The Façade Improvement Program provides grants to commercial property owners to rehabilitate and improve the facades of buildings within the Project Area.

Objective

The Façade Improvement Program is intended to promote and support property owners in the upgrading, improvement, and restoration of exterior building facades.

Eligible Expenses  

Eligible improvements under the Façade Improvement Program include, but are not limited to:

• Repair, replacement, or restoration of façade materials;
• Restoration or redesign of façade appearance;
• Repair, replacement, or installation of awnings and canopies;
• Repainting or painting of approved wall murals or wall art;
• Re-pointing of masonry or brickwork;
• Repairing cornices and other architectural details;
• Repair, replacement, or installation of exterior lighting/fixtures;
• Repair and restoration of storefront doors and windows;
• Installation of canopies or awnings;
• Professional design services required to complete eligible work (in addition to completion of eligible improvements);
• Any combination of the above;
• Other similar improvement projects may be approved that demonstrate improvement to the quality of the property, at the discretion of the Review Team.

Program Details

The program will provide property owners up to 50% of eligible improvement costs, before applicable taxes, with a maximum allowable grant of $15,000.00 per property.

Payment of grant will be made upon completion of work, with final amounts based upon submitted receipts, and not exceeding the original amount applied for on the application.

The grant may be applied to the front of a building and/or side of a building where it faces the streetscape within the Project Area.

The selected applicant(s) will have six (6) months from the time of approval of the application to submit the required information to receive their grant payment. The applicant may apply for an extension in writing; the Review Team has the authority on behalf of Council to grant extensions. Failure to meet the six (6) month requirement, and where no extensions have been given, the application will be deemed to have been denied and no grants will be given.

APPLICATION FORM – Façade Improvement

The Business Signage Program seeks to stimulate private sector investment in promoting uniformity in the community by offering grants for the installation or revitalization of business signs within the Project Area.

Objective

The Business Signage Program is directed at commercial properties within the Project Area to update their signs consistent with the neighbourhood, and promote unified and modernized signage.

Eligible Expenses

Eligible improvements under the Business Signage Program include, but are not limited to:

• Replacement, repair, improvement, or installation of business signage;
• Removal of existing dilapidated business signs;
• Canopies or awning that include/display the business name;
• Professional design services required to complete eligible work (in addition to completion of eligible improvements);
• Heritage information signage, if applicable (for designated buildings only).

Program Details

The grant program will provide property owners up to 50% of eligible costs, before applicable taxes. The maximum allowable grant is $5,000.00 per business.

Payment of grant will be made upon completion of work, with final amounts based upon submitted receipts, and not exceeding the original amount applied for on the application.

The selected applicant(s) will have six (6) months from the time of approval of the application to submit the required information to receive their grant payment. The applicant may apply for an extension in writing; the Review Team has the authority on behalf of Council to grant extensions. Failure to meet the six (6) month requirement, and where no extensions have been given, the application will be deemed to have been denied and no grants will be given.

APPLICATION FORM – Business Signage

The Economic Development Department examined a variety of potential project areas to which the Community Improvement Plan would apply. The objective in selecting the project area was to determine which area(s) would provide the greatest opportunity for the implementation of a Community Improvement Plan that will have the greatest impact on the entire region.

Unlike larger cities whose downtowns comprise of a large part of the city, the Municipality of West Nipissing is composed of smaller communities divided in a vast area. It is inequitable to leave parts of the municipality outside of the Community Improvement Plan, since all of these smaller communities each have their respective downtown area that requires assistance in improving and retaining what they own. In this said, the Community Improvement Plan for the Municipality of West Nipissing is composed of two specific downtowns and two major arterials covering West Nipissing from its North to South boundaries and East to West boundaries.

The entire Community Improvement Project Area is the downtowns of each community and the major arterials joined together.

Downtowns:

• Sturgeon Falls – Main Street, King Street, and Holditch Street, from Front Street to John Street, and William Street and Queen Street, from Main Street to Holditch Street (Appendix ‘B’);
• Verner – Principale Street West, from Highway 64 to Cartier Street (Appendix ‘C’).

Major arterials:

• Highway 17 commencing at Riding Stable Road in the Township of Beaucage to Moustik Road in the township of Kirkpatrick (Appendix ‘D’);
• Highway 64 from Pike Lake Road in the Township of Bastedo to Douglas Road in the Township of Loudon (Appendix ‘E’);
• Hwy 539 from Burnham Road in the Township of Crerar to the intersection of Highway 539 and 575 in Field (Appendix ‘F’);
• Highway 575 from the intersection of Highway 537 in the Township of Field, Field to the intersection of Highway 64 in the Township of Caldwell (Appendix ‘G’).

Click here to view the project area maps.

Eligibility Requirements

• Any property owner of a commercial property zoned C1 – General Commercial, C2 – Highway Commercial, or C3 – Tourist Commercial, within the Project Area may submit their application via email to the Municipality.
• Applications must be approved prior to commencing any work related to the grant. Any costs incurred prior to approval by the Municipality will not be eligible.
• All applications under this program will be considered subject to the availability of funding.
• The subject property shall not be in a position of property tax and/or water and sewer arrears.
• The improvements to be undertaken shall conform to approved Municipal design, policies, and regulations applying to the property, including but not limited to, the Property Standards By-law and the Ontario Building Code and Regulations.
• Façade improvements and business signage design must be approved by the Municipality in order to access funding for improvement.
• Any Requests to Comply and/or Outstanding Work Orders from the Municipality’s Fire Department or Building Services Division must be addressed prior to grant approval.
• No retroactivity of the program prior to its approval by the Municipality will be permitted. Grant applications will not be accepted after November 30, 2022, however, grants that have been approved prior to this date will continue to be processed subject to the availability of funding approved by Council.
• Grants will be approved at the sole discretion of the Municipality.
• The amount of the grant when combined with any other Community Improvement Plan program will not exceed the value of the work done.
• Please note that eligible costs shall include materials, equipment, and contracted labour to complete the proposed improvements. Labour provided by the owner/applicant is not an eligible cost.
• Applicants must provide the two (2) most recent years of financial statements for the project property (holding company) and/or business (operating company).
• Applicants must provide material confirmation of available funds for the property owner portion of the improvements.
• Corporations must provide Articles of Incorporation and Schedule 50.

Submission Guidelines

The Community Improvement Plan will consist of a running intake period, which will commence on the date of approval of this Plan by the Municipality of West Nipissing and run on an ongoing basis until either the depletion of authorized funds within the approved budget or the maximum number of grants is reached for each program in any given year, whichever is attained first. Applications will be reviewed and approved sequentially. Applications received within the intake period will be reviewed, assessed based on the evaluation criteria (Appendix ‘A’), and approved until the maximum number of approved applicants per program has been reached for the year.

Applications must be submitted electronically to cip@westnipissing.ca before 3:00 p.m. (local time) on November 30, 2022 the “the Official Closing Time”). Subject line should include ‘Community Improvement Plan’.