One of Bradford’s downtown businesses is getting a fresh new look, with help from the town.
Council approved $23,457.90 in Downtown Community Improvement Plan (DCIP) funds for 19 Holland St. E. during their regular meeting of council in the Zima Room of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library on Tuesday evening.
According to a staff report from Michael Kemp, marketing co-ordinator for the town, the funds are broken down into three parts:
- $8,307.90 under Program 1: Building Exterior Grant Program
- $14,400.00 under Program 2: Building Interior Grant Program
- $750.00 under Program 3: Permits and Fees Grant Program
“This is a young gentleman with a university education that could have left Bradford. He decided to buy a business in town and decided to work with the owner of Lee’s Tasty House and took control and decided to reinvest in the business and downtown core,” Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie said.
According to the report, the two-storey building dates to 1957, with commercial units on the ground floor and apartments above. It is divided into two units, with Lee’s Tasty House Chinese restaurant on the west and Gradience Barber Shop (previously Empire Fadez) on the east, for which the DCIP application was submitted.
The report says Rafid Yousif purchased the barber shop with the intention of upgrading the interior, including renovating the bathroom, installing new flooring, installing a new front doorway, replacing ceiling tiles and installing new lighting in the back hallway.
Yousif also plans to upgrade all the electrical outlets, which are currently placed on the exterior of the drywall.
The work is stated as necessary in part due to age, but also as a result of water damage to the ceiling and bathroom which caused mould formation.
Dykie said it would have been nice to see the application and grant include funds for accessibility upgrades, such as an electronically opening door via button.
“We can take a horse to water, but we can’t make him drink,” he said.
Kemp explained that he makes recommendations for accessibility whenever he can, and said he has discussed wheelchair accessibility with the owner, but said Yousif is already investing more than expected to cover unforeseen repairs.
“It’s a very tight space interior, and at this time, he’s not able to take on that scope of work, but one of the strengths of this program is we can do incremental improvements over time. If Mr. Yousif gets established and he wants to make it further accessible, I’m more than happy to have the conversation in the future with him,” Kemp said.
Ward. 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper expressed concerns with granting public funds to a project which might not meet current building codes, but Kemp clarified that the work done to the building would be grandfathered, and Mayor James Leduc further added that meeting the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) would only be necessary for major renovations, whereas the work being done to 19 Holland St. E. would likely be considered cosmetic.
The report also says Yousif plans to upgrade the exterior including new signage, with housing box and LED lighting as well as repair the “rapidly deteriorating” facade which has both mortar and bricks coming loose.
Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine asked if the doorway upgrades would at least make the front door wheelchair accessible and Kemp clarified that standard wheelchairs can fit through the opening and that the doorway upgrades were intended to repair the opening above the door which houses an air conditioner.
Ward 3 Coun. Ben Verkaik suggested council consider updating the DCIP program to include requirements for accessibility, and Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott added that council did add some requirements for accessibility and energy efficiency last year, but were wary of going too far.
“It seems to me we captured a lot of this, but we can’t mandate all of it, or we’d never get a successful grant,” Scott said.
Kemp explained the town added a new grant option called Program 6, which is specifically designed to fund accessibility upgrades in addition to existing DCIP grants.
“It allows for a maximum grant of 50 per cent to a maximum of $10,000 which you can use to piggy back on it,” Kemp said.
The town’s Office of Economic Development recommended the grant of $23,457.90 which would be a little more than half of Yousif’s proposed $46,415.80 renovation.
As of June 12, the town had spent $91,944.54 in CIP funds in 2023, and after the approval for 19 Holland St. E., the town has $326,904.82 CIP funds remaining for the year, according to the staff report.
