Core Area Community Improvement Plan

Final Core Area Improvement Plan

On March 23, 2021, Municipal Council adopted the Core Area Community Improvement Plan.

• Council Resolution
• Adopted Core Area Improvement Plan

The financial incentive programs identified in the Plan will be available beginning April 12, 2021. For more information or to apply to these programs, please contact City Planning at planning@london.ca.

Thank you to everyone who participated and provided input in this project! The opportunity for feedback is now closed.

What is a Community Improvement Plan?

A Community Improvement Plan (CIP) is a strategy that guides redevelopment and improvements within a defined area of need. To achieve the strategy, CIPs allow a municipality to take actions such as:

• Identify changes needed to land use planning policy, zoning, other by-laws and practices;
• Acquire, rehabilitate, and dispose of land;
• Provide grants and loans to property owners that would otherwise be unavailable; and,
• Direct investments made to infrastructure and public space.

Why did we prepare a CIP for the Core Area?

In 2019, the City of London initiated a study to identify the gaps that were potentially hindering the success of the core area. The Core Area Action Plan was the result of this study, which identified a number of initiatives that were intended to fill in these gaps. In October 2019, Municipal Council received this plan and directed its implementation.

Specifically, the Core Area Action Plan identified the need for a Community Improvement Plan to implement the following initiatives:

• Item #54: Provide grants to implement safety audit recommendations on privately-owned property
• Item #62: Eliminate encroachment fees for patios, signage and awnings in the Core Area
• Item #63: Eliminate application fees for encroachments, signage and patios in the Core Area
• Item #64: Eliminate fees for use of on-street parking spaces for temporary restaurant patios

While there were existing Community Improvement Plans for the downtown and Old East Village, the Core Area Community Improvement Plan will allow the defined grants listed above to be made available to properties within the entirety of the Core Area Project Area.