The township will apply to Wellington County’s Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Implementation Fund to develop a community improvement plan (CIP).
Mapleton council, at its Sept. 8 meeting, approved a recommendation to move forward with a request for proposals for a Mapleton CIP. A contract will only be awarded if the funding application is successful, council agreed.
The recommendation was contained in a report from business development and marketing coordinator Crystal Ellis that noted 2015 is the second year the county has offered each of its seven member municipalities $25,000 in implementation funding for projects related to business retention and expansion.
Mapleton used the 2014 BRE funding to develop a municipal cultural plan. This project was completed over the winter of 2014-15 and approved in June.
In her report, Ellis explained that a community improvement plan is a tool which implements policy initiatives toward a specifically-defined project area or areas and provides funding mechanisms geared towards those policy initiatives.
The Mapleton plan will focus on the urban areas of Drayton, Moorefield and Alma.
“The intent of the CIP is to encourage the rehabilitation of lands and buildings and/or the stimulation of economic development,” Ellis stated in the report.
“Both the Town of Minto and Township of Wellington North have CIP programs in place and it would be beneficial for Mapleton to develop a Community Improvement Plan.”
She also noted a CIP project was accounted for in the township’s 2015 budget.
