Community Improvement Plan

What is a Community Improvement Plan

The Town is undertaking a study to prepare a new Community Improvement Plan (CIP) with a focus on attainable housing as well as refresh another separate existing CIP. A 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. This Project will consider opportunities for the Town to administer grants or loans to encourage private sector investment in attainable housing. It will also consider opportunities to update to the existing Commercial Core CIP in light of recent economic challenges due to the Pandemic.

Does the Town already have a Community Improvement Plan?

In 2011, the Town of The Blue Mountains completed a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for its three commercial core areas (Thornbury, Clarksburg, and Craigleith). To view the 2011 CIP, please visit: https://www.thebluemountains.ca/document_viewer.cfm?doc=1196. The consulting team hired at the time worked closely with the Town that helped guide the preparation of the CIP. The CIP was also informed and guided by an extensive program of community consultation, as well as oversight from Town Council. The purpose of the CIP was the following:

1. Identify the physical, economic, and other strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to the revitalization and redevelopment of the three commercial core areas in the Town;
2. Articulate a general vision for the Thornbury, Clarksburg and Craigleith commercial core areas;
3. Define an appropriate community improvement project areas;
4. Specify a planning, design and sustainability strategy that contains recommended public realm improvements and revisions to policy and regulatory documents, and design guidelines that can be used to guide infill development, façade improvement, streetscape design, and greenfield development in a sustainable manner; and,
5. Develop a toolbox of incentive programs that can be offered by the Town to directly stimulate private sector investment in the revitalization and redevelopment of the three commercial core areas.

Extended Public Consultation Period

Council has extended the consultation period for the Community Improvement Plan project. Comments from the public regarding the latest versions of Community Improvement Plans will be received up to 1:00pm on Friday, December 11, 2020.

Following this extended consultation period, the CIP Project Team will review the comments received and will make any appropriate refinements that need to be made to the Community Improvement Plans. It is anticipated that final revised versions of the Housing Within Reach CIP and the Town Wide Revitalization CIP will be presented to Council for adoption on January 11, 2021.

As always, if you have any questions regarding the CIP’s, please feel free to email CIP@thebluemountains.ca(External link) with a copy to Robert.rappolt@wsp.com

To view a recording of the CIP Open House please click the link below; 

https://thebluemountains.ca/council-calendar.cfm?action=viewdetail&eventid=3356&viewtype=bydate&categoryid=2