The developers of a seven-storey residential-commercial building on the former Courtaulds site walked away empty handed last night. They had a second crack at it but city council decided not to give them a nearly $1.9 million savings on taxes over the next 10 years if they build and rightfully so. The Heart of the City program was designed to have development flourish in the downtown and Le Village areas. That’s what it was designed for. The program also has clearly defined boundaries on who’s eligible and who’s not. Courtaulds was outside those boundaries and rules are rules. Some of you may have forgot a similar situation years ago. The Riverdale Terrace developers had asked for a tax increment savings and were turned down. They said the project would be in jeopardy and would not be built and what do we have today? A beautiful accessible retirement building and the tax money to go with it. When the city is so desperately looking to take the burden off the municipal taxpayer by getting commercial and multi-residential taxes, they shouldn’t be so quick to give it away. Thankfully the majority of councillors and the mayor could see the big picture.
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