Housing incentives stall community improvement plan overhaul

Town efforts to incentivize the private sector to help revitalize core downtown areas, as well as redevelop brownfield sites, are poised to be consolidated into one plan. How similar efforts to increase affordable housing will be incorporated is still up in the air.

Staff at the August 10 council-in-committee meeting sought council’s input and support in moving forward with an updated and consolidated community improvement plan (CIP). Such plans are used by many municipalities in Ontario and offer a suite of incentives for business and landowners to do everything from facade improvements to green retrofits.

“In Fort Erie, the CIPs are intended to encourage private sector investment, support revitalization of core areas, improve the built environment and public realm, and encourage redevelopment and sustainable development,” said Kimberlynn Smith, junior community planner.

Existing CIPs in Fort Erie cover four core areas: Bridgeburg, Ridgeway, Stevensville, and South End/Riverwalk. There’s also a town-wide brownfield CIP, and a recently approved affordable housing CIP.

Staff’s recommendation was to combine the core area plans, while including two new areas in Crystal Beach and the Gateway, and consolidate it with the brownfield CIP. The affordable housing CIP, being relatively new, would remain as a standalone.

However, it was that separation along with a recommendation to remove the residential intensification grant that caused councillors to defer a decision to the August meeting.

“I think this is an important piece of work that you’ve been dealing with, and I think that when we get this in place we need to make sure it’s right,” said Mayor Wayne Redekop.

Even though the affordable housing CIP is new, Redekop questioned the value of leaving it separate. If consolidating the others had benefits, he suggested it would make sense to fully consolidate.

Councillor Ann-Marie Noyes also initially put forward an amendment to keep the residential intensification grant with restrictions against applying for both residential intensification and affordable housing.

That led to some discussion about the value of the grant, as some argued it could simply be used for developers to have construction of their luxury units subsidized.

As it became obvious a decision was going to be deferred, Noyes withdrew her amendment to give staff a chance to provide more information.

Other incentives in the proposed plan include:

• Commercial building improvement grant, a 50/50 cost share up to $20,000 that could be used for things like facade improvement, windows and doors, accessibility, exterior lighting and signage.
• Professional study grant, also a 50/50 match but up to $7,500 to help offset the cost of professional studies like feasibility, heritage impact and archaeological.
• Sustainability and climate improvement grant, another 50/50 match up to $5,000 that could be used for insulation improvements, high efficiency HVAC upgrades, installing electric vehicle charging stations or solar panels and other similar projects.
• The brownfield portion includes tax increment grants of up to 60 per cent for standard applications or 70 per cent for applications “demonstrating exceptional environmental, economic, or community benefit.” Another sees a municipal and education tax freeze for up to five years. There’s also a 50/50 matching grant for environmental site assessments of up to $13,000 per study and $20,000 per property.

Originally, staff planned to have the new CIP implemented sometime this fall. Though the deferral pushes things back, councillors said they hoped to have things approved and in place as soon as possible to give the new areas included a chance to take advantage of the incentives.

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