City council voted Wednesday to defer for a year $8 million in development charges and to waive $800,000 in interest on those charges for Broccolini construction, the firm that will be building the new Amazon facility in Ottawa’s east end.
According to the city, the development charges are paid in order to bring proper city services such as water, hydro and road construction to the new facility. Waiving the fee makes the initial cost of construction cheaper for the company. The charges will not have to be paid for one full year.
According to general manager of planning Stephen Willis, this is not the first time the city has entered deferral arrangements for a development. Willis referenced a previous development on Richmond Road in which the fees were deferred.
According to the city, this development will bring in around 1,500 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs at the facility for the east end. Mayor Jim Watson said that this is the largest addition of jobs to the east end of the city that he has seen during his tenure at city hall.
According to Watson, construction on the facility will take approximately 18 months.