Chatham-Kent (CK) Council has approved enhanced incentives to encourage residential redevelopment on contaminated lands, also known as brownfield properties.
During Monday night's meeting, council approved Environmental Study Grants doubling to $30,000 per study and $40,000 per property and Feasibility Study Grants doubling to $10,000 per study and $15,000 per property, with up to two studies per property.
A Council report stated the amendments would better reflect current market costs.
The potential matching education tax assistance period will also double to a maximum of 10 years, subject to provincial approval, to reflect current market conditions.
Meanwhile, the Municipality continues pressing the province for increased funding to clean up contaminated land and build more affordable housing.
The Municipality has identified more than 200 acres of potentially contaminated land within urban areas that could be cleaned up and transformed into housing, but that takes money the municipality doesn't have.
CK Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Michael Duben recently wrote a letter to the Ontario Government asking the province to fund rural municipalities so they can environmentally remediate and redevelop brownfield properties and unlock substantial new housing potential.
Duben noted enhanced funding would stimulate private sector interest in redeveloping these under-used sites, help rural communities increase the housing supply, use existing infrastructure more efficiently, and reduce pressure to build on valuable agricultural lands.
"As a result, redevelopment can proceed more quickly and cost-effectively compared to greenfield (clean sites) development, while also helping to limit urban sprawl and preserve valuable agricultural lands," wrote Duben.
He added redeveloping brownfields isn't currently viable because existing rural municipal incentives are often insufficient due to lower land values and the high cost of environmental assessment and remediation.
The CAO added that targeted provincial funding would help bridge this gap and allow smaller municipalities to convert those under-utilized sites into much-needed affordable housing.
The municipality noted it's currently cleaning up two municipally owned brownfield properties to make them shovel-ready for future affordable housing builds and as of mid-August, spent at least $640,000 on environmental site assessments and and risk management plans.
The motion passed unanimously as part of the consent agenda.
