A problem with sewer capacity is blocking the approval of some 6,000 units in the downtown area of Ajax.
“Our planning department has applications for about 6,000 units in the downtown that we cannot approve right now because we don’t have the sewer capacity,” Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier, told Durham Post.
Excerpts from the interview are scheduled for publication tomorrow.
“We’ve identified that the solution for our sewer capacity issues is the extension through Hunt Street to Westney Road and the 401. Unfortunately, it’s about a $30 million project which we don’t have the funding for,” said Mayor Collier.
He said he had staff put together a number of proposals. “One, we can do nothing. Two, we can work with the developer to buy the land and work with them to get the road allowance. The region has recognized this as a priority project and has the funding for the sewer allocated, but the cost to acquire the road and the cost to realign the CP spur line, is very expensive. Another option is we buy it ourselves; we do the work and then we sell off the excess lands and recoup our costs through development charges and taxes.
“We’re working on these right now, and as soon as we unlock that, we can go ahead with all these applications,” the mayor said.
“I’ve worked very hard at building relationships with the development community, and nearly every acre of land in Ajax now is in play,” he said. “We have, I think, 24 million square feet of commercial applications in at the town right now. That equates to tens of millions of dollars in development charges and property taxes per year once these buildings are built”.
“Somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 new jobs we will have been created in one term of council,” Mayor Collier pointed out.