Central Huron Council Increases Funding For Facade Improvement

by Bob Montgomery

Central Huron council has increased their funding for facade improvement in the municipality.

The Facade Grant Program includes facade improvements for properties in Central Huron that are assessed as commercial. The goal of the program is to enhance the appearance of commercial businesses within the community. Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn says they upped the funding for the Facade Grant Program this year from forty-thousand dollars to fifty-thousand dollars and this year they had a total of 65-thousand dollars worth of requests. “We decided not to increase the budget any further and we'll give priority to new applicants and the remaining requests will be pro-rated on the basis of how many times they've received funding in the past.”

The structure for the proposed enhancement must be within Central Huron and must be designated as commercial in the Central Huron Official Plan. The proposed facade improvement must meet the specific property criteria outlined in the Facade Improvement Program Guidelines and its purpose is to improve and enhance the cosmetic appeal of the structure from a streetscape viewpoint. The application must be completed in its entirety and must receive approval prior to the completion of the work. The applicant will be reimbursed for the grant amount following the completion of the work and submission of all project receipts.