of our request to maintain the exemption, especially Mayor Sandra Easton, Councillor Rob Foster, and the staff at Lincoln who invested their time and professionalism to guide us through the maze of regional politics and municipal finance!

You can watch a recording of the task force meeting, but Agricultural delegations begin speaking at 18:25, and FCO’s presentation with Landscape Ontario begins at 38:22. If you’d like to see the task force put forth the motion to maintain the agricultural exemption and discuss it, please fast forward or go to 2:08:16.

This is great news for our sector, and for all farmers in Niagara.

Dr. Jeanine West
Grower Technical Analyst
Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association
jwest@landscapeontario.com