North Frontenac Council

Jeff Green | Sep 25, 2014

North Frontenac Community Improvement Plan

Peter Young from Frontenac County appeared before North Frontenac Council this week to talk about a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for the township.

The county has set aside $70,000 to help fund a business-oriented improvement plan in each township. All the other townships now have plans in place; North Frontenac is last in line.

Part of the reason is that, based on research about these kinds of plans, which are common economic development tools in small eastern Ontario communities, none of the hamlets in North Frontenac has enough of a business core to be a viable location.

For that reason, Young suggested that North Frontenac might consider designating the entire township as an improvement area, to offer a helping hand to all business ventures in the township.

The plans that have been put in place elsewhere in the County are located in Verona, Sharbot Lake and Marysville on Wolfe Island.

The first one that was attempted, in Verona, has been a success. For every dollar invested in that plan by the county, $11 in private money has also been invested, Young reported.

“One of the projects in Verona was a large one, but even if you leave that one out of it, the ratio is still $4 to $5 in private for every dollar in grant money,” Young said.

All told over $700,000 has been invested in Verona, and the money has mostly gone to giving Verona's Main Street a much needed facelift.

There has been less of an uptake in Sharbot Lake thus far, but the plan has not been in place as long as in Verona. It has been used, however, for signage throughout the hamlet.

“We just got the plan underway this spring in Marysville, and we went door to door to introduce it to businesses. Now that the summer season is over, we are starting to hear from them,” Young said.

It will be up to North Frontenac Council to decide which kinds of projects to fund, although there are some standard rules. For example participants must invest at least as much as the grant, and the grants are limited in size.

“The plan is basically the township's to organize, the county just helps to fund it,” said Young.

Councilor Betty Hunter, chair of the North Frontenac Economic Development Task Force, spoke out in favour of the CIP.

“If we are going to stimulate economic development we are going to have to accept any help we can get,” she said.

Council decided to hold a special meeting on October 22 to get input from businesses and community groups in the township about what their plan should include.