Photo courtesy Invest Medicine Hat

By Gates Guarin

$750,000 in reallocated funds

Incentive funds reallocated to promote downtown vibrancy

Jun 7, 2022 | 4:17 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Funds are being reallocated into a city incentive program designed to promote vibrancy in the downtown area.

The Waterfront District Vibrancy Incentive was fully applied for on April 1, and the decision was made to move unused funds from the Waterfront District Housing Incentive to the vibrancy program.

Rochelle Pancoast is the managing director of strategic management and analysis with Invest Medicine Hat. She says the reallocated funds will give businesses another opportunity to apply for the program.

“We really want to see those applications come through. Highly popular last year, and really expecting it to be popular again this year,” Pancoast says. “So unused last year, and wanting to make sure that those dollars get in the hands where it’s most needed in our community in terms of interest and popularity.”

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$750,000 went unused under the housing incentive in 2021, and that entire amount will be carried over into the vibrancy incentive. The housing incentive for 2022 will still have its full allocation of funds. Pancoast says adding the unused funds will almost triple the amount the vibrancy incentive would have already had this year.

Businesses can apply for up to $50,000, and will be matched by Invest Medicine Hat. The vibrancy incentive is intended to provide financial aide for businesses or property owners undertaking improvements to their spaces.

Pancoast says being able to share these funds will stir up positive economic impacts across different sectors.

“We see the opportunity to have a lift to the broader vibrancy and look and feel and livability within that downtown area, but also the spending and economic benefit and spin-off,” Pancoast says. “We’ll have benefits across the immediate property by bringing in trades, contractors and other sources of opportunities.”

Dayna Felesky is a business development consultant with the City of Medicine Hat, and says businesses that have applied have been taking full advantage of every dollar provided.

“It’s been wonderful to see these projects come to fruition,” Felesky says. “We’re seeing that our applicants are matching that, and far outspending that, and it’s creating a wonderful impact in our downtown area.”

Businesses within the waterfront district will have to decide quickly if it wants to take advantage of the incentive. Applications re-open on June 13, and will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.