Chatham-Kent council has approved amendments to the municipality’s Brownfield and Bluefield Community Improvement Plan, renaming it the Brownfield Community Improvement Plan and increasing several financial incentives aimed at encouraging residential redevelopment on contaminated properties.
The amendments stem from Chatham-Kent’s 2024 Housing Supply Action Plan, a requirement of the municipality’s $10-million grant through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund program.
Among the changes, council removed the term “Bluefield” from the plan, replacing it with “Former Institutional Site.” The plan’s maximum Environmental Study Grant was increased from $15,000 to $30,000 per study, and from $20,000 to $40,000 per property, while the Feasibility Study Grant was increased from $5,000 to $10,000 per study. The Tax Assistance Program’s matching education tax assistance period was also extended from five to 10 years, subject to provincial approval.
Council voted to focus the plan’s Tax Increment Based Grant Program explicitly on brownfield redevelopment resulting in residential use, and added language to prevent properties from double-dipping between the brownfield plan and the current Chatham-Kent Community Improvement Plan, with an exemption allowing affordable and supportive housing projects to participate in both for up to 20 years of property tax relief.
The municipality says it has identified more than 200 acres of potentially contaminated land within existing urban areas that could be transformed into housing opportunities, and continues to advocate to the province for enhanced funding and policy changes supporting brownfield redevelopment.
Since 2005, five properties have participated in the plan’s Tax Increment Based Grant Program. The Municipal Leadership Reserve, funded through the program, has also supported remediation work at sites on Park Avenue East in Chatham and Minnie Street in Wallaceburg, including preparing land for future affordable and supportive housing development.
