Municipal Building Development Charges

Development Charges provide for the recovery of growth-related capital costs associated with residential and non-residential growth within a municipality. They help to ease the financial burden on existing taxpayers to fund services as a result of growth, which would otherwise be in the form of higher property taxes or user fees. The principle behind Development Charges is that growth should pay for growth.

The Development Charges Act provides the legislative authority for the collection of Development Charges and requires that a background study be completed at least once every five years. The study forecasts the municipality's future residential and non-residential growth to determine infrastructure needs and costs. This information is used to calculate the amount of money that new development needs to pay to cover new infrastructure and services.

On August 8, 2022, Council passed a new Municipal Development Charges By-law, which applies charges for the following services:

  • Services Related to a Highway
  • Fire Protection Services
  • Policing Services
  • Ambulance Services
  • Library Services
  • Parks and Recreation Services
  • Waste Diversion Services
  • Growth Studies

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The Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission (PUC) also has development charges in place for water and wastewater-related infrastructure. For more information, including the current rates that apply, please see the Water & Wastewater Development Charges page.