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Fort Erie Working to Expand Home Building

Part of the plan is to encourage construction on commercial areas, not just residential

Fort Erie is looking at more ways to encourage development of affordable homes in certain areas.

Part of the plan is to encourage building on commercial areas, and not just residential.

Mayor Wayne Redekop notes they're looking at units built below market value, such as for a home under $320,000.

Community Planner Breanna Antonio says there are provincial guidelines of what affordable looks like in Fort Erie.  "Staff are of the opinion that it might not be of interest to developers, homeowners... the values are quite low.  So, we're looking to establish a made in Fort Erie threshold, hopefully to be a little bit more palatable to developers and homeowners."

The Mayor sees what the City of Sarnia is doing, and why $20,000 has been recommended.

Antonio says they are working on a number.  "Also, we've done research of other municipalities that are providing similar incentive programs.  They seem to range at the lower end of $20,000, seems to be the standard, others in the region going all the way up to $80,000."

 

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