The City may also recover any grants provided by the Retail Investment Grant Program should the retail units created as part of this program become vacant for a period longer than six months within five years of the grant being approved by City Council. Recovery of grants provided by the Retail Investment Grant Program may also include a partial or total reduction of a grant provided by the Building/Property Improvement Tax Increment Grant Program.
Financial Matters:
There is currently $188,232 uncommitted in the capital project 7181046 (The Ford City CIP) to disperse the Retail Investment and Municipal Development Fees grants identified in this report. If the grant applications included in this report are approved, the amount of grants will total +/- $15,000 for the Retail Investment Grant Program and a maximum of $2,000 for Municipal Development Fees if required for a future facade Improvement grant. Therefore, the fund would still have $171,232 remaining. Should the committed funds of $2,000 for a building permit for a facade improvement not be used the funds would become uncommitted from the capital project and used for other projects within the ford City CIP area.
The Building Facade Improvement Program is funded through Reserve Fund 156. The current uncommitted balance in the Fund is $53,582.75. If the proposed grant application of $30,000 is approved in principle, the fund would have $23,582.75 remaining. Administration is recommending approval for this grant however; approval of the grant would be subject to review by the City Planner. Should the committed funds not be used they would become uncommitted from Fund 156 and used for another Building Facade Improvement Application.
The Building/Property Improvement Tax Increment Grant would be based upon the municipal tax increase and will not be known until MPAC has conducted a review of the site.
Consultations:
The owners of the property located at 1053-1055 Drouillard Road have been consulted regarding grants related to the improvements outlined in this report. Don Nantais from Financial Planning and Janice Guthrie from the City Treasurers Office were also consulted with respect to the Ford City CIP and Building Facade Improvement CIP grants, and related capital project/reserve fund balances.
Conclusion:
The proposed improvements to 1053-1055 Drouillard Road meets all of the eligibility criteria as identified in the Discussion section of this report for the Retail Investment, Municipal Development Fees, and Building Facade Improvement Program grants, through both the Ford City CIP and Building Facade Improvement Program and Urban Design Guidelines for Main Streets CIP. There are sufficient funds in both the capital project and reserve fund to provide grants for the proposed improvements. In addition, at the discretion of the City Planner if improvements to the facade are not made within an appropriate period, the funds committed from the reserve will be made available for future grants. The improvements to the vacant ground floor commercial storefront (oneunit) for a new retail business called "Pressure Drop" offers an alternative to traditional