Downtown and Pickering Village Community Improvement Plan

There has been considerable development interest across Ajax, including in both CIP areas, over the last several years. This has led to questions about the necessity of the CIPs for attracting new development and concerns about the level of financial support required from the Town to support new developments in the CIP areas. In response, the majority of programs within the DCIP and PVCIP (including all major redevelopment programs) were temporarily suspended in 2019/20 and staff were requested to conduct a fulsome review of the CIPs to consider their future.

In 2023, Town staff unveiled a plan to permanently discontinue all large redevelopment programs in both CIPs and replace them with financial incentive programs designed to assist property owners in improving their existing properties. If this new proposal is approved, the DCIP will be equipped with three programs and the PVCIP will be equipped with six programs, as follows:

Downtown CIP

• Municipal Property Acquisition, Investment & Partnership Program
• Commercial Property Accessibility and Beautification Grant Program
• Patio Grant Program

Pickering Village CIP

• Façade Improvement Program
• Sign Grant Program
• Commercial Property Accessibility Grant Program
• Interior Renovation Grant Program
• Patio Grant Program
• Cash-in-Lieu of Parking Equivalency Grant Program

The documents titled “Annotated Guide to the Proposed Amendment of the Downtown CIP” and “Annotated Guide to the Proposed Amendment of the Pickering Village CIP” (available in the document library on this page) demonstrate and explain all of the changes being proposed to the CIPs.

Get Involved

The proposed amendment of the Downtown CIP and Pickering Village CIP will be considered by the Town’s Community Affairs and Planning Committee at a Statutory Public Meeting to be held on Monday, October 2, 2023 at 7 p.m. This public meeting is being held in-person in Council Chambers, located at Ajax Town Hall, 65 Harwood Avenue South, Ajax, Ontario, L1S 2H9, and will be live-streamed for public viewing at www.ajax.ca/live. Those wishing to make oral submissions can attend in-person and will have 5 minutes to address the Committee. Pre-registration is not required for in-person attendance. If you are unable to attend in-person, electronic remote participation via the Town’s Hybrid Conference System is available as an option and can be arranged by contacting clerks@ajax.ca no later than 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Monday, October 2, 2023.

Written submissions may be provided for the Committee’s consideration before the meeting. Please submit your written comments before 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Friday, September 29, 2023 using the commenting feature at the bottom of this webpage.

Interested parties can subscribe for project updates using the “Stay Informed” feature at the top of this page.