WHEREAS Council paused the Brownfields CIP program on December 14, 2022, until such time as a review was undertaken to be considered by Council; and
WHEREAS Council considered proposed changes to the Brownfields and other CIP Programs on November 22, 2023; and
WHEREAS during deliberations, recommendation 7 which would have made changes to the Brownfields CIP, as outlined in the staff report, was not approved by Council; and
WHEREAS the approval of Recommendation 3 and non-approval of Recommendation 7 also results in a $5 million cap where there is a stacking of applications under two or more community improvement plans, including Brownfields community improvement plans, but no cap where the application is only under the Brownfields community improvement plan; and
WHEREAS Recommendation 8, as amended, directed staff to bring forward the seven complete applications that were received prior to the pause, under the program as it was in place when they applied was ultimately not approved by Council; and
WHEREAS recommendation 9, which directed staff to amend the Brownfields repayment provisions as detailed in the staff report, was approved by Council; and,
WHEREAS this split approval has introduced some operational complexity and there is a need for clarity to be provided;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2015 Brownfields Redevelopment Community Improvement Plan program be amended to include the following changes:
-
- The repayment be based on 75% of Property Tax Uplift for applications that qualify under the Affordable Housing CIP or up to 100% if both affordable and in a PMTSA to encourage faster development near transit;
- The repayment be based on 50% of Property Tax Uplift for applications that include housing, but do not qualify for the Affordable Housing CIP;
- Projects without a housing component are not eligible;
- The maximum eligible grant for a standalone Brownfield Redevelopment CIP application be capped at $3 million;
- The maximum eligible grant for a Brownfield Redevelopment CIP application stacked with any other CIP program, with the exception of the Affordable Housing CIP, be capped at $5 million;
- Eliminate repayment of non-remediation related costs (including building demolition, feasibility studies, upgrades to onsite infrastructure as detailed in the report);
- Eliminate the municipal leadership strategy program;
- A 20-year limit on the repayment of eligible costs;
- Any funding approval will become null and void if a building permit is not issued within 18 months post Council approval of the brownfields application.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the seven deemed complete applications as described in the City of Ottawa Community Improvement Plan Program Report be considered by Finance and Corporate Services Committee and Council under the rules and criteria prior to the program pause in December 2022.