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Funding available for North Delta business community projects

Council approved $15,000 per year for four years to support community lighting and other initiatives
16837126_web1_190514-NDR-M-North-Delta-Christmas-Tree-lighting-Dec-11-2016
The Delta Firefighters Charitable Society decorated the green corridor between the George Mackie Library and the North Delta Public Health Unit with Christmas lights in 2016 (pictured) and 2017. New funding from the City of Delta would give local businesses the opportunity to do something similar for the next four years. (James Smith photo)

North Delta businesses can now access city funds to help jump start community initiatives like those undertaken by South Delta’s BIAs.

On Monday, May 6, Delta council signed off on providing annual funding of $15,000 for four years through its fledgling North Delta Business Initiative, to support lighting and other community-based projects and events.

Launched in late January of this year, the initiative is a working group of North Delta businesses supported by City of Delta staff and resources that the city hopes will eventually spin off into an autonomous self-funded North Delta business improvement association, similar to those that exist currently in Tsawwassen and Ladner.

City manager Sean McGill told the Reporter in January that without a BIA to liaise with, the city has to go to individual business owners in North Delta in order to get feedback or to co-ordinate on projects, which can be a barrier to getting things done.

“If [the City of] Delta wants to go up there and work with local businesses together on a bi-local program, [for example],” he said, “there are all kinds of initiatives that we don’t have specific contacts for.”

This new initiative creates “a collective group that we can work with to improve outreach for both Delta and the businesses.”

READ MORE: City initiative aims to kick-start a North Delta business association

According to the staff report council endorsed on May 6, the new funding is a “first step in providing tangible support to the North Delta business community,” allowing said community to “undertake initiatives similar to those already underway in Ladner and Tsawwassen, such as lighting, events and collaborative business promotions.”

“Staff will work with the North Delta business community to ensure the funding supports efforts that showcase local businesses in North Delta and bring people to the community to enjoy the offerings of these local businesses,” the report reads, noting council will be kept apprised of initiatives that are funded through this framework.

Council also endorsed a staff recommendation on May 6 to provide the Tsawwassen Business Improvement Association with $15,000 per year for four years to support the “lighting up” of Tsawwassen’s commercial core and other community initiatives.

The two funding commitments approved on May 6 follow a similar decision back in March, when council agreed to provide the Ladner Business Association with $15,000 in annual funding for four years to support the LBA’s Light Up Ladner Village initiative and other community projects.

— With files from Saša Lakić



editor@northdeltareporter.com

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James Smith

About the Author: James Smith

James Smith is the founding editor of the North Delta Reporter.
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