Murray Wood: NHL's Connor Bedard is a lot nicer than me
An autograph hound pestering Bedard as he walked down the street recently shows the kind of annoyances sports stars have...
New legislation in Saskatchewan aimed at ensuring land is being set aside for new schools is raising alarm bells in the home-building sector.
The provincial government says the Building Schools Faster Act, introduced earlier this month, is meant to “streamline the acquisition of land for school construction in rapidly growing neighbourhoods.”
Read more:
- Shovels in the ground at new Harbour Landing School site after years of demand
- Construction begins on long-awaited central Saskatoon school
- Sask. budget: Tax breaks, tariffs and what it means for you
The new legislation will amend the Planning and Development Act to give municipalities the authority to collect a school land development charge from developers, and to increase the amount of municipal reserve land in a subdivision.
Nicole Burgess, CEO of the Saskatoon & Region Home Builders’ Association said the legislation will likely result in higher prices for new homes if it is passed.
“We simply need more schools. We acknowledge that,” Burgess said in an interview on the Evan Bray Show on Monday.
“It’s an important part of growth. But ultimately, housing supply has to keep pace and affordability must be protected.”
Burgess said that under the current rules, the developer of a new subdivision must set aside 10 per cent of the land for a municipal reserve. Under the new legislation, that would increase to 12 per cent, and Burgess says that would reduce the amount of land to be developed and drive up home prices as a result.
“We started doing the math, and based on our quick, early estimates, we’re anticipating that this could simply add about $8,000 to the cost of an average home,” she said.
“And really, $8,000, that is not a small amount. In many cases, it might be the difference between qualifying for a mortgage or being priced out.”
She said the province began requiring municipalities to locate schools on municipal reserve land in 2018, but hadn’t anticipated how much of that land, which is normally used as park space, would be consumed as a result.
Burgess said her association was part of a working group trying to come up with solutions, but the group hadn’t completed those efforts when this legislation was introduced.
“It did really come as a blindside. We weren’t expecting it,” she said.
“It wasn’t communicated to us in advance, and so we’ve been really trying to seek answers since this legislation was announced.”
In its news release, the Government of Saskatchewan said the aim of the new legislation is to reduce delays in school construction caused by land negotiations and ensuring that land can be acquired more efficiently. Acquisition costs would be shared between the province and municipalities according to a consistent formula.
Burgess said she’s hoping to learn more about what that means, and whether that would offset any cost being passed along to home buyers.
In a statement emailed to 980 CJME, the Government of Saskatchewan said the legislative changes will give municipalities more tools to plan ahead and acquire sites for new schools, but noted that municipalities are not required to make use of them.
“Any potential impact on the cost of a new home will vary by situation,” the province explained.
“Municipalities will have access to new tools, such as development charges or an increase to municipal reserve by up to an additional two per cent, but there is not a requirement to utilize these tools through the legislation.”
The provincial government noted that it is “committed to sharing the cost of serviced land and will be developing a cost-sharing formula to accompany the new Act.”
