Council tacks $8,000 levy on new homes at city's edge

City council has approved a new development levy of $8,000 that could raise cost of new houses on Calgary's outer edges.

Council voted 12 to 2 Monday in favour of the agreement, which will see developers charged the fee to help cover infrastructure costs associated with building new communities.

Ward 7 Ald. Druh Farrell and Mayor Naheed Nenshi voted against the measure.

Nenshi had argued for higher fees, to better reflect the cost of bringing services like roads, sewers, water and police to Calgary's sprawling outer limits.

A motion that would have seen the five-year arrangement scaled back to three years was defeated.