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January 27, 2020, Budget Meeting Written Submission

January 23, 2020

Dear Mayor Dilkens and Members of City Council,

On behalf of the members of the Windsor Construction Association (WCA) and the Heavy Construction Association of Windsor (HCA) which represents over 400 construction firms in the region including general contractors, sub‐contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and professional firms, such as Architects, Consulting Engineers, insurance firms, legal and training organizations, we write to you to express our concern on the proposed Building Department Fee Schedule tabled for your consideration in preparation for this year's budget process.

The WCA and HCA are very proud to have shared a very strong, long‐standing relationship with City of Windsor Departments with whom the members regularly engage. In these regards, we strive to identify, and discuss matters related to policy, specifications, constructability, and spending budgets on a regular basis. Each year, the Public Works Department provides us with their priority infrastructure project list, and the Building Department shares their proposed fee schedule.

We write to you this year, to express our concern related to the Proposed Building Department Fee Schedule. We believe the adoption of this year's proposed fee schedule will negatively impact projects that are currently being contemplated for startup in the City of Windsor in the near future, as well as future developments in the region.

Typically, prior to Budget deliberations we receive a copy of the Proposed Building Permit Fee Schedule, and over the last several years these increases have been negligible – in the 2% to 5% percent range. As such, historic annual increased permit costs have been readily accepted, never challenged, and have been simply passed on to the Property Owner/Developers by the Contractors. It should be noted that these fee increases have been accepted in light of an observed depreciation in the levels of service provided by the Building Department, which occurred during the 8 or so years of tax freezes that resulted in the reduction of Building Department staff.

While more recently the Building Commissioner has been proactive in trying to "improve" the Building Department Service levels, the sheer volume of Project starts in recent times in almost all sectors has continued to challenge the Department's abilities to issue permits in a timely manner. Further, the WCA/HCA were very supportive of the Corporations commitment to a new Electronic Plans

2880 Temple Drive, Windsor, ON N8W 5J5 P‐519‐974‐9680; E‐ jlyons@wca.on.ca Final Consolidated - Special Mtg of Council - Budget - January 27, 2020 Page 33 of 52