Business owners and local business improvement area (BIA) representatives are hopeful a tax relief proposal presented to Toronto City Council, in part by Ward 15 councillor Josh Colle, gets approval.
The proposal, called All Pain, No Gain, hopes to quell the financial strain on businesses facing harsh times due to major construction.
“People along Eglinton are already living through a lot of construction. Everyone is ecstatic about what is coming [once LRT construction is complete], but people are starting to really feel the impact of less traffic, and the real meat of construction hasn’t started yet,” Colle said. “We’ve got to look at creative ways to deal with this issue.”
He said that if the proposal is approved, the city would look to defer taxes on those businesses impacted by major construction as a way to mitigate the dwindling traffic in those zones.
“I give so much credit to the business owners and the BIAs along Eglinton for what they’re dealing with,” Colle added. “People there need these improvements but we have to find a way to lessen the [financial] load on them during construction."
Alan Pintaric, chair of the Upper Village BIA, said tax relief during the construction would be most welcome by his organization, saying there already has been a 30 per cent drop in shopping traffic for his member businesses.
Lorna Day, manager for Eglinton Connects, a City of Toronto planning study of the area, said, if successful, the relief would be a welcome help. She said provincial transit agency Metrolinx, in charge of the LRT construction, has done a good job assisting business owners with signage. She added, however, that shopping traffic is still slowing as more people avoid the region all together.
“This would be a huge benefit to the merchants right now,” Day said.
The proposal, put forward by Ward 30 councillor Paula Fletcher and seconded by Colle in early May, still needs to work its way through the council approval process, but Colle said he is hopeful it will be approved later this summer.