05-19-2016, 03:03 PM
(05-19-2016, 01:49 PM)MidTowner Wrote: From the CBC:
Region considers raising development fees to pay for LRT
Townships argue that rural developers shouldn't have to pay for a service they will never use
Increased development fees don't seem like an inappropriate way to help fund the Ion. And I find the argument on the part of the township mayors that they will "never use" Ion to be not particularly compelling- surely most of their constituents work in one of the three cities, and will benefit from decreased congestion. And all ratepayers will benefit if we can avoid the cost of new roads.
To be fair development fees are for growth related projects and is from new development. There is a bit of a disconnect between building a new chicken coop or silo in Linwood, St Jacobs or Ayr and saying x$ of dollars will go towards the LRT due to the growth. Additionally the townships already have certain disadvantages in attracting new non agricultural development and employment.
As for the people who live in the towns, they represent about 12% of the regions population. Once you widdle away people who work in the townships, don't work in KW and work in the surrounding area it does get to a much smaller population that actually enters the cities, of those people there will be some that work on the outskirts vs the middle of the city and wouldn't see the benefits of the LRT, or if they do it is a few cars an hour off the road, nothing substantial.
Guelph has more than twice the population of the townships