The Town of Essex is cutting its residential development charges in half for the next 18 months.
Ward 4 Councillor Sherry Bondy supported the move Tuesday night in a tight 4-3 vote.
"I haven't seen any drastic increases in the number of homes in Essex," says Bondy. "We are climbing, but I really want to put the signal out there that 'Essex wants you.'"
Bondy says council felt something needed to be done in light of the potential closure of Harrow's high school.
"We needed to think drastically and this is drastic," says Bondy. "I also consider myself a cost recovery councillor, but this by no means is cost recovery because we all know development charges have to come out of somewhere. We can't just make them disappear."
Council is looking to the landfill reserve to cover development charges this year and will consider the discount as a budget item in 2016.
Leamington rolled back its development fees to zero for a three-year period in August last year for residential, commercial and industrial sectors while keeping the status quo for greenhouse builds.