The Town of Bonnyville has given first reading to a bylaw aimed at attracting housing development to the town.
Administration was directed to create a draft Housing Incentive Grant Bylaw to encourage development of new residential housing on single-family residential lots.
The housing incentive will allocate a total of $2 million to provide grants to both owners and developers on a first-come first-served basis.
Owners will be eligible for a grant of up to $25,000.00 upon an approved application for a qualifying project which is a new single-family dwelling unit on a single parcel of land.
Payment of the grant will be provided in two installments, 25 per cent will be released upon completion of the foundation, and the rest will be released upon the issuance of the occupancy permit by the town.
During the question-and-answer period, the discussion was centered around how to guarantee the money is spent properly and that the projects aren’t abandoned.
“Here we are we are making an incentive package for them, and now we’re going to put all these rules on them on how they spend this money. I would like to see, once they have hit all of the things they need to hit, I really don’t care where they spend their money. I want them to build a house when the electrical permits come through, the plumbing permits come through, everything comes through to our satisfaction, I really don’t care where they spend that $25,000,” said Coun. Phil Kushnir
Mayor Elisa Brosseau wants to ensure they’re responsible with the grant.
“In every other instance when we’re dealing with taxpayer money, we want some sort of justification of how they’ve used the money,” she said. “What’s to say here, they actually use it for landscaping or appliances, we’re just taking their word for it, I don’t think that’s very responsible for us,” she said.
Brosseau talks further about instances where developers leave.
“We’ve seen cases where developers come and build a bunch of houses then they go bankrupt and leave,” she said. “And who’s out of money, the municipality and those people, it has happened.”
Administration clarified the risk the municipality takes, “Each house that gets built, the municipality takes a $6,250 risk, the balance gets paid when the house is done.”
To receive the funding the developer must make an application to the town and administration clarifies there will be a fair bit of paperwork signed by the person asking for the money. The developer or owner still must build the foundation of the home for the home. It’s also clarified there’s no profit to be made building a foundation and leaving as the cost for just the foundation is far greater than $6,000.
Council gave first reading to the bylaw with administration creating an application form they will present in the future.
Read more: Bonnyville ok’s women’s shelter
Locally owned and community driven, the Lloydminster Meridian Source is the online news source in the Border City. Whether it’s breaking news, features or sports, if you have questions about what’s going on around town, then Source it with us.
Since online platforms no longer support the sharing of news, we encourage you to bookmark meridiansource.ca. So, whether you’re having a coffee or enjoying a meal, check in any time for the most up-to-date news in Lloydminster.
