Development Charges (DC) Reform

What are DCs and why do we collect them?

Purpose of City of Oshawa Development Charges

Development charges are fees collected for the City for new development and redevelopment of land. Collecting development charges is the City’s primary revenue tool for funding growth-related capital costs. This reduces the overall burden on the taxpayer.

City-wide Development Charges

By-law 91-2024 imposes residential and non-residential development charges on all lands within the boundaries of the City of Oshawa.

The City’s Development Charge By-law provides for Fire Protection Services, Parks and Recreation Services, Library Services, Provincial Offences Act including By-law Enforcement, Waste Diversion, Growth-Related Studies, Services Related to a Highway, and Stormwater Services.

This paper first compares residential development charges across Durham’s lakeshore municipalities, then examines how Oshawa’s payment schedules and waiver programs affect housing and industrial development, and finally proposes time-limited incentives tied to project completion.

Let’s start with residential development DC fees.

Despite some extremely varied Development Charges and definitions across the Lakeshore Municipalities, I have tried to summarize the fees using each of the Municipality’s websites.

If there are any errors, please feel free to identify those to me so I can make appropriate changes.

For a Single or Semi Detached Dwelling:

(note these are only the lower tier DC fees, and additional DC fees are charged by the Region and School Boards)

Pickering 44,055

Ajax 45,279

Whitby 53,022

Oshawa 40,720

Clarington 43,498

Oshawa collects the least DC fees of the Lakeshore municipalities.

For a Row/Townhouse or sometimes described as ‘other’ density.

Pickering 34,010

Ajax 36,932

Whitby 40,410

Oshawa 30,404

Clarington 20,980

Oshawa collects the second least DC fees of the Lakeshore municipalities

For an apartment, 2+ bedrooms

Pickering 27,314

Ajax 24,635

Whitby 22,259

Oshawa 25,599

Clarington 20,980

Oshawa collects the second highest DC fees of the Lakeshore municipalities

Yet me exempt many due to CIP areas of construction.

For an apartment, bachelor of 1 bedroom

Pickering 17,154

Ajax 15,461

Whitby 17,010

Oshawa 16,072

Clarington 14,596

Oshawa collects the middle DC fees of the Lakeshore municipalities.

How do differences in DC charges affect development and schedules?

The DC fees can greatly affect the type of development we actually see and we favour single and semi detached housing. This further exacerbates the ‘missing middle’ of housing, the affordable housing, apartments, and social housing units we desperately need in our City.

NOTE: This analysis is based only on DC fees and has not yet included any differences in actual Building Fees.

DC fee payment schedules can also affect the type of development and the schedule upon which they are built. For example, in Oshawa:

Non-Residential Development Charges are payable upon issuance of a building permit.

Residential Development Charges may be deferred to occupancy. You will be able to discuss this with your plans examiner at time of permit application review.

Rental housing will be paid in installments and are due and payable in six equal annual payments commencing at occupancy, and on the anniversary of occupancy for the following five years. Rental units may also qualify for a credit of 15%, 20% or 25% based on number of bedrooms

Institutional developments will be paid in installments and are due and payable in six equal annual payments commencing at occupancy, and on the anniversary of occupancy for the following five years.

With market volatility, interest rates, labour shortages, supply chain delays, deferring the building of residential housing, rental housing, and industrial can often be a purely financial decision.

That doesn’t necessarily meet our housing growth projections and commitments when we leave the construction up to the builders and their balance sheets.

How can we incentivize more development, sooner?

Remember, the City of Oshawa also offers DC fee waivers in certain Community Improvement Plan areas, such as the Downtown Urban Growth Area and the new Transit oriented growth area and intended to offset the higher multi-residential rates.

Downtown Development Charges

No Development Charges shall be imposed with respect to any Development (Development Charges By-law Section 3.6): On lands wholly within that part of Oshawa partially known as the Core Area of the Downtown Oshawa Urban Growth Centre and as depicted in Schedule “D” to this By-law.

Respecting an Apartment Dwelling Unit or a Townhouse Dwelling Unit, except back-to-back Townhouses, on lands within that part of the Shoulder Area of the Downtown Oshawa Urban Growth Centre as shown as the shaded portion of the map in Schedule “F” to this By-law.

Many of the incumbents support these fee reductions and waivers, citing the increased taxation far outweighs the lost revenue that is intended to support our infrastructure.

Seldom do they mention that we also give out large incentives in the form of “Increased Assessment tax abatements”. Along with no DC fees, we sign agreements with many of the downtown developers to waive their future taxes on a declining scale for the next 10-13 years. (100% waiver in year one, declining annually until they FINALLY pay full taxation in the last year). That means we don’t reach full taxation potential until after that 10-13 year agreement, and have lost additional taxes over that time.

Despite these development incentives, according to the 2025 Annual Building Activity Review, File: D03-02 from the Region of Durham, Oshawa is DECLINING in its share of residential building activity. Our neighbouring Lakeshore municipalities are collecting more DC revenue and still building more homes than Oshawa is.

This report and chart speaks of building permits, not actual completions. That would be a more important figure to know and discuss.

Incentivization through fee waivers and increased assessment grants need to have ‘sundown’ clauses whereby the incentives are tied to completion dates. Failing to meet completion dates would negate the incentives. No developer wants to sit on a partially completed project so would have to finish it, regardless of the delays and loss of incentives.

This pushes development to meet the City’s needs over the developer’s financial statements.

As our supply of new housing slows, dramatically, that might explain why new dwelling prices in Oshawa are increasing at rates well above the rest of the GTHA.

Now let’s look at Industrial Development Charges.

Residential and industrial policies raise the same central question: whether waiving development charges produces enough timely growth to justify the revenue Oshawa gives up. The industrial comparison provides a second test of that policy.

Across the Lakeshore municipalities, industrial DC is calculated as:

Pickering 10.95/ft2

Ajax 126.59/m2

Whitby 86.36/m2

Oshawa 83.71/m2*

Clarington 98.17/m2

* Note: It really doesn’t even make sense to show this calculation when Oshawa waives all industrial DC fees.

The City of Oshawa also waives all DC fees for industrial growth and has done so for the last 10 years.

Industrial Development Charges

No Development Charges shall be imposed with respect to any Development (Development Charges By-law Section 3.6): respecting a new Industrial building or structure or the enlargement of an existing Industrial building or structure.

Clearly, as shown by the Region’s review, industrial DC waivers isn’t helping Oshawa’s growth in industrial properties versus those other Lakeshore municipalities that are collecting DCs.

With all of this lost and delayed DC revenue, who is paying for growth in Oshawa?

How can incumbent Councillors continue to spin the story that reduced or waived DC fees are stimulating growth in Oshawa?

This part deserves to be repeated:

Oshawa should review its development-charge waivers and increased-assessment grants and introduce sunset clauses tied to firm completion dates. If a project misses those dates, the incentives should end. This approach would preserve incentives for timely construction while better protecting the revenue needed to support growth.

This pushes development to meet the City’s needs over the developer’s financial statements.

The resulting more precise development picture of anticipated starts and completions will also permit the City and Region to better plan infrastructure renewals and new growth, allowing servicing to be in place when it is most appropriate.

Do you agree that it is time to investigate these fees and waiver programs to ensure that Oshawa is getting what it deserves?

Because that is one of the many intentions I have as your next elected Regional and City Councillor in Ward 4.

Jeff Davis

Candidate for Regional and City Councillor, Ward 4 Oshawa

September 13, 2026