Greater Sudbury is considering a plan to boost investment downtown, and may expand it to include several other areas of the city.
Meeting on Monday, members of the planning committee deferred a final decision until staff could come back with information on whether the program should include interest-free loans, and what it would take to include other community improvement areas (CIPs), such as Capreol, the Donovan and the Flour Mill.
Senior planner Ed Landry said under an existing program for downtown, public investment dollars have $4 of private-sector funding for every $1 of public funds.
The Townehouse on Elgin Street is an example of a business that took advantage of an incentive to improve the facade of buildings, Landry said.
Proposed changes to the incentive program means as much as 20 per cent of the costs of a major renovation could be recovered.
“That's if they build it within the CIP area in downtown Sudbury,” he said.
While city council will ultimately determine how much money will be available for program during 2017 budget deliberations, staff suggested a ceiling of $1 million a year. If only $700,000 is spent in a given year, then $300,000 would be added to top the fund up back to $1 million. No single project would be able to receive more than $200,000.
In addition to the facade improvement program, downtown landowners could also get a grant that rebates them for a set period of time the increased property taxes they have to pay because the value of their property has increased as a result of the improvements.
Other incentives offer rebates on planning and building fees, for adding residential spaces and for feasibility studies to determine whether an existing property is worth renovating.
Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann liked the plan, but wondered what it would take to expand. The Flour Mill CIP is interested, she said, as would others in the city.
“There are other CIPs, as well,” Landry-Altmann said. “It's an opportunity to reach out and offer them the same opportunities as downtown.”
Landry said staff was directed only to look at downtown CIP, but said it could be expanded if council directs them to do that.
“We would have to have a separate discussion on that,” he said.
Jason Ferrigan, the city's director of planning services, said an expanded program would have to go through a formal process, including public hearings. But councillors would have to direct them to move forward.
“Then we would build that direction into our work program for 2017,” Ferrigan said.
Landry-Altmann also wanted information on making interest-free loans part of the program, which other cities have used to boost the redevelopment of targeted areas.
In the end, the committee deferred a vote until the Nov. 21 meeting to give staff time to collect information on expanding the program and on providing interest-free loans.
