N.S. extends freeze on municipal development charges

Development charges in Halifax will remain frozen for another three years in a bid to encourage housing. The fees from developers help pay for the infrastructure needed to support growth, including Halifax Water's regional development charge and municipal solid waste fees. The freeze has been in place since 2023. Now, the province says Ottawa required it to continue under a 10-year multi-million dollar agreement for the Build Communities Strong Fund. The province could not give away $366 million of federal money. It's like we showed Nova Scotia's case. The federal government was very clear the freeze had to stay in. MacDonald says this funding will be matched by the province and flow to support housing infrastructure across Nova Scotia. Halifax's deputy mayor says it is vital the city gets a large share of those federal funds given the scale of local development, much of which has been required by the province. Historically we haven't had... A proportional share of that funding related to the infrastructure that we're required to build. So, you know, we really need to be at the table there. The province did negotiate approval for certain fees to now rise with inflation, including Halifax Water's development charge. So that will help us from falling further behind in the future as the freeze remains in place for the next three years. The freeze stops Halifax Water's recent application to hike their development charge, which had raised concerns from the construction industry. Halifax's mayor says it is important these fees don't become so great that homes are no longer affordable or the pace of building slows down. And that is obviously a negative outcome that we don't want to see here. So we have to find the right balance. I think this finds that. With new defense investments, the pace of development in Halifax is not expected to slow anytime soon. Halifax Water says they are hopeful this stream and other new federal funds can offset some of the freeze impacts as they try to keep up. Haley Ryan, CBC News, Halifax.