The City of Windsor Building Facade Improvement Program and Urban Design Guidelines for Main Streets CIP offers financial incentives to encourage property owners and businesses to make investments to improve the exterior appearance of their buildings and storefronts along Main Streets. Such improvements provide a benefit to the community as a whole, by preserving heritage features, protecting Main Streets, and reconnecting storefronts with the public realm. The CIP is applicable to the Ford City BIA Main Streets within all the BIAs in the City of Windsor, except for the Sandwich Town and Downtown Windsor BIAs, which are under separate CIPs. Funding for the Building Facade Improvement Grant Program is broken down into three categories:

Category A (Beautification) –-aesthetic and minor functional improvements aimed at making the building facade and storefront more attractive and welcoming to tenants and customers

Category B (Restoration)—aesthetic, functional, and restoration improvements made to restore key features of the building facade

Category C (Replacement)— encourage work that will replace or reinstate key features that have been lost or deteriorated beyond repair or are of a style that is no longer consistent with the building design.

Applicants can receive a grant for 50% of the costs for eligible building facade and storefront improvements up to a maximum of $30,000 per project. The amount can be increased up to $60,000 per project for larger buildings with multiple storefronts. The grant also applies to the side(s) and rear of buildings provided the building facade is visible from an adjacent street or public right-of-way or park, and as long as the storefront/facade facing the main street is improved at the same time.

The applicant has indicated that they would not be making improvements to the facade(s) at this time and asked to have the application withdrawn. However, due to concerns with the condition of the building facades, staff from the Planning and Building Department inspected the property on November 5th, 2019 and found that the north and east (along Drouillard Road) facades are in poor condition. The Chief Building Official has significant concerns regarding the structural integrity of the masonry facade along Drouillard Road adjacent the sidewalk because there are signs of rotation, deflection, misalignment, and both horizontal and angled cracking on the masonry facade.

In the short term, the facades will have to be repaired. Therefore, Administration suggests that approval of the facade improvement grant can be obtained in principle and contingent upon the proposed improvements being made by the applicant being satisfactory to the City Planner. If such improvements are not made, the funds committed from the reserve will not be paid out and become available for future grants.

Risk Analysis:

The approval of these grants does not carry significant risk, as there are sufficient funds within the capital project (Project ID 7181046) and Reserve Fund 156. The applicant will not receive any grants until all work is completed and inspected to the satisfaction of the Planning and Building Department. As a requirement of Section 28 (7.3) of the Planning Act, Administration has confirmed that the grant amount does not exceed the total cost of the project.