Bowman promises to dip into impact fees for Waverley West rec centre

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This article was published 16/09/2018 (2048 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian Bowman used his second mayoral campaign announcement to promise more money for the long-overdue recreational centre in Waverley West.

Bowman said he would direct $4 million from the impact fee reserve fund to the project, in addition to the $7.2 million Winnipeg city council has already set aside for a recreational space in the area.

“Waverley West has gone without a local, public recreation facility for far too long. We’ve got to get it done,” he said Tuesday, during a campaign stop outside the Waverley Heights Community Centre.

The promise echoed comments the incumbent made Friday, when Bowman said he was breaking with council and the administration’s position the impact fee revenue should remain unspent until a court challenge by the homebuilding industry has been resolved.

Bowman said leaving the impact fee revenue in a reserve account, “makes little sense to me.”

The City of Winnipeg has collected $11 million from the impact fee – which is a charge on new residential development in the suburban fringes – but the money has been put into a reserve account pending the outcome of the legal challenge.

Bowman focused his attention Tuesday on helping community centres, including:

— Diverting $50,000 from the civic initiatives fund to offset the costs community centre volunteers incur in obtaining criminal record checks.

— Increasing the budget for the existing community centre renovation grant program from the current level of $965,000 annually to $2 million, for five years, with the additional funds taken from the city’s operating budget surplus account.

On the Waverley West recreation facility, Bowman said he would support applications for additional federal and provincial funding from the federal Canada Infrastructure Program.

Bowman repeated his belief the Winnipeg homebuilding industry has a weak case in its challenge against city hall, and he’s confident the court will uphold the city’s authority to impose the impact fee.

The fee was approved by council in October 2016, after a stormy debate between city hall and the new-home construction industry, and went into effect in certain areas May 1, 2017. It is supposed to offset city costs associated with services required as a result of new development, including recreational and leisure facilities, transit and other infrastructure.

The Urban Development Institute and the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association opposed the fee, and filed a legal challenge in January 2017, on the grounds the city doesn’t have the legal authority to impose it and that the industry already pays for growth-related infrastructure.

Affidavits in support of the legal action were filed in December 2017. The case remains before the courts.

Council had accepted the administration’s recommendation to place the impact fee revenue into a reserve account, pending the outcome of the court case, rather than spending the money and having to hit the taxpayers should the city be forced to refund the fees.

Similar charges for other types of development — industrial, commercial, office and institutional space — are supposed to come into effect in those same suburban areas no sooner than November, followed by charges for all development in all areas of the city by November 2019.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca