PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The Northern Development Initiative Trust Board has approved a concept proposed by the City of Prince George for a new and aggressive incentive program aimed at encouraging housing and commercial development in the City’s downtown. This bold and innovative new program will be focused on providing an immediate financial incentive for developers that is significantly more attractive than existing Downtown Revitalization Tax Exemption programs currently available.
The goal of the partnership program will be to encourage new market and non-market housing, commercial and mixed use development, green development, and façade improvements by providing developers with repayable funding, in an amount similar to the municipal tax exemptions they would normally receive over the term of a revitalization tax exemption agreement. The incentive program concept also features a financial incentive of up to $10,000 per unit for housing established in the downtown.
“We look forward to working with Northern Development to take this concept forward into a program that can become part of the City’s downtown incentives program to be launched later this year, ” said Mayor Dan Rogers. “We will continue to engage the public and the development community extensively as we move forward.”
“Northern Development will be developing the program to be ‘responsive yet responsible’ and available to communities across central and northern BC that would like to encourage revitalization and housing development in their downtown areas,” said Chair Evan Saugstad. “We believe that Northern Development Initiative Trust is uniquely structured with regional community and business leadership to make great investments ‘in the north, for the north.’ Our programs are innovative and work for communities and business in a way that increases the flow of funding and investment into the region and grows our economy.”
“We believe that downtown Prince George will become a more vibrant, livable heart of this community and we want to be a partner in making that happen,” said Northern Development Chief Executive Officer Janine North. “Without Premier Campbell’s vision and the strong support of local MLAs to create the Northern Development Initiative Trust over five years ago, communities would not have a regional funding partner to implement innovative programs like this one.”
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Media Contact:
Janine North
Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: 250.561.2525
Email: info@northerndevelopment.bc.ca
About Northern Development
Northern Development Initiative Trust is an independent regional economic development corporation focused on stimulating economic growth and job creation in central and northern British Columbia:
- Northern Development’s Board has approved over $96.9 million in committed funding to 670 projects since its inception as an initiative of the Province of British Columbia in 2005
- The commitments have leveraged other sources of funding for a total investment value of $948.3 million
- For every $1 of approved funding by the Board, there is $8.78 in funding from other sources (984% leveraging)
- 67% of the investments are in small communities with populations of less than 5,000
- 51% of funds approved are loans and 49% are grants
- 21 businesses in the region have committed to creating 846 new jobs with a total investment of over $137.5 million in new capital equipment and training with the support of the Capital Investment and Training Rebate program
- 206 projects were approved and $25.2 million was disbursed by Northern Development Initiative Trust in central and northern British Columbia in 2010
For information on funding programs and economic development in central and northern British Columbia, visit www.northerndevelopment.bc.ca.
