The Town of Amherstburg is taking another crack at getting funding under the province’s Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF).
The first attempt at getting money through the fund was unsuccessful, but the town is hoping a second attempt will see dollars flow to the municipality. If successful, the money would go towards infrastructure in the “southeast quadrant,” large swaths of land in the areas of Lowes Side Road and Fryer St. and east of Big Creek, lands that are owned by a series of developers.
“In February 2024, the province opened up the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF). The funding is to ‘help municipalities repair, rehabilitate and expand critical drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.’ Further ‘Projects funded through the program will aim to unlock more housing opportunities, support the province’s growing population, protect communities, and enhance economic growth.’ At that time the province committed to investing $825M over the next three years in this program by providing up to 73 per cent in funding for eligible costs,” stated a report co-authored by deputy CAO/director of development services Melissa Osborne and manager of engineering Todd Hewitt. “The Town submitted an application in April 2024 based on a council motion on April 9, 2024. Unfortunately, the Town received correspondence on August 7, 2024 that we were not successful. In August 2024 the province announced that there would be a second Intake for the HEWSF grant and that they would be committing an additional $250M to support Intake 2.”
Projects must start no later than Sept. 30, 2025 and must be completed by March 31, 2028.
“The Town currently has a very limited number of buildable lots within the settlement areas approved by the province as outlined in the Town’s Official Plan. The Southeast Quadrant (SEQ) lands offer one of the larger areas that can be developed for residential use. As this area has a number of different landowners, the Town has initiated and facilitated previous negotiations to provide a servicing strategy that outlines the necessary main infrastructure for the development of these lands to move forward,” the report states. “Without this initiative, the probability of the lands being developed in the near term would have been low as each developer would have been responsible for obtaining their own servicing plan for their respective lands, which would be far more difficult and costlier to achieve and possibly an impediment to timely development of the lands.”
Councillor Linden Crain suggested the town seek the support from Essex MPP Anthony Leardi.
Councillor Peter Courtney stated having 73 per cent of costs covered would be “massive” as it would translate to $12.7 million in costs covered for the project.
“It’s astounding. It’s great for the developers, it’s great for the town overall to add more housing,” said Courtney.
Calling the grant the “best case scenario,” Courtney did question areas that were underfunded based on the report. There are costs of $3.1 million identified by Courtney with the town to “front the money” with future negotiations required should the grant be approved.
“I think it should be developer driven funding. They are going to sever these lots and build on them,” he said.
CAO Valerie Critchley said if the town is successful in getting the grant, there would be negotiations with developers to cover the remaining portion.
“There would be some portion that would be town-covered because it is some upgrades to our own sewers,” she said. “There would be a portion because we’re a landowner but the intent is the developers would be covering a majority of that.”
Mayor Michael Prue said he shared Courtney’s “apprehension” if developers balk, citing a line in the report where developers will be asked to pre-pay development charges of $2,621,266.
“I share the apprehension of Councillor Courtney. What if they don’t pay? I don’t know the town has that kind of money. We’d have to raid all kinds of things to get that,” asked Prue.
Osborne stated meetings have already been held with the four associated developers.
“At least three have provided written confirmation they would be willing to do that,” said Osborne. “We also, based on this funding model, would not require all developers to actually make the contribution. The one developer whose properties could move quickly and the one whose subdivision agreement is currently in place is likely the one that could see benefit from funding this amount in order to get their development moving quickly. We have relative certainty that will happen.”
If the town feels they are going to get the grant, negotiations will be held with developers “sooner rather than later.”
Prue added he had no problem sending a letter to Leardi, but recalled his own days as an MPP and receiving similar requests from municipalities.
“This is driven almost entirely by the bureaucracy within Queen’s Park, which takes the money and apportions it out in what they think is the best places, the best towns and cities, where they get the best bang for their buck,” he said. “They have 137 members of the Provincial Legislature saying ‘my riding, my riding, my riding.’”
Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb said there are risks but “the opportunity to unlock over 1,400 homes for people in Amherstburg and in the region, we have to do this.” Gibb said the town is running short of developable land, noting that is also included in the report.
“This has to be done,” he said.
The deputy mayor added he appreciated administration’s work “fine tuning” the application this time around.
“I’m going to say, have at it. Let’s build some people some homes,” said Gibb. “I don’t think anyone’s going to turn that down.”
Town taking another crack at getting provincial housing grant
By Ron Giofu
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