New provincial legislation could mean the Town of Newmarket can charge developers to help build a Mulock GO station, but the mayor says the implications need further analysis.
The province introduced the Transportation for the Future Act Sept. 25, which would allow municipalities to charge a station contribution fee for developments near future GO stations to help fund the design and construction of the stations.
That could include a new GO station at Mulock that has remained in a planning stage since its 2017 announcement. But Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said it is not immediately clear how the legislation will work.
“It could be perceived as a downloading of costs on municipalities. Yes, we can raise (development charges) to raise the funds, but we’re raising funds to build GO train stations, which is not our jurisdiction,” Taylor said.
The bill could help fill a gap in the construction of GO stations, where the province now requires public-private partnerships. The province said in areas where market conditions are not conducive to a single development partner, the new fee could allow for the construction of new stations, spreading the costs across many developments over many years.
“This would help speed up the construction of new GO Transit stations, while also creating new opportunities for mixed-use communities around those stations,” the province said in a news release.
The Mulock GO station has been stalled for some time, with no private partner yet announced and the province giving it a designation last year as a future major transit station area.
Taylor said it will take more analysis by staff to determine if this legislation bodes better or worse for the project timeline.
“Our staff need to take a little time and look into it and try and get some more information,” Taylor said. “I don’t think we know enough yet to know what it could mean.”
The province said the fee could enable municipalities to recover costs for GO Transit stations, but there would also need to be a reduction in development costs to help offset the fee for developers, such as reduced parking requirements. The province would have a say over where and how the fees are implemented.
"The proposed legislation, if passed, will improve transit service and convenience, and help the province and municipalities build transit-oriented communities along our GO rail system," Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma said in a news release.
The potential new development charge comes with the province legislating a reduction in development charges from municipalities, something Taylor and other municipal leaders have protested for the past year. These charges traditionally help pay for new municipal infrastructure associated with growth.
“It’s a little confusing because we’ve just been told by the provincial government we need to reduce our development charges,” Taylor said, but adding that the bill seems to indicate “if we want to increase DCs to pay for provincial infrastructure, we can do that. That does seem a bit odd.”
The legislation would also not allow for any increased development charges for other municipal infrastructure getting built for the intensification coming around future GO stations, Taylor said.
