This background study has been prepared pursuant to the requirements of the Development Charges Act (D.C.A.)., 1997 (s.10), and accordingly, recommends new Development Charges (D.C.s) and policies for the Town of Perth (Town).

The Town retained Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. (Watson) to undertake the D.C. study process in 2019. Watson worked with senior staff of the Town in preparing this D.C. analysis and the policy recommendations.

This D.C. background study, containing the proposed D.C. by-law, will be distributed to members of the public in order to provide interested parties with sufficient background information on the legislation, the study's recommendations, and an outline of the basis for these recommendations.

This report has been prepared, in the first instance, to meet the statutory requirements applicable to the Town's D.C. background study, as summarized in Chapter 4. It also addresses the forecast amount, type, and location of growth (Chapter 3), the requirement for "rules" governing the imposition of the charges (Chapter 7), and the proposed by-law to be made available as part of the approval process (Appendix E).

In addition, the report is designed to set out the Town's current D.C. policy (Chapter 2) and the policies underlying the proposed D.C. by-law, to make the exercise understandable to interested parties. Finally, the D.C. background study addresses post-adoption implementation requirements (Chapter 9) which are critical to the successful application of the new policy.

The chapters in the report are supported by Appendices containing the data required to explain and substantiate the calculation of the charge. A full discussion of the statutory requirements for the preparation of a background study and calculation of a D.C. is provided herein.