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The Ontario government is promoting community redevelopment by working closely
with the city of Kingston to clean up unused lands. The province recently approved
the city’s plan, which includes significant emphasis on cleaning up brownfields
such as the Davis Tannery and Block D sites.
The Davis Tannery has been closed since the late 1960s and the 15-hectare property
sits vacant on the Kingston waterfront. Block D is a former industrial site
currently being used as a parking area.
The city of Kingston’s community improvement plan (CIP) will be among the first in Ontario to use the new Brownfields Financial Tax Incentive Program to provide assistance to encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields.
A new provincial policy statement promotes brownfield redevelopment and intensification through a series of policies that require municipalities to identify local targets for intensification, including brownfield sites, before expanding into greenfield areas.
Last year, the province announced up to $5 million in matching education property tax assistance for the rehabilitation and development of brownfield properties. The new Brownfields Financial Tax Incentive Program came into force on October 1, 2004.
Under this program, municipalities may freeze or cancel the municipal property taxes on eligible brownfield properties during the rehabilitation period, and the province may match the municipal tax treatment for the education portion of the property tax.
For Ontario municipalities, these provincial incentives will help ease the path for redevelopment, especially in areas where lands have been left vacant, and help increase tax assessment to municipalities. They will also ease development pressures on greenspaces and countryside lands by facilitating the reuse of former dormant lands and revitalizing existing neighborhoods.
The CIP is not a new concept. What is new is that the CIP is now a tool to access tax assistance for brownfield redevelopment. The planning act provides for a beneficial and comprehensive planning framework for brownfield rehabilitation decisions and actions. The framework:
“We are providing communities with better tools for planning, financing and cleaning up contaminated land,” Minister Gerretsen said. “By encouraging investment in existing urban areas, we are helping to reduce urban sprawl and building healthier, more livable communities for Ontarians.” BFN