Windsor to offer training for residents looking to develop small-scale projects in their neighbourhoods
The City of Windsor will be offering training aimed at helping local residents take on small-scale development projects within their neighbourhoods.
The city is working in partnership with the Incremental Development Alliance (IDA), which defines small projects as one- to three-storey buildings under 15,000 square feet in size.
The city is also working with St. Clair College, the Windsor Region Society of Architects, and is supported by the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative, the Downtown Windsor BIA and the Ford City Neighbourhood Renewal.
Projects can vary depending on the needs of the city, according to Gracen Johnson, the director of content and contribution with the IDA.
In the past, projects have included the the construction of additional dwellings, as well as the expansion of business workspaces.
Johnson said her organization has worked with dozens of cities across the U.S. since launch in 2015, adding that Windsor is the first Canadian city with which the IDA has collaborated.
"This whole process is about helping people who love their neighbourhoods in Windsor," said Johnson.
Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin said he wants to more local residents investing in their communities.
"A lot of this is really about having a different discussion," said Bortolin. "And not just ... hoping for an outside developer to come in and build huge houses or a condo or a housing development."
"They're not going to do it in some of these depressed neighbourhoods ... We need the residents that are there and the people that have been there to actually step up and to contribute and to actually want to make a change in their neighbourhoods."
Sarah Cipkar, the community development coordinator with the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative, said she wants the training course to change the narrative around property development.
"I think Windsor has a culture that is dominated by big developers and we don't always know how to do smaller scale development. We don't see it as possible," said Cipkar. "This is about eliminating some of those barriers."
Johnson said she understands people might be reluctant to take on a development project because it's unfamiliar to them.
"They don't know what they don't know," said Johnson. "We can't remove any of that risk but what we can do is help people understand how to make better decisions about what they're going to do, how to understand what they don't know."
Johnson added that training is a "first step" for people to understand the process of real estate development, as well as tackling the obstacles one faces when building a property.
Two lectures introducing local residents to the initiative are set for next Wednesday and Thursday.
The lectures will be followed by a full-day workshop on Friday, Nov. 22.
