New plan to encourage development in Orillia’s core

The City is looking to develop financial incentives to encourage new and expanded development in and around Orillia’s downtown as part of the Downtown Tomorrow Community Improvement Plan (CIP). The public is invited to learn more about the CIP at an information session on Tuesday, July  14, from 6-8 p.m. at the Orillia Public Library.

“The Downtown Tomorrow study brought together feedback from a range of stakeholders on how we could ‘build-up’ the core of our city and connect it with our waterfront,” said Mayor Steve Clarke. “One of the key recommendations was the development of a Community Improvement Plan that focuses on finding ways to increase the number of people living and working in Downtown Orillia.”

CIPs are provincially sanctioned tools used by municipalities to offer financial incentives, such as grants and loans to developers, property owners and business tenants in order to encourage downtown, neighbourhood and community revitalization.

Current CIPs in Orillia include the Façade Improvement Program, which provides funding for storefront façade improvements in the Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA), and the Barrie Road Improvement Corridor CIP, which is specific to brownfield redevelopment. The Downtown Tomorrow CIP will update and expand the current CIPs to stimulate development in the downtown and surrounding area.

The upcoming information session invites the community to learn about the Downtown Tomorrow CIP and how it could help address the critical improvement needs in Downtown Orillia. A presentation by RCI Consulting will start at 6:15 p.m., followed by an interactive group workshop.

The Downtown Tomorrow CIP project began in June with a review and inventory of the project area. Throughout the summer, the project team will work on the development of draft incentive programs, which will be brought forward for further public consultation in late summer. The final Downtown Tomorrow CIP is anticipated to be brought forward for Council consideration in November 2015.

Registration is not required for the information session, but is appreciated, and can be submitted through the project website at www.orillia.ca/downtownCIP.

The City of Orillia is a city of 31,000 people in the heart of Ontario’s Lake Country on the shores of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Visit our website at orillia.ca.

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Jeff Duggan
Senior Planner
705-325-2171
jduggan@orillia.ca

Dan Landry
Manager of Economic Development
705-325-4884
dlandry@orillia.ca   

Jennifer Ruff
Manager of Communications
705-325-8929
705-238-9209 (cell)
jruff@orillia.ca