Council has paused new development applications in Picton, Wellington, and Bloomfield for one year. 

Fast and furious planning applications are outpacing the water and wastewater servicing capacity in both Picton and Wellington. 

The Picton WTP can service about 2,200 more homes, while Wellington has room for 335. Current applications alone, however, are expected to require double that capacity by 2032 and quadruple by 2043. As for wastewater, there is no capacity left in the Wellington WTP, and only 340 units more can be serviced in Picton.

Council’s Interim Control Bylaw allows the municipality time to undertake a Development Charges Study to calibrate water and wastewater infrastructure needs to new development, and to set appropriate charges to pay it.

The scope and purpose of a Development Charges study was ratified by Council on September 10. It will be undertaken by the Department of Finance and engineering staff.

Planning Applications that were complete by December 1 are exempt, as is the proposed Queen Elizabeth development on Barker St., which is reviewing proposals from several developers.

“This is an important step and it’s a little bit of a symbolic one as well,” said CAO Marcia Wallace. The County wants ratepayers to know it needs new infrastructure, as development applications far exceed existing capacities, and that it will create a development charges regime to pay for it. 

It also signals to developers that the County will “play fair” in allocating servicing, said Ms. Wallace. 

A Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking a consultant for the Development Charges Study has been sent out. The contract will be awarded in December.

An Interim Control By-law is in effect one year from the time of passage. It can be extended, but only for one additional year.

Ms. Wallace expects the study will be complete by the middle of 2025, at which time, a draft Development Charges Bylaw will come before the Committee of the Whole.