Main St. tax moves forward
Colton Davies - Sep 20, 2017 - Biz Releases

Image: Colin Dacre
The 200 block of Main Street, looking south.

City councillors voted in favour of the first and second reading for a local tax proposed for storefronts on the 300 block of Main Street, Tuesday night.

Property owners are collectively being asked to contribute $298,960, over a 20-year payback period, for what would be the next phase of the downtown revitalization project.

The first phase was completed on the 100-200 blocks of Main Street.

The amount that each property would owe would depend on their amount of frontage on Main Street, according to the city.

The work done would cost an estimated $2.2M. The city’s water utility fund would likely fund $350,000, which would leave the city on the hook to finance a little more than $1.5M.

Some of the proposed work includes adding about eight new parking spaces, removing 12 trees but planting 27 new trees, and major work to replace and improve underground infrastructure, including existing water pipes which are between 70 and 80-years old.

Funding for the remaining $1.5M for the project will be discussed at next year’s budget deliberations.

The only member of council who voted against the first process of the local tax was Helena Konanz, who voiced concern on the city’s infrastructure deficit, which has been previously estimated to be up to $175M.

“I wouldn’t want (land owners) to be disappointed if we go through this process and it wasn’t approved in the budget. Because as I understand, we have a very serious infrastructure problem throughout the city.”

Councillors Campbell Watt, Judy Sentes and Max Picton all stressed the word “investment” for the project, as opposed to “spending.”

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said he’s not 100 per cent sold on it, but that he’s willing to support going to the next phase of project planning.

“I think there are still some questions about how we service the $1.5 (million), what our options are, and where that $1.5 lies in terms of priorities, amongst some of the other infrastructure, buildings and services that people are wanting us to do,” Jakubeit said.

“We started with the downtown. We’ve had a lot of development happening here, and it’s serving its purpose,” he added, weighing the pro’s for the project.

According to Anthony Haddad, the city’s Director of Developmental Services, there has been a good deal of support from land owners in the 300 block of Main Street for the project, based on the results in the 100-200 block.

“This has been a lot easier conversation with people, given that they can now actually see the improvements that were put in place,” he said.

The city will look for short-term borrowing for the $1.5M extra needed for the project to be paid back in less than five years, which means no public referendum would be needed.

That point was raised by Councillor Konanz, who was also concerned that there was no mention of a request for a provincial grant in the report presented to council.

According to the city, previous grant requests were unsuccessful for revitalization work, as these type of projects “don’t rate high” in terms of trying to receive grants.

According to the city’s report, construction of the project would commence in February of next year, with completion being in mid-June.


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