LAURIE WEIR

The town is increasing its Heritage Grant program’s per-project funding while keeping its overall budget the same.

Since launching in 2022, the program has awarded four grants of $5,000 each to help property owners restore and repair designated heritage buildings. 

However, during its committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 18, council supported raising the maximum grant to $15,000 per project while maintaining the program’s $35,000 annual budget.

Niki Dwyer, Carleton Place’s director of development services, presented the recommendation.

“We’ve set aside a lump sum of $35,000 — typically we disburse that up to $5,000 per project,” she said. “To date, we’ve only done one to two a year, and we have heard from almost every applicant that the funds are nowhere near close to matching the value of the project.”

After consulting with the Municipal Heritage Committee, town staff recommended increasing the per-project cap to $15,000.

“We still feel that will fit well within the $35,000 budget envelope that council has given us,” Dwyer said. The change will allow the town to fund two large projects per year or distribute smaller amounts to multiple applicants.

Coun. Linda Seccaspina, a local historian, praised the move and credited Deputy Mayor Andrew Tennant for launching the program three years ago.

“I think this is excellent,” she said.

Tennant, who served on the heritage committee 10 to 15 years ago, said funding shortfalls have long been a concern.

“It’s just not enough money,” he said. “It’s too expensive to fix these buildings. Even $15,000 is maybe two windows in some cases. This is expensive stuff to do. If we want to see these buildings stay standing for a long time, then we’re going to have to go forward with this kind of thing.”

Council supported the recommendation.