NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF GUELPH
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On Monday evening City Council approved an update to the City’s Brownfield Redevelopment Community Improvement Plan. The CIP provides financial incentives to help offset the cost of environmental investigation and clean-up of brownfield sites.
The CIP update includes changes to the program to make it easier to access funding. The improvements include:
- an increase in the environmental study grant maximum from $15,000 to $30,000 per study;
- clarification of the grant program requirements that will ease the application process for both staff and proponents; and
- an extension of the timeframe for CIP programs for another five years.
“The cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites have a number of benefits for the community,” says Tim Donegani, policy planner. “Investment in these sites can result in improvements to soil and groundwater conditions, lead to job retention and creation, improve public safety and security, and allow for efficient use of existing services in the community. We expect to see new interest in redevelopment of our brownfield sites as a result of our CIP updates.”
The staff report to Council also provided a framework for staff to negotiate late payment agreements for development charges associated with brownfield sites. The payment would be reimbursed by the City’s tax increment–based grant program, and would potentially reduce the need for developers to pay brownfield development charges out of their pocket.
The City is now accepting applications from developers under the updated CIP.
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