Mississauga homeowner seeking legal advice on battling new stormwater charge
A Mississauga resident says he’s looking into a legal challenge of the city’s new runoff charge coming in 2016.

thestar.com
June 10, 2015
By San Grewal

A member of Mississauga’s environment committee says council must find a solution for house owners angry over a new stormwater charge, after one resident said he’s seeking a lawyer’s advice about the legality of the charge.

Councillor George Carlson has worked since 2011 on the new stormwater policy, coming in 2016. It will see houses charged depending on their size - a proxy for the amount of stormwater runoff they send into the city’s pipes. (Carlson said homeowners need some type of incentive to avoid large runoffs.)

As things stand the new policy, coming into effect in January, offers businesses and multi-unit residences a credit of up to 50 per cent of their charge if they install rain barrels, permeable driveways or take other measures to stop runoff. House owners get no such break.

“We’re going to review this. I’ve said that since day one,” Carlson said after Tuesday’s committee meeting. “I’m trying to work this out. We have to find a simple system, fair and equitable to homeowners who spend the money to reduce run off.”

City staff has said it would cost $525,000 to deliver the same credit program to house owners offered to business owners. Council, which last month passed the new stormwater charge based on home size, said it would be too expensive to extend the credit program to house owners. Smaller homes will pay $50 a year for the new charge, while the biggest homes will pay $170.

Ed Bavington told the committee the policy is unfair. “On my property, not one drop of water hits any sewer,” the Mississauga resident said, decrying a fee he will have to pay, despite his claim of not sending any storm runoff into the city’s pipes. “I will be seeking legal counsel on this. It’s a money grab, nothing more.”

Wal van Riemsdyk also told the committee the charge is “undemocratic.” He explained that his home is just 100 metres from Lake Ontario and his stormwater runoff travels that distance through a ditch which drains into the lake. He was told by a staff member that some houses will be exempt from the charge because of similar technicalities, but his would not.

“I’m a hundred metres (draining) through a ditch and then into the lake, so I feel it’s unfair,” he said after the meeting.

He said the reasoning behind the new charge is understandable, to collect a designated fee to cover what the city claims is a $1.8-billion replacement cost for its stormwater system. But van Riemsdyk said the current policy is not equitable.

“I can’t get an exemption, I was just told. And even if I prevent any runoff, unlike business owners, I can’t get any credit. It’s obvious to everyone that this is unfair.”