Barrie city councillors voted Wednesday in support of reopening the municipality’s development charge (DC) waiver program, giving developers a second chance to access roughly $44 million in remaining incentives aimed at encouraging affordable housing construction.
The amendment to a staff report, introduced by Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson at Wednesday’s general committee meeting, would allow projects that missed the program’s original deadlines to apply during a second intake period.
Under the new intake rules, building permit applications must be submitted by July 15, 2026, and construction activity must begin by Oct. 31, 2026.
“I just didn’t want to lose the opportunity for the affordable housing,” Thomson said during the meeting.
General committee voted unanimously to recommend the amended report to city council for ratification at a later date.
During the original intake period—which ran from Aug. 14 to Dec. 31, with a construction deadline of May 31—the City of Barrie received 12 applications, eight of which were successful.
Those approved projects are delivering 1,117 housing units, including 224 affordable units, with a total of $35,592,653 in development charges waived.
The program was initially capped at $30 million, but was later increased to $80 million due to strong demand from developers.
The remaining applications represented 798 proposed housing units, including 226 affordable units, and sought a total of $27,485,979 in waived charges.
Initially, eligibility was limited to residential developments of five storeys or more, requiring at least 20 per cent of units to be affordable for 25 years.
The amendment introduces a new ownership housing stream, requiring qualifying ownership projects to sell at least 60 per cent of units at or below the city’s affordable ownership purchase price, secured through an agreement with the municipality.
“Adding the affordability of ownership part of the program at 60 per cent is a game changer,” Thomson said. “I believe that it's going to give people the opportunity to get into the market where there was never an opportunity, and we're going to get much needed units.”
The staff report notes that several delayed projects had already made significant progress — including demolition, grading, servicing work, or approvals — but were unable to meet the original deadline due to the complexity of large-scale developments and external approval processes.
These challenges included utility coordination, site constraints, and multi-agency approvals that extended timelines beyond what was originally anticipated.
The support for the amendment comes as the Ontario government advances its Development Charges Reduction Program (DCRP), aimed at helping municipalities offset revenue lost through development charge reductions.
Thomson said the city is waiting for final provincial regulations before staff assess additional funding opportunities tied to the program.
Councillors also discussed how the city offsets waived development charges, with staff noting funding can come from several sources, including reserves, grants, and potentially the tax base.
Mayor Alex Nuttall said the long-term benefits of completed housing projects often outweigh the loss of upfront development charge revenue, particularly for higher-density developments that generate ongoing property tax income.
“The most expensive development charge waiver is for the unit that doesn’t get built,” he said.
Nuttall also floated the idea of an annual DC waiver program at a smaller scale, arguing the incentives support both housing supply and local employment.
“When you look at the amount of tradespeople no longer working on condos and apartment buildings in Toronto at this point who live in our city, this helps them go to work every day,” he said.
At an announcement on May 21 for two developments that utilized the DC waiver program, Nuttall credited incentives for what is projected to be a record year for housing starts in Barrie.
