Community Improvement Plan | Town of The Blue Mountains, ON

A Community Improvement Plan (CIP) is a planning and economic development tool that municipalities may use to facilitate broad community revitalization goals through grants or loans to private property owners and tenants.

In 2021, the Town of The Blue Mountains developed two Community Improvement Plans to serve as a long-term strategy to revitalize the community, improve the quality of life of the community's residents, better utilize under-developed properties and promote private investment in land and buildings.

Housing Within Reach Community Improvement Plan

The Town developed the Housing Within Reach CIP to provide a long-term strategy to encourage and facilitate the development of attainable housing. This CIP establishes a toolbox of incentive programs that can be offered by the Town to directly stimulate private and non-profit sector investment in attainable housing to meet the needs of the community.

The Housing Within Reach Community Improvement Plan can be found here.

Programs Available

Program	Program Summary
Attainable Housing Feasibility Grant Program	This program is intended to assist eligible applicants in determining a project’s feasibility prior to construction.
Development Charges Grant Equivalent Program	This program is intended to offset the cost of Town and County development charges that are incurred through the development application and approval process.
Tax Increment Equivalent Program	This program is intended to encourage significant investment in developing attainable housing in the Town by offering a grant or loan to offset increased tax assessment.
Municipal Fees Grant or Loan Equivalent Program	This program is intended to reduce financial costs associated with planning application fees and building permit fees that may be incurred through the development application and approval process.
Downtown Apartment Rehabilitation or Conversion Program	This program is intended to facilitate the rehabilitation of an existing residential unit or the conversion of existing space in a commercial, residential or mixed-use building space into an attainable housing unit(s) in existing floor space located in the upper-storey or rear portion of a building.
Additional Residential Unit Program	This program is intended to encourage additional dwelling units (e.g., a second suite basement apartment) that are accessory to a single detached dwelling, semi-detached dwelling, and duplex or townhouse dwelling.
Surplus Land Grant Program	This program enables the Town and County to identify municipally owned lands that are determined to be surplus and that will subsequently be offered through a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) process for development purposes. These lands may be offered at a significantly reduced rate or at no cost at all.
Landbanking Policy	This program establishes that it is a policy of this Plan that Council, at its discretion, may acquire land, or sell, lease, prepare and dispose of municipal property at or below fair market value to achieve the goals of the Town’s Official Plan and the objectives of this CIP

Town Wide Revitalization Community Improvement Plan

The Town developed the Town Wide Revitalization CIP to encourage Town-wide revitalization and community development. This CIP presents a variety of incentive programs that can be offered by the Town to promote private property improvement and revitalization.

The Town Wide Revitalization Community Improvement Plan can be found here.

Programs Available

Program	Program Summary
Study & Design Grant Program	This program is intended to assist property owners with financing costs of undertaking various studies and design considerations that promote and support economic development and diversification.
Building Façade and Signage Grant Program	This program is intended to promote rehabilitation, restoration and improvements to building façade elements that promote high-quality design, including business signage.
Building Improvement and Renovation Program	This program is intended to promote the rehabilitation, repair, maintenance or physical improvement to improve the condition and ensure the long-term viability of existing commercial, office, mixed-use and institutional buildings within the Town.
Tax Increment Equivalent Program	This program is intended to encourage and facilitate significant rehabilitation and redevelopment of existing properties and buildings, and new development in the form of appropriate infill and intensification.
Brownfield Tax Assistance Program	This program is intended to provide tax assistance to eligible applicants to encourage significant environmental remediation and/or risk assessment or management that may be required for a property prior to development.
Municipal Fees Grant Equivalent Program	This program is intended to offset the cost of Town and County planning application fees and building permit fees that are incurred through the development application and approval process.
Property Enhancement and Improvement Program	This program is intended to facilitate the enhancement of the public realm through improvements to private property.
Energy Efficiency Improvement Program	This program is intended to encourage building retrofits and upgrades that improve energy efficiency and contribute to the Town’s sustainability goals and objectives.
Vacant Building Conversion or Expansion Program	This program is intended to assist in the small-scale conversion of existing vacant space into new commercial, mixed-use and other eligible uses, or the expansion of eligible uses to increase the gross floor area.
Destination Infrastructure Grant	This program is intended to assist in the small-scale conversion of existing vacant space into new commercial, mixed-use and other eligible uses.

Application Process

Applicants are required to contact the CIP Administrator to arrange and participate in a pre-application consultation meeting with Town staff, in order to discuss and confirm application requirements, program eligibility, the proposed scope of work, project timing, supporting documentation requirements, etc.
After the consultation, the applicant will be required to submit a completed application, which will include all of the application forms, in addition to any supporting documentation, as required by the Town.
Once all the required forms and supporting materials are received, the Plan Administrator will undertake a preliminary screening of the proposal and application.
Based on the application and proposal, the results of the preliminary screening, Town staff may perform an initial site visit and inspection of the building/property, as necessary.
If the application clearly does not meet the program requirements, the application will not be accepted.
If the application meets the program requirements, the application will be accepted. Acceptance does not guarantee financial incentive approval, only that it will be reviewed by Council or a delegated approval authority for final financial approval.

Further details are available in the full Community Improvement Plan Documents.

Application Form

Frequently Asked Questions

Each program has specific eligible costs and potential grant or loan value. As approved in the 2023 Budget, $250,000 in total funding is available for Community Improvement Plan applicants.
Please consult the Community Improvement Plan documents for more information on the program you're interested in:
- Community Improvement Plan: Town Wide Revitalization
- Community Improvement Plan: Housing within Reach
It is conceivable that a proposed development project could be eligible for incentives under both the Housing Within Reach Plan and the Town-Wide Revitalization Program. However, that is not the intent of the Housing Within Reach Plan. Rather, similar eligible costs associated with the financial incentive programs of the Housing Within Reach plan shall not be combined with any other financial incentive programs established through separate CIPs administered by the Town.
Yes. The financial incentive programs established by the Community Improvement Plan are open and extended to a range of eligible applicants, including landowners, tenants (with the owner’s consent) and the non-profit sector. The Town understands the CIP to be an important opportunity to further facilitate and encourage continued investment in community development from a broad range of potential applicants. All applicants are encouraged to apply and make use of the programs established by this Plan, understanding that the eligibility requirements must be satisfied regardless of business status.