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The City of St. Catharines has received a prestigious award on the national stage for its 2020 Community Improvement Plan (CIP).
On Tuesday night, the City earned top honours for excellence in Legislation, Policy and Program Incentives at the 2021 Brownie Awards. Founded in 2001 by the Canadian Urban Institute, the annual event celebrates the innovative efforts of individuals and organizations dedicated to remediating and redeveloping brownfield sites across Canada.
Judged by an esteemed panel of experts, the award recognizes the City’s leadership in brownfield redevelopment policy. The City of St. Catharines CIP, launched earlier this year, established a suite of incentive programs and evaluation tools that can be leveraged as a model for other municipalities. The CIP is aimed at stimulating investment not only in projects related to redevelopment, reuse, and rehabilitation of the built environment and brownfield remediation, but also affordable housing, commercial redevelopment, heritage preservation and more.
Receiving the award on behalf of the City of St Catharines, Manager of Planning Services Margaret Josipovic acknowledged the collaborative efforts of City Council, City staff, stakeholders and the community, who all helped support and shape the CIP throughout the process.
“This is a great honour, one that is a testament to the considerable effort – from the City and the community offering feedback – to design a program that was progressive, but also in alignment with the City’s strategic plan and land-use framework established in our Official Plan,” said Josipovic.
Mayor Walter Sendzik said he hopes the recognition will help signal the City is ready to welcome investments from innovative professionals looking to take sites that are under-utilized and underdeveloped and rehabilitate them into residential and commercial projects that will contribute to the growth of St. Catharines.
“This is a validation of the City’s CIP, a progressive and financially sustainable program that is best in class thanks to its combination of all elements – affordable housing, heritage protection, public realm improvements and brownfield remediation,” said Mayor Sendzik. “I am proud of everyone – including members of Council, leadership from our Planning Department and staff from across the corporation – who helped create, modify, guide and approve a plan that not only stimulates investment, but supports community renewal in alignment with our strategic priorities.”
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