Penetanguishene residents are looking forward to revitalizing their downtown through the Community Improvement Plan (CIP).
Eight area residents attended the recent virtual public meeting. Two of those attendees also gave their feedback to the draft plan shared online. The one thing common between both participants was their interest in the proposed funding to be made available under the following categories:
- Building façade grant and loan program,
- Signage improvement grant and loan program,
- Building improvement and renovation grant and loan program,
- Affordable housing grant and loan program,
- Landscaping and property improvement grant and loan program,
- Development Incentives that focuses on tax increment grant and loan program and planning and building fee rebate program.
"I tink it looks terrific," said resident Ross Cooper. "Does the council at this time know what funding would be allocated to each of those grants or is that something that gets decided later on?"
Andrea Betty, director of planning and community development, said $50,000 wasset aside when the budget was set.
"This project is portions of (that money)," she said. "I believe there are $25,000 set aside for the CIP rollout. We hadn't discussed if there's any sort of specific (amount) that we'd allocated to it. That's the next step when we implement the CIP."
Sam Taggert wanted to know if the tenant and landlord could both apply for the incentives.
"Can a property be eligible for more than one program?" he asked. "I have a building that might be eligible for about eight of these categories. Just wondering if there was any thought given to the amount of eligibility for a particular property?"
Bobby Gauthier, project manager with the town-hired consultants WSP, answered those questions, pointing out that the CIP is not restrictive and thereby allows both the tenant and owner to apply.
"I don't think there's any constraint to receving multiple applications from a tenant or property owner," said Gauthier. "I think the town's main concern would be to ensure that the property owner and tenant aren't doubling up on claiming costs and expenses."
As for a property owner being eligible for more than one category, he said that should be possible.
"All of the grant and loan programs can be combined at the same time," said Gauthier. "It's going to be limited a little bit in terms of council's funding. If council decides to fund only certain programs, then obviously you'd only be able to apply for programs that have funding actively available."
The exception, he said, would be the tax increment grant and loan program, wherein a property owner when they develop a property receives some sort of refund for taxes.
"That's a program that stands on its own as a pretty significant grant or a loan related to redevelopment and infill," Gauthier noted.
Coun. Brian Cummings wanted to know who would be administering the incentives.
"We have had some internal conversations about that," said Betty. "Historically, the old facade imrpovement program was administered through the planning and community development department. I think in this case we might want to expand it, especially because of some of the financial incentives. At this point, we're recommending the administration be done internally by staff with quarterly reports to council."
Coun. Jill St.Amant wanted to know if there was flexibility around the current proposed boundaries of the downtown area to which the CIP will apply.
"We've largely based the area of the CIP on the current official plan," said Gauthier. "We're trying to be consistent with the designation of downtown, waterfront and mixed-used areas of downtown. We've only included the private properties. If you feel like there are relevant properties that are missing, we're open to taking a look at that."
The area in the proposed plan starts in the south where County Road 93 ultimately becomes Main Street and goes down to the waterfront, including some peripheral commercial and mixed-use areas of the town, such as parts of Jeffrey, Edward, and Robert Streets in the east and Poyntz Street, Shanahan Road and Water Street in the west.
Betty said council could look at updating that later, too.
"The adoption of the CIP is done through a bylaw and the project area will form a schedule to that bylaw," she said. "So there's an easy tool to amend that if necessary by bylaw amendment."
Betty said the town is still accepting comments and feedback from the public via email. She can be reached at [email protected].
