Tonight, I attended the City of Welland’s Public Open House at Civic Square regarding updates to our Downtown & Connected Districts Community Improvement Plan (CIP), Urban Design Guidelines, and Brownfield CIP.
Community Improvement Plans are important municipal frameworks designed to offer financial incentives—such as grants, tax relief, and fee reductions—to stimulate private investment and revitalize key areas of our city.
Key Incentive Program Highlights
The proposed updates cover several crucial programs aimed at improving our local business corridors:
- Building & Façade Grants: Up to $15,000 in matching grants for storefront repairs, masonry, signage, accessibility, and heritage restoration.
- Vacancy Assistance: Up to $10,000 to assist with interior improvements for vacant commercial spaces.
- Residential Conversions: Grants of $15/sq. ft. up to $15,000 per unit for converting upper-storey commercial spaces into residential housing.
- Development Charge & Tax Relief: Automatic 75% reductions in municipal development charges alongside Tax Increment Grants covering 80% to 90% of municipal tax increases over 10 to 15 years.
- Brownfield Assessments: Grants up to $20,000 for environmental studies and up to $80,000 for application fee coverage.
Where I Stand: Protecting Our Public Health and Ecosystems
While I fully support municipal tools that empower local small businesses, restore our historic downtown facades, and fill vacant storefronts, I cannot support policies that encourage residential housing on contaminated brownfield sites, nor the encroachment of industrial development onto our prime agricultural lands.
1. The Danger of Housing on Brownfields
Former industrial sites carry complex, often unpredictable environmental liabilities. We only need to look at history—specifically the tragedy of Love Canal—to understand the catastrophic consequences of building homes, neighborhoods, and schools over buried industrial contamination. Decades after waste was buried, severe health crises and environmental seepage forced the permanent evacuation of an entire community.
While environmental remediation has advanced, placing families and children on former industrial lands carries unacceptable long-term risks if containment or cleanup measures ever fail. Brownfield remediation should be restricted strictly to controlled, non-residential uses—never residential housing.
2. Preserving Our Agricultural Lands
Equally critical is the defense of our agricultural borders. Pushing industrial or suburban expansion onto our fertile farmlands destroys irreplaceable soil, disrupts local hydrology, and damages delicate ecosystems. Industrial development belongs on existing, appropriately designated urban infill sites—not on the agricultural lands that sustain our region’s food security and ecological health.
How to Have Your Say
City plans are shaped by community voices. If you were unable to attend tonight's session at Civic Square, I encourage you to review the proposed streetscape concepts and share your feedback directly with City staff:
Online Feedback Portal: engagewelland.ca
Direct Email: CIPs@welland.ca
Program Information: madeinwelland.ca/incentives/cips/
Our city’s growth must be smart, safe, and sustainable. I will continue advocating for policies that revitalize our urban core while strictly protecting our health, our neighborhoods, and our environment.
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