Essex Councillor Larry Snively wants to see development charges reduced or dropped altogether in the town.
"I have one developer who stated to me, 'if you could do something with development fees, I'd have the shovel in there this year,'" says Snively.
The Ward 3 councillor thinks waiving the fees for 24 months may help spur development, specifically in the Harrow area.
"Even if we don't do away with development fees altogether, let's sit down and take a look at it," says Snively. "Maybe we can reduce them to bring development in, but we have to do something in this town."
Snively points to Leamington as an example of a municipality that's waived development charges and benefited from increased development. However, Essex CAO Russ Phillips advised council any reduction in development charges would have to be covered one way or another.
A report from administration is due back to council on the matter.
