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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPSD-005-15 Clarftwn Planning Services Report If this information is required in an alternate accessible format, please contact the Municipal Clerk at 905-623-3379 ext. 2102. Report To: General Purpose and Administration Committee Date of Meeting: January 5, 2015 Report Number: PSD-005-15 File Numbers: PLN 37.1.1, 37.2.1, 37.3.1, 37.4.1 By-law Number: N/A Report Subject: Community Improvement Annual Report for 2014 Orono, Bowmanville, Newcastle and Courtice Recommendations: 1. That Report PSD-005-15 be received; and 2. That all interested parties listed in Report PSD-005-15 and any delegations be advised of Council's decision. Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Page 2 Report Overview The annual report for the Community Improvement Plan's for Bowmanville, Orono, Newcastle and Courtice. The grant programs under the Community Improvement Plan's, which the Municipality has contributed $672,000 to since their inception, continue to be in high demand, especially Newcastle and Bowmanville. The funding for Bowmanville and Newcastle was committed in the first half of the year. The grants provide incentives for property owners and merchants to invest in and improve the appearance and function of buildings in the three historic downtowns. There is a growing concern amongst the Community Improvement Plan liaison groups regarding accessibility of older buildings and the costs of providing accessible services. 1 . Background Council adopted Community Improvement Plans for Bowmanville and Orono in 2005, and Newcastle in 2008. Courtice does not have a Community Improvement Plan in place as of yet, however funds have been provided in the past 6 years for civic space (streetscape) improvements. The Community Improvement Plan's allow the Municipality to provide incentives to business and property owners within a specific geographical area and outlines specific grant programs in the Plan. The business and property owners of the different CIP areas are notified via the municipal website, counter inquiries and through word of mouth. When applying for a building permit or other works that may be eligible for a grant, applicants are informed of the grant program by Building Division and Planning Services staff. The three historic downtown Community Improvement Plans have liaison groups which meet on a quarterly basis. The liaison groups are apprised of any issues arising in the area and assist staff in spreading the word about the grant programs. The liaison groups also help by providing feedback to staff on the effectiveness of the current grant programs and identify issues and concerns of business and property owners that have used or are looking to use the grant programs. 2. Community Improvement Initiatives 2.1. Grant Program There are a number of general rules within the grant programs that are applicable to all three Community Improvement Plan's. There are specific rules for the different types of grants and slightly different grants for each downtown (see Attachment 1). Grants are not released until the works are completed, the contractor paid and permits finalized. To be eligible, property owners must be current with their tax payments. The grant programs for each community have been tailored to meet the specific opportunities and challenges of the different downtown areas. Types of projects that qualify include building facade improvements, signage improvement, infill projects, Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Page 3 upgrades to building code, building permit fee, site plan control fee, and building reconstruction. Grant funds are committed at the outset of a project and may carry over to a subsequent year while the work is being completed. 2.2. Community Improvement Updates (Attachment 2) Orono — Two applications were received in 2014 and both have been completed. Funds remain from previous years for Orono should applications come forward. Bowmanville — Four applications were received and all the funding was allocated for grants. Not all of the funds have been dispersed to date as work continues on some projects. Two of the projects came in slightly under the committed funds therefore the funds can be reallocated to projects where funding was limited or carried over to next year. Newcastle — Two applications were received in 2014 and all the funding was allocated for grants. The funds have not been paid out as the work is being finalized. There are no funds available from previous years. As in previous years the demand for funding in Newcastle continues to exceed the funding available. Courtice - The Community Improvement Plan funds for Courtice are intended to improve the streetscape and the public realm. The intent was to implement a banner program. The banners are on order as is the banner pole hardware, it is anticipated these will be installed early in 2015. 2.3. Community Improvement Funding For Courtice, a Community Improvement Plan will follow the zoning changes resulting from the Courtice Main Street Secondary Plan. Staff are currently working on the Zoning By-law Amendments. In advance of the Community Improvement Plan being prepared, Council have been allocating funds to make improvements on municipal lands to kick- start the enhancement process that would occur once a Community Improvement Plan is in place. To date the Municipality has provided funding of $672,000 in grants in the 3 downtowns. The Community Improvement Plan grant monies have to be matched by the property owners or merchants on a 3:1, 2:1 or 1:1 basis depending on the grant. Direct public benefit is realized from the increased municipal and private investments in the form of signage, building code upgrades, accessibility and facade improvements for aging buildings in our central business areas. For the past four years the funds for Newcastle and Bowmanville have been allocated early in the year. Staff have had to inform numerous potential applicants that there are no remaining funds for the year. Applications are addressed on a first come, first serve basis as outlined in the general grant rules. Because of the limited funds some worthy projects are being deferred or not proceeding based on decisions of the property owners. In many cases, it is the Community Improvement Plan funds which provide the necessary incentive to prompt an owner or merchant to invest in refreshing their store front and Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Page 4 interior. Lack of funding is resulting in missed opportunities to have enhancements carried out. The Community Improvement Plan liaison groups discussed if there was a better way to distribute the funding allocated to each Community Improvement Plan per year to allow more business and property owners to participate in the grant programs each year. The different scenarios discussed always resulted in less funding being available per business or property owner, which the liaison groups believed may deter some property owners or merchants, resulting in less use of the programs and ultimately less revitalization of the downtowns. At this time the first come first serve allocation of funds is a simple way of administering the grant programs and does not allow for a comparative analysis of the benefit of one grant versus another. Implementing this type of comparison where proposals would compete for the grant monies would be a much greater administrative burden and also force the applicants to submit all at the same time (to allow for the comparison). Given the complexities involved in a comparative analysis the liaison groups agree that keeping the current process is the most beneficial. Other options discussed where changing the dollar value of the grants and/or the ratio of municipal to private financing. An area of concern that the Community Improvement Plan liaison groups have identified to staff in the past year is the issue of accessibility. There is a growing concern amongst business and property owners regarding accessibility requirements and the physical works required to make existing buildings accessible. Many of the individual businesses have limited square footage in which they operate and are not currently accessible. With the implementation of accessibility legislation and a desire to allow all patrons to have entry into downtown businesses, merchants are looking for assistance. There is a concern that alterations that may be required by businesses are cost prohibitive or eliminate valuable floor space. Currently, these types of costs would be considered under the Building Code grant which has a maximum of$5,000 for Bowmanville and Orono and $10,000 for Newcastle. It is anticipated that there will be more demand for these projects and grants in all of the downtowns in the coming years. The liaison groups have expressed the need for additional funding for these type of projects and perhaps a new grant in the Community Improvement Plan's that specifically helps fund accessibility projects. In addition, having assistance in determining how to make the necessary accommodations has also been suggested. The number of property owners and merchants that that have taken advantage of the Community Improvement Plan grants continues to grow each year and noticeable change are visible in the streetscapes of all the downtowns. The Clarington website has a powerpoint presentation showing before and after photos in the three downtowns http://clarington.net/index.php?content=townhall/planning. 3. Concurrence Not Applicable Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Page 5 4. Conclusion There has been a good response to the limited grant programs and Community Improvement Plan initiatives. There is an increasing demand for grants especially in Bowmanville and Newcastle as the funding for each year is usually allocated in the first half of the year. The property owners and business owners that have received grants have been pleased with the grant programs and the services provided by the Municipality. There is a growing concern over changes that property owners or merchants will have to make in the coming years to make buildings more accessible. Staff will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the program and make recommendations for changes, if necessary. 5. Strategic Plan Application The recommendations contained in this report conform to the Strategic Plan. Submitted by: Reviewed by: f' l � — David J. Crome, MCIP, RPP Ftan lin Wu, Director of Planning Services ` Chief Administrative Officer Staff Contact: Brandon Weiler, Planner, 905-623-3379 ext. 2424 or bweiler @clarington.net Attachment 1: Community Improvement Plan Grant Information Sheet Attachment 2: Community Improvement Plan Summary Report 2014 List of interested parties to be notified of Council's decision is on file in the Planning Services Department: Garth Gilpin, Coordinator, Bowmanville BIA Liaison groups for Bowmanville, Newcastle and Orono CIP's c/o Faye Langmaid BW/FL/MB Attachment 1 to Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Community Improvement Plan Grant Information Sheet Orono Grants Bowmanville Grants Newcastle Grants Signage 50% up to $2000 N/A Signage 50% up to $2000 Façade 50% up to $5000 Heritage Façade 33% up Façade 50% up to $5000 to $10,000 N/A Site Plan control Fee up to Site Plan Control Fee up to $3000 $3000 N/A Building Permit Fee up to N/A $2000 Building Code Upgrade Building Code Upgrade Building Code Upgrade 50% up to $5000 33% up to $5000 50% up to $5000 Brownfield grant up to Reconstruction up to Infill up to $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 Community Improvement Community Improvement Community Improvement Plan Area 3.29 hectares Plan Area 89.25 Plan Area 19.95 hectares hectares Encompasses two additional properties to the Encompasses more Encompasses more Business Improvement properties than the properties than the Area, the Business Business Improvement Business Improvement Improvement Area covers Area (Business Area (Business 2.48 hectares, minus Right Improvement Area is 10.48 Improvement Area is 11.33 of Way property it is 2.42 hectares, minus Right of hectares, minus right of hectares Way and Municipality of Way and Municipality of Clarington property) Clarington property) General to all At no time shall the total amount of grants provided to a specific property owner exceed $50,000. Capital Works Capital Works are different for each Community Improvement Plan area and are subject to annual budget deliberation of Council. Development charge Exemptions Development Charge Exemption are the same for all three Community Improvement Plan area. (They are interpreted by the Chief Building Official) Note While there are more grants in Bowmanville and Newcastle than Orono, the circumstances are different and were examined at the time of drafting the original Community Improvement applicable to the building Permit Fee grant. For Orono there is no opportunity for infill as there are not vacant properties in the Community Improvement Plan area; as such the Site Plan grant would not be applicable. Attachment 2 to Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Community Improvement Plan Summary Report 2014 Bowmanville: The non-capital funding provided to date for implementation of the Bowmanville Community Improvement Plan is $429,000. Just over $375,000 has been paid out in grants with the remainder committed to projects. Two of the approved projects came in under the original funding allocation allowing for other projects to be topped up. No funds remain from prior years. Twenty-three properties (many of them have multiple addresses) have received Community Improvement Plan grants. The grants have been for 28 facades, 13 building code, 13 building permits, 5 site plan fees and 6 reconstruction grants; some of these projects are still pending completion and grant payout. Summary 2014 Bowmanville C mmunity Improvement Grants Property Address Type of Grants Amount 77-79 King St. W. Facade $6,209.56 complete 173 King St. E. Building Permit, Site $8,000 ($3,000 max for Plan, Building Code Building Permit); $5,000 based on estimate for brick painting 52-54 King St. W. Fa ade $7,955.22 complete 3-5 King St. E. Facade $10,000 max Newcastle: The non-capital funding provided to date for implementation of the Newcastle Community Improvement Plan is $149,000. Over $114,000 has been paid out in grants, with the remaining funds committed. There are no funds remaining from prior years. The Newcastle CIP grants have been fully subscribed every year since the inception of the Community Improvement Project. To date some 19 Properties have received Community Improvement Project grants in the form of 15 facade improvements, 9 signage grants, 7 building code grants, 3 site plan control fee and 1 building permit fee. Many properties have been the benefactors of more than one type of grant. Summary 2014 Newcastle Com unity Improvement Grants Property Address Type of Grants Amount 27 King Ave. E. (Massey Sign and Facade $12,000 max House 45 King Ave. W. Busters Fa ade $10,000 max Attachment 2 to Municipality of Clarington Report PSD-005-15 Orono: The non-capital funding provided to date for implementation of the Orono Community Improvement Plan is $91,000. Over $56,000 has been paid out in grants. Currently, there is $12,000 earmarked for grants that are under discussion. In addition, funds were expended on the Orono 175th celebrations and the Orono Park 901h celebrations, brochures, hall rentals for meetings and sign refurbishment (totaling $15,000). There is approximately $20,000 remaining from prior years which covers the earmarked funds and provides funds for potential 2015 grants. To date some 16 properties have benefitted from the Community Improvement Project grants in the form of 11 facade improvements, 16 signage grants and 2 building code grants. Some properties have received more than one type of grant. Summary 2014 Orono Communi Improvement Grants Property Address Type of Grants Amount 5341 Main Street Sin $500.28 paid 5334 Main Street Fa ade $1,678.05 paid Courtice: The non-capital funding provided to date for Courtice is $45,000. The funding to date has been used for street trees along Highway 2 at Courtice Road, the Tooley Memorial, the lighting at the parkette at Trulls Road and Highway 2. The remaining funding is earmarked for the limited implementation of banners along Highway 2.