Designated Heritage Building: Is a building that is designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Development: is improvement that results in the productive use of land and/or buildings within the Community Improvement Project Area, and includes but is not limited to new building construction, rehabilitation and or adaptive reuse, or improvements made for the purposes of establishing new residential, commercial or institutional uses or the expansion of existing buildings to realize more effective use of the land’s potential.

Eligible Cost: are the costs related to development, redevelopment, rehabilitation and/or adaptive reuse of a building or property in conformity with this CIP, and as described by the individual financial incentive programs.

Eligible Use: is a use that means the eligibility criteria of one or more of the financial incentive programs described by this CIP.

Eligible Works: includes all development, redevelopment, rehabilitation and/or adaptive reuse of a use that meets the eligibility criteria of one or more of the financial incentive programs described by this CIP.

Mixed Use Building: is a building that contains any combination of residential, commercial, cultural, and/or institutional uses.

MPAC: is the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation established by the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation Act, 1997.

Municipality: is The Corporation of The City of Windsor, including the Chief Administrative Officer and all staff employed by the Corporation of the City of Windsor.

Municipal Heritage Register: is the publicly accessible register of properties that are of cultural heritage value or interest situated in Windsor as required by Section 27 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

Municipal Taxes: is the City of Windsor (i.e. the municipal) portion of property taxes payable and does not include Educational portion payable to the Province of Ontario.

Reassessment: is a change in assessed value or a change in the tax class, as determined MPAC, that results in an increase in property taxes.

Redevelopment: is development of a property or properties that have been previously developed, or for the expansion, rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of an existing building. This can include the acquisition and wholesale changeover in the use of a large site or several smaller neighbouring sites, and may involve some land assembly or demolition activity.

Rehabilitation: is the returning of an existing building and/or land to a useful state by adaptive reuse, development, redevelopment and/or construction.

Renovation: Construction that results in changes and repairs that improve the overall condition of the existing building and its functionality for its intended use. 

Residential Unit(s): is any living accommodation used or intended for use as residential premises. More specifically it means a room or suite of rooms used by or designed to be used by one (1) or more individuals as an independent and separate housekeeping unit. For a room or apartment to be defined as a residential unit, it must be distinctly separated from other living spaces within the building. It must also be directly accessible from an outer door or through an interior door in a shared building corridor

Retail Unit(s): is the portion of a building and/or property that is occupied by a retail store. More specifically it means a room or suite of rooms used by or designed to be used by one (1) retail store. For a space to be defined as a retail unit, it must be distinctly separated from other common areas within the building. This does not include restaurants or bars.

Retail Store: is the use of a building, property or part thereof for the retail sale of goods or merchandise, including the lease or rental of goods or merchandise directly to the public, usually in small quantities. 

Retrofit Works: are improvements and/or upgrades to a building’s infrastructure to improve energy efficiency and performance (i.e. to reduce utility and/or maintenance costs) and/or work that is done for the sole purpose of complying with the Ontario Building Code.

Tax Increment: is the difference between the base rate at the time of City Council’s approval of financial incentives for the project and the municipal taxes after the completion of the approved eligible works, occupancy and reassessment by MPAC. The tax increment will be calculated on an annual basis and will include increases and decreases resulting from tax rate changes and reassessments.

Vacancy Tax Rebate: is a tax rebate issued under Section 364 of the Municipal Act.

Vacant: is property or space in a building that is unoccupied, currently receives the Vacancy Tax Rebate, and/or classified as vacant by MPAC. The property or building will have had to been