The Village of Point Edward is hopeful a grant application will be successful in securing millions of dollars to complete infrastructure improvements to allow for more housing.
Council members recently endorsed a grant application of approximately $25 million to Ontario's Housing Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF).
If successful, the funding would allow for improvements to the village's sewage collection and treatment facilities, ensuring proper infrastructure is in place to meet the needs of future developments.
A report presented to council detailed development applications for properties in Point Edward's south end. One application, referred to as the "Marina Land project", seeks to build a condominium with approximately 160 residential units, while the other application is at the former Holmes Foundry site and includes 1,900 residential units, a 300-unit campus of care, and commercial space.
There is currently capacity at the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for about 900 residential units but there are bottlenecks when it comes to getting waste from potential developments to the plant.
If successful, the HEWSF grant would cover a variety of work projects, including improvements to the current Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) on Venetian Boulevard, replacement of the existing main between the SPS and STP, and the installation of new pumping stations at the proposed development properties.
"The work has to start by September of this year, which... getting engineering work started would not be a problem and the engineering work counts towards starting the project. That's the consultant's advice to us is that it would meet the requirements of the grant," said Chief Administrative Officer Jim Burns. "The work has to be completed by the end of the 2026/27 fiscal year, so March 31, 2027. That's one of the reasons we're not including any actual expansion work at the plant, no physical construction work at the plant."
Before the potential developments can be approved, Burns said they need to consider what additional revenue would be generated and if it would cover additional costs.
"If we get selected for the grant, I think we need to try to figure out what some of the costs are going to be to support this because it's not going to be just water and sewers, it's fire and police, and potentially public works depending on who's going to maintain ownership of internal roads on the Holmes Foundry property," Burns said. "The same thing with the other development."
As part of the grant program, the province will fund a maximum of 73 per cent of eligible project costs, and the municipality would be required to cover the rest.
"My personal belief on that is the developer should pay that," said Burns. "There would be negotiations, I'm sure they don't think they should be paying the whole shot but that's sort of how it works in other communities."
Burns said during talks with developers, they seem to like that Point Edward does not have development charges but the village has maintained that developers would be responsible for infrastructure costs.
As stated in the report, Burns said he felt council should apply for the grant and see if they were able to obtain financial support before making a final decision on the developments.
Council members highlighted that if the developments were to move forward, it would increase housing by using vacant properties without expanding out onto agricultural land.
Burns said consultants were utilized during the application planning process.