Ontario’s Small Business Property Subclass: Considerations for Municipalities

One of the impacts of encouraging redevelopment and intensification in the City of Toronto is that it drives up the price of commercial properties in those designated areas, resulting in small businesses seeing significant increases in their property taxes.

This results because commercial properties in those areas have seen an increase in their property assessments that have been greater than the average for other commercial properties in Toronto. When a property’s value increases more than the average for other similar properties, it can often result in higher property taxes.

These property taxes are then passed onto small business tenants within these buildings, often threatening the financial sustainability of those businesses.

To help address this challenge, Chris and his team at MPAC worked with the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) and the City of Toronto to identify and advocate for policy approaches that could support small businesses.

The result was that the Province of Ontario announced the creation of a new Small Business Property Tax Subclass that municipalities could use to mitigate these increases. To help support municipalities and their implementation of the new property tax tool, Chris and his team worked with TABIA and other municipal stakeholders to create the Ontario Small Business Property Subclass Report.

York Region Broadband Strategy

Chris initiated and project managed the development of the York Region Broadband Strategy which provides a roadmap for improved connectivity for businesses, residents and the public sector in York Region.

The Strategy was developed in partnership with York Region's nine local municipal partners (Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Aurora, King, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury and Georgina).  To assist in developing the Strategy, large and small telecommunications companies were also engaged, including Bell, Rogers and Telus, to help shape the strategy's targets, recommendations and work plan.

The Strategy provides a range of recommended actions focusing on three key areas:

• Education and Advocacy - these actions focus on educating stakeholders on the importance of connectivity to their and the Region's success.
• Municipal Processes - these actions focus on ways municipal processes, such as access agreements and road re-construction projects, can be leveraged to encourage investments in connectivity infrastructure.
• Infrastructure Investments - these actions focus on identifying a range of infrastructure investments to improve connectivity for residents, businesses and the public sector.

To view the strategy visit: www.investinyork.ca/broadband.

York Region Post-Secondary Investment Attraction Strategy

Chris initiated and project managed the development of the York Region Post-Secondary Investment Attraction Strategy.  The Strategy aims to increase the presence of post-secondary institutions within York Region in order to meet the needs of the Region's diverse economy and growing population.

The Strategy was developed in collaboration with York Region's nine local municipal partners (Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Aurora, King, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury and Georgina) and included input from a range of stakeholders, including major employers in the Region, a number of post-secondary institutions, and thought leaders in the field of education and research.

The Strategy identifies a range of post-secondary opportunities, including everything from learning centres to meet local specific skill gaps, to establishing a comprehensive research campus.  The Strategy also includes a policy framework for the Region's involvement in post-secondary investments to ensure they align with Regional planning goals and infrastructure investments. 

Partners in Project Green Policy Toolkit

As a result of the Partners in Project Green Strategy, Chris project managed the development of the Partners in Project Green Policy Toolkit - a number of planning policy tools to encourage green business through the development process.

Working with the municipalities of Toronto, Peel, Mississauga and Brampton, Chris worked with his team to develop 11 policy tools for municipal use.  These included communications tools, primers and policy templates that each municipality could use to encourage green business development and a more consistent approach to eco-economic development across the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

The communications tools were meant to help municipal staff learn and communicate about Partners in Project Green and green business. The tools included text that could be ‘cut-and-paste’ or edited as needed to help staff communicate to different audiences, such as other staff, council, businesses, or developers, the benefits of green business.

The primers provided brief overviews of key land-use issues in relation to encouraging green business. The primers were there to assist staff from different municipal departments develop a common, albeit high-level, understanding of the policy, regulatory, and incentive framework that is shaping eco-business zone activity in the area.

The policy template tools provided specific examples of best practises, current policy wording, advice and other practical, hands-on guidance from creating eco-business policies, such as official plan statements, policy language and subdivision guidelines in municipalities touching on the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

To view the Pearson Eco-Business Zone Policy Toolkit visit: www.partnersinprojectgreen.com/policytoolkit.